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Pensioners Hill Lookout Sculpture Park

Sculptures on Pensioner's Hill

Pensioners Hill Lookout and Sculpture Park

A beautiful place with views over Gunnedah, Pensioners Hill Lookout also has a sculpture park, which makes an even more interesting place to visit. The walkway through the park is named after Ailsa Iceton, a nurse who performed many charitable works in Gunnedah. During the Great Depression, she would bring meals to the residents of Pensioners Hill.

The park’s brick wall is constructed from bricks recovered from the demolition of a chimney used for a nearby mine, thereby incorporating its heritage value into the new park. A plaque near the entrance gate details the history of the chimney.

Kamilaroi Peoples

On entering the park, the first display on your right is a series of carved trees. These are a remembrance of the Kamilaroi People and their ancestral animals totemic beings. The Kamilaroi people’s lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Australia.

Pensioners Hill Lookout and Heritage Sculpture Park

The park contains four sculptures by Carl Merten and Joan Relke, with each depicting the heritage of the Gunneda area. The sculptures show:

  • The Red Chief, a Kamilaroi man who lived in the area in the 18th century. He had a reputation as a warrior and wise leader of the Gunn-e-darr tribe.
  • The Pioneer Woman, early settlers facing harsh environments, isolation and loneliness.
  • Agriculture representing the rich grazing lands and crops across the Liverpool Plains.
  • The Coal Miner labouring underground.

Carved on the back of each sculpture is the Great Rainbow Serpent of Aboriginal mythology, tying them all together.

Mining Heritage

Behind the rock sculptures is a display of three mine skips on rail tracks. This display sponsored by the CFMEU (the mine workers’ Union) pays tribute to the coal miners of the district. It not only commemorates the workers, but those who did not make it home, after working in the dangerous mine conditions.

These skips add to the mining heritage reflected in the entrance wall, which shows the importance of the industry in the districts past.

Places to Relax

Placed throughout the park are beautifully carved seats, where you can sit and enjoy the park. If you want to relax under cover, a rotunda at the top of the hill is a great place to get out of the weather.

The View

The viewing platform gives a great view of Gunnedah. The silos and red roofed building in the photo is where the Dorothea Mackellar silo art sits. While there, look at the town from inside the rotunda, because it can be framed nicely by the entrance.

What Did We Think

If you are in Gunnedah, this is a great place to visit, because not only do you get a great view, but see great sculptures at the same time. It was nice to see the heritage of the districts tied together using aboriginal culture with the Great Rainbow Serpent.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Our photos are available for purchase on

Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Statue

The Dorothea Mackellar Memorial in Gunnedah

Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Statue

Not far from the Gunnedah Water Tower Museum and located in a small park the Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Statue acknowledges this famous Australian Poet’s connection to the Gunnedah district.

Dorothea is shown as a young woman sitting side-saddle on her horse, and gazing into the distance.

Dorothea Mackellar

Known for her poem My Country, perhaps the best known Australian poem, Dorothea Mackellar, OBE (1885 – 1968) was an Australian poet and fiction writer.

The Mackellar family owned several properties in the Gunnedah area, including “Kurrumbede” and “The Rampadells” on the Blue Vale Road near Gunnedah. Dorothea Mackellar, found the inspiration for My Country on her brother’s property Kurrembede where she witnessed the breaking of a severe drought.

The inscription on the statue contains lines from the poem My Country, possibly Australia’s most famous poem.

” I LOVE A SUNBURNT COUNTRY 
A LAND OF SWEEPING PLAINS
OF RAGGED MOUNTAIN RANGES  
OF DROUGHTS AND FLOODING RAINS… “

Other Dorothea Mackellar Sites in Gunnedah

Depicted on the historic Gunnedah Maize Mill is a fantastic piece of silo art of Dorothea Mackellar. An impressive sight, because it stands over 20m tall.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Our photos are available for purchase on

First Fleet Memorial Gardens Wallabadah

Picnic Shade Area, Designed to Resemble a Sailing Ship

First Fleet Memorial Gardens Wallabadah

We hadn’t intended to stop in Wallabadah, but on seeing the sign for the First Fleet Memorial Gardens, we decided to. This is the great thing about driving with no fixed appointments, because you can stop at any time and see something interesting.

Another interesting thing to discover is the amazing variety of place names in Australia. Many are unique, as they are based on the local aboriginal language. In this case, Wallabadah means stone in the Kamilaroi language.

The First Fleet Memorial Garden is a memorial to the First Fleet immigrants, by stonemason, Ray Collins. Carved on tablets along the garden pathways are 1,520 names of all those who came out to Australia on the eleven ships in 1788. The stories of those who arrived on the ships, are told throughout the garden.

Wandering through the gardens, you find the names grouped by the ship they arrived on, along with a history of the ship. This is great, as you do not just find a plain list of names, but some individual history, which adds interest.

A picnic area with a sunshade fashioned to look like a sailing ship is also in the gardens. This continues the theme of the First Fleet even further.

A car park off the highway offers a safe place to stop, while also providing toilet facilities. This was a fun, interesting, and unexpected place to find on our trip.