Gunbar is in the Riverina district of south-western New South Wales in Australia, on a wide bend of the Mid-Western Highway between Goolgowi and Hay.

[1] In its heyday Gunbar was a village which served as the hub of the surrounding pastoral properties and the community of selectors that had settled in the district from the 1870s onwards.

The Presbyterian church, still used for worship, stands on an elevated position overlooking the original village-site, where the corrugated-iron Community Hall is the only other major building that remains.

Stock returns for 1888 record the area of 'Gunbar' station as 280,000 acres (1,100 km2), reflecting the inroads made by selectors since the mid-1870s as the district became more closely settled and the village of Gunbar was established.

William Spry had selected land east of Gunbar which he called 'Paradise Farm' and continued to work as a carrier in the district.

Robertson and Wagner (part of the Cobb & Co. network) ran mail and passenger services to Hillston from both Hay and Carrathool with the routes converging at Gunbar.

Protestant religious services began to be held from January 1881 in the dining-room of the Gunbar Hotel, conducted by the Presbyterian minister from Hay, Rev.

Though nominally Presbyterian, services by Anglican and Methodist ministers were occasionally also held at the church (which was removed in 1914 to a location near the original village.)

John G. Bunn, appointed postmaster after James McPherson resigned in 1885, built a Post Office and store near the church.

In 1884 the firm of Meakes & Fay, merchants at Hay, established a large store at Gunbar (South), dealing in general goods and produce.

Harrison Pollard married Laura Hillman in 1892 (the daughter of another local selector) and the couple settled on a selection called "Honuna".

Many of the residents of Gunbar and district re-located to the nearby towns of Hillston, Hay and Griffith in the early decades of the twentieth century.

In January 1922 a wind-storm “which assumed cyclonic strength” passed through Gunbar township causing “considerable damage”.

[12] The site of the original village continued as a focus for activities and social events for residents of the surrounding district.

The church “was found to have suffered severely from the storm” and despite temporary repairs during the following decade it was realised “that the task of reconditioning the building would be a heavy one”.

On 10 March 1886 James and Barbara Blain were camped at a pine ridge on "Gunbar" station, in company with other carriers.

James and the other men left the camp-site to load posts onto their drays, while Barbara began preparations for the evening meal.

On their return the men found that Mrs. Blain had been fatally burnt, probably after her dress had caught alight from the flames of the camp-fire.

A watering place near to where the tragedy occurred – roughly halfway between Gunbar and the village of Merriwagga – became known as Black Stump Tank.

William Jackson was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1916 for selfless courage under heavy fire while rescuing his comrades near Armentières in France during World War I.