Goondiwindi Travel Guide

Located 805 km from Sydney and 362 km from Brisbane (or so the prominent and interesting road sign on the corner of the main street declares), Goondiwindi is 216 m above sea level. It is a rambling Queensland settlement which spreads for kilometres around the old Customs House on the banks of the Macintyre River. Pronounced 'gun' rather than 'goon', Goondiwindi is a typical, attractive Darling Downs town which has become important because of its unique position at the junction of the Cunningham, Newell, Bruxner, Barwon and Leichhardt Highways on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. This fame, based largely on location, has been compounded throughout Australia because of a horse named Gunsynd which became known as the Goondiwindi Grey and was the subject of a 1973 Tex Morton hit (it reached Number 5) titled 'The Goondiwindi Grey'. The town has made much of this famous horse and beside the river in Apex Park is a plaque (it is not three dimensional enough to be called a statue) commemorating the glories of Gunsynd. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the horse had 29 wins including the 1971 Epsom Handicap and the 1972 Cox Plate. It came third in the 1972 Melbourne Cup. The area around Goondiwindi was first explored by Allan Cunningham who came through the area in 1827. He named the Macintyre River after Captain Peter Macintyre who had provided horses and drays for the expedition. Settlers arrived in the 1830s and one of the properties was named 'Gundawinda' which, some authorities claim, was the local Aboriginal word for 'a resting place for the birds'. Other authorities claim the name comes from the Aboriginal words 'goona winnah' meaning 'dropping of ducks or shags'. Take your pick. Located on the town side of the main bridge across the Macintyre, the old Customs House has been converted into the Goondiwindi Museum and is a typical rural folk museum containing many interesting local artefacts. Another feature of the town, and something well worth a visit, is the Macintyre Ginnery where the local cotton is processed. In the cotton picking season the streets of the town are filled with the roar of huge trucks as they make their way from the cotton fields to the ginnery. Located a couple of kilometres out of town (follow the main street east past the Drive In) the Macintyre Cotton Gin actually encourages visits. It is open from 8.00 am - 5.00 pm between April and September. The processes inside the gin are both simple and fascinating. Following yellow lines the visitor can see the raw cotton balls being fed into the machine and can follow the series of processes which clean and prepare the cotton so that by the end it is ready to be semi-automatically baled and shipped away for carding, drawing and roving. A booklet called The Australian Cotton Story is available from the office at the ginnery.

This place is pretty neat. I consider it the perfect size and although it's not real touristy it has some wicked events..........for example the BnS Ball