Distance from Bathurst 56kms south
Preferred route Goulburn Road via Perthville

History
Gold may have been found in this area as early as 1851 but it was not until 1868 that the large quartz reefs that started a gold rush to the area were discovered. The village is believed to have originally been named after a prospector or shepherd who was nicknamed ‘Trunkey' because of his particularly long nose, hence 'Trunkey's Creek'. In 1873 it was officially proclaimed ‘Arthur', a name retained until 1988 when it was changed to ‘Trunkey'. In 2003 the official name was changed again to 'Trunkey Creek' a name that locals had always used.

Present
Today Trunkey Creek is a tiny rural village on the road to Goulburn with a hotel, general store, school and old wooden church. Remnants of a bygone era can be seen in the old buildings, the crumbling mud cottages, brick chimneys and mullock heaps. However the region produces some of Australia's top quality merino wool and the village holds a festival each year that highlights a tradition that was established in the 1820s.

What to Do & See
Try your luck searching for gold in the quartz rock of the old mullock heaps but watch out for the abandoned mine shafts. Explore the Golden Age Hotel built in 1869, the Police Station and Courthouse built in the 1870s, and the old general store built in 1879. Come along to the Trunkey Creek Show a wool festival, sheep and horse show held every year in October. Venture into the underground at Abercrombie Caves, 13 kilometres from Trunkey Creek, where the Ribbon Gang bushrangers roamed and the gold miners danced the night away. While there take a walk to the spectacular Grove Creek Falls. Enjoy the bushwalking and mountain bike trails of the popular Copperhannia Nature Reserve.

Facilities/Services
Hotel, general store, active churches, public phone, post box, public toilets, police station.

Accommodation includes camping and self contained cottages at Abercrombie Caves.

The hills around Trunkey Creek are honeycombed with abandoned mine shafts and mullock heaps and together with the crumbling mud huts and brick chimneys are the only remains of the gold rush age. The district was one of the earliest pastoral areas to be established south-west of Bathurst, some sections being surveyed in the early 1820s. The area now produces some of Australia's top quality merino wool. The village has a pub and cafe (specialising in Sunday lunch).

Trunkey Creek Village Map