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The final report of our to trip W.A. and back.
The last report ended with us just leaving Burra in S.A.
We stopped briefly at Morgan (on the banks of the Murray), to stretch the legs. Even though the town is better known as a port and ferry crossing, it has quite a lot of railway history as well.
The town was proclaimed in 1878, the year the railway line reached there linking it to Adelaide. A large wharf was built, and being the railway terminus, became one of the busiest ports on the Murray and the second busiest in South Australia.
There were six trains a day at one stage carrying freight from the surrounding area to Port Adelaide. The railway line finally closed in 1969 when the road network had improved significantly and the river trade had declined.
Between the town and river, the railways turntable can still be seen. It was built at the same time that the line was completed enabling the main locomotive that pulled the trains into town, then being able to pull them back again when fully laden.
The well preserved Station Masters Residence completed in 1887 was made up of two bedrooms, a kitchen and dining room as well as a Ladies Waiting Room and Booking Office.
It is today the towns Information Centre and local craft outlet.
We then strolled down to the waters edge to view the Paddle Steamer Canally which is currently being restored.
The Canally was built in Koondrook (on the Murray a short distance NE of Kerang Vic.) in 1907. It was significant as it was literally a jet boat of it’s time. In those days the first Paddle Steamer that arrived at a particular destination would often get allocated the load needed to be carried back to Morgan or other destinations.
The Canally was said to be the fastest steamer on the river being nicknamed the “Greyhound of the Murray”. It’s colourful captain decided to install a special boiler and a powerful train engine which he bought from the Victorian railways, so he could burn off all of his competitors!!
The area between the town and river, you can just make out the ferry making one of it’s crossings.
A couple of the towns churches, the first is the St Peters Anglican Church built in 1893 and then the St Ursula’s Catholic Church, constructed in 1924, I love the stonework on that one.
We took the ferry across the Murray at Waikerie so I could show Jen the silo art there, I have shown the Silo recently in a previous report so just one pic of it this time.
As this was going to be our last night on the road and our last night away from our house for a long time, we decided to get a water front cabin on the Murray at Renmark.
Pretty swish compared to some of the rooms we had on the Nullarbor, and it’s location wasn’t to bad either!!
Jen had been providing tea on all of the nights we had been away, so to give her the night off I said “sit back babe” and I’ll do one of my specialities tonight. How good is this???
Early morning on our last day of freedom.
Just before we hit the road for the final time, these peaceful scenes were captured right in front of our cabin.
The town of Paringa is so close to Renmark, it is some times referred to as a suburb of it. To enhance it’s independence it has promoted a number of special things for visitors and tourists to see, one being this, their claimed Australia’s largest “Black Stump” at more than 8 metres in diameter and approx. 8 tonnes in weight it really is a big bugger!!
The story of how it arrived at this spot is an interesting one. In 1917 there was a massive flood, about 60 ks upstream from Renmark erosion from that event caused a massive tree to fall into the river creating a navigational hazard. At the time it was manoeuvred over to a bank where it remained till.
In 1984 it was seen by Frank Turton and his wife whilst on a houseboat trip, he was a wood carver and appreciated the natural character of the trees root system. He thought it would be a good tourist attraction for his workshop in Paringa, so put a plan into action.
He hired a special chainsaw from QLD to cut the root system from the tree, he then attached 12/44 gallon drums to it and then set about floating his stump back down the river. It took 5 days and then with the aide of a massive crane and then truck, it was positioned where we see it today.
The tree from which the root system came, has been estimated to be over 600 years of age.
Driving towards Mildura we again drove through and past these devastating scenes. It’s hard to imagine whether these lands will ever become viable for agriculture again.
Morning tea at Robinvale and a scar/canoe tree at the same spot.
This tree was the source of the very last canoe made by an Aboriginal in the Robinvale area. It was made by Darcy Pettit around 1980, it was done for a documentary called ‘River People’.
Canoes were formed from a single piece of bark, they could be up to 4.5m long 0.9m wide and when formed about 20cm deep.
Here are some old images I downloaded from the net.
You can hardly drive through Swan Hill without getting your pic taken beside this big “Mother” a slightly exaggerated replica of a Murray Cod!!!
I saw two things this time that I hadn’t seen on my previous visits, the first one is this plaque.
I didn’t know that Gray was recruited from there for the famous Bourke and Wills expedition, another interest thing to note was his occupation. You don’t see many job adverts for an “Ostler” any more!!
The second item I saw was this, the stern post from the paddle steamer the “Gem”.
It was built in 1876 at Moama, 6 years later modifications were made to it, making it the biggest paddle steamer on the Murray
This is it in its heyday.
In 1948 it hit a snag and sunk but was soon raised, repaired and continued to ply its trade.
In 1962 it was purchased by the Swan Hill council to become the centre piece of its Pioneer Settlement Museum, where it still can be seen today.
Our next stop was at Rochester where we wanted to see some relatively new murals. I have shown the magnificent Silo murals on a few occasions so as time was on the wing we didn’t stop at those this time. Looking for the Ron Iddles murals, we stumbled on these first.
Seeing the Shamrok Hotel depicted the way it was had me concerned that the building may have
deteriorated since my last visit!!
Thankfully it hadn’t, still very impressive considering it was built in 1871.
And then the reason we had stopped that day, to see the recently completed murals of Ron Iddles. Ron was a former Australian police detective whose conviction rate was around 99%, he has been dubbed "Australia's greatest detective”.
It was very impressive, capturing his life from a boy right through his career to after his retirement from the police force. Our country needs more men like him with his dedication to the service of us all.
Time was getting on, we now headed for Colbinabbin, there Australia’s newest Silo Murals were being painted, and stunning they were even in their formative state. All of these silos will be painted and when finished will be one of the best of their type in the country.
As you read this all of the three silos on the left have been completed and work has started on the ones on the right. I have seen pics of the completed work and they are absolutely brilliant.
Time to head for home, no more stops planned but then about a kilometre from the silos these dead trees took my interest beside the road so a quick stop, a few more pics and then that was it.
Just under 6000 ks done, in a relatively short time (10 days). I said to the family before we left that where we were going would be probably some of the safest places in the world, being in some instances so far from people and civilisation as most know it.
We practiced good hygiene and social distancing at all times (when we saw people) and so survived obviously. Yes not ideal under the circumstances but it still was a terrific trip with many hi-lights, even though we missed out on so much of what we had originally planned to see and do. We were so thankful for what we did, and especially thankful for the country we live in.
Hope you all enjoyed the reports and that they gave you some respite from the boredom or restrictions of life as we now know it.
Regards,
Col and Jen.
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The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
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Topic: Pre Carona Trip, Across Oz & Back (Pt 7)
