[5][6][7] The area now known as Gilgunnia lies on the traditional lands of Wangaaypuwan dialect speakers (also known as Wangaibon) of Ngiyampaa people.

In 1870, Gilgunnia and the Kruges played a small part in the discovery of the immense copper deposits at Cobar.

They showed those samples to Sidwell Kruge—a woman of Cornish origin, previously residing in the South Australian copper-mining town of Burra—who identified the ores as containing copper.

A small settlement came into being, as the hotel owner, Henry Kruge, also provided other services as a blacksmith and wheelwright, and sold provisions.

Cypress pines grew in the area and Kruge set up a sawmill to exploit the resource.

[18] However, it was the discovery of a quartz reef, by Aboriginal prospector John 'Jackey' Owen, in April 1895, that led to the establishment of a new settlement.

[19] Within months of the discovery of the quartz reef, an unplanned tent village of 500 inhabitants had sprung up.

Unfortunately, some of it was situated upon land reserved for a travelling stock route and part was too close to the mining leases, not in the area that was being planned—in far-away Sydney—as the village.

[29] Unlike the other western goldfields, at Canbelego and Wrightville, the gold mines of Gilgunnia were relatively small scale operations.

He painstakingly dug an in-ground 'tank' to store precious water for the garden, using only hand implements and a wooden wheelbarrow.

[32][33][34] If he had a surplus of produce, he was known to carry it by bicycle to Mount Hope, returning in time to water his crops at least weekly.

For miners in a semi-arid area, it was a cruel fate that, at depth, the mines filled with groundwater, impacting the economic viability of the remote gold field.

Although there were people living on nearby grazing properties, the population of the village had fallen to just a few itinerant miners and the two long-time residents, 'Bobby' Nelson and 'Charley' Chin.

[1]There are now no buildings left at Gilgunnia and it is not immediately apparent these days why the roads from Cobar, Hillston, Nymagee and Euabalong all meet at this locality.