The sale last year of Kurrumbede, the Mackellar family property near Gunnedah, for $14 million has stoked fierce passions over the relentless march of mining through the rural landscape. It has also reopened debate about whether the property was the inspiration for My Country and what should be done to protect it.
Coalworks, the new owner, has promised to retain the homestead for use as an office or staff accommodation, but has engaged a private historian to probe whether Kurrumbede was actually linked to Mackellar's My Country.
Coalmining has a long history in Gunnedah, 475km northwest of Sydney, but the town has forged its identity around the legendary poet and her tribute to the Australian landscape.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Former Gunnedah deputy mayor Mikie Maas has no doubt Kurrumbede was the place where Mackellar got the inspiration for My Country.
"I think it is of national importance because she was the first person to express her love for the country," Mr Maas said.
"In the early wars that kept us all going because we knew her poem. I think it is important that the property be preserved. The company says it is going to preserve the homestead, but it still boils my blood when I think of that property being mined."
The landscape and cultural history is also important to a new generation, such as Tahnika Fuit, 19, and her partner Hugh Miles, 21. "They definitely should preserve the property and look after it," Ms Fuit said. "It is part of the culture of the place. She wrote the poem because it was beautiful country and we don't want to wreck it."
Coalworks is a small ASX-listed company that has a joint venture with the Japanese trading house Itochu to market coal.
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