A Resting Place for Poets
Poet’s Recall Motel, Gundagai
On a recent trip to Sydney, we stayed one night in the Poet’s Recall Motel in Gundagai. In the past, we have taken only two days to travel from home – Murray Bridge near Adelaide – to our son’s home in Sydney. Due to doctor’s appointments on the day we had planned to leave, we decided to take a more leisurely two and a half days to get to our destination.
On the second night, we had planned to stay in a cabin in the local caravan park in Gundagai. We usually prefer to stay in a cabin because the cooking facilities are generally better in cabins. Of course, I should have booked ahead.
When we arrived at the caravan park, they had no cabins left vacant. The lady in the office told me that rooms were in short supply in the town, and she gave me a few possibilities to try. A few hundred metres away was the Poet’s Recall Motel; what a charming name for a motel. I loved the idea of staying in a motel which acknowledged the role of poetry in our Australian culture.
We managed to get one of the few rooms left that night. It was cosy (read “smallish”) but quite adequate for our needs. Comfortable and clean. On the downside, I had to lug our gear up some stairs, but we only had an overnight bag and a few other items, so I managed okay.
One of the first things I noticed was a plaque on the wall outside our room. Later I noticed that every room had one. Each plaque was a tribute to an Australian poet of note. I have featured two of these plaques above and below. The top one features our well-known poet, Dorothea Mackellar, and the one below Mary Gilmore. I particularly love the quote from Gilmore’s poem.
Poet’s Recall Motel, Gundagai
The Dog on the Tucker Box
Many Australians are familiar with the story of the Dog on the Tuckerbox, made famous in another poem. The tribute to this famous story and poem is featured a few kilometres north of the town of Gundagai. I wrote about several of our visits in posts on my travel blog, Trevor’s Travels. You can read those posts by clicking on the links below.
Further reading:
- The Dog on the Tuckerbox
- Autumn in Gundagai
- Joseph Carberry’s Inn, Gundagai
- Morning tea at Gundagai
- Trevor’s Travels – my blog about our travels here in Australia, Nepal, Thailand, Ethiopia, Morocco and Spain.