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Black Stump Memorial StonePrint Page 
The stone commemorates the pioneers of the area and also explains the Black Stump legend.
It is generally accepted that the "Black Stump" district was named in the 1880s from a water tank in the area of the same name. Another story attributes the ubiquitous black stump to the husband of the unfortunate Barbara Blain, who was buried at Gunbar Cemetery in 1886. Local legend has it that her husband, a bullocky, instructed her to make a fire while he found feed for the livestock. The day was hot, windy and dusty. When he returned he found his wife burned to death. The story goes that when people sympathised with him he said "When I returned to the camp my wife was dead - she looked just like a black stump".
Location
| Address: | Aix & Mons Street, Merriwagga, 2652 |
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| State: | NSW |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -33.817222 Long: 145.622639 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
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| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Settlement |
Dedication
| Approx. Monument Dedication Date: | 1970s |
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Ten miles west of this spot is a public watering place known, since 1910, as the Black Stump Tank.
Also in the area are the Black Stump Well and Black Stump Swamp.
Local legend says that the names originated in 1886 with the death, by burining, of a woman named Barbara Blain, who is believed to be the first person in the Gunbar Cemetery.
The area was a recognised overnight camp for waggon teams from as far north as Gilgunnia, travelling to the river steamers on the Murrumbidgee River.
This monument was erected in memory of the pioneers who contributed so much to the development of the area.
