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 Topic: My Latest Trip (Partt 1)
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12/8/2020 at 3:14am
Location: Melbourne Australia
Outfit: Windsor Rapid Off Road Van + tents
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Hi all
It was mid school holidays and we could travel, so we took the opportunity to do a loop up into New South Wales (the next state above Victoria) to visit a few places that I hadn’t been too for awhile. Taking all precautions and knowing our penchant for remote camping, we knew that we and the places we visited would be ok.
The day we left the forecast was not all that good, but over the next week it was hopefully going to improve.
We drove north heading for the silo art trail just out of Benalla. Even though we had seen most of them before, new artwork since had us wanting to see them again.
Our first stop was at Goorambat, renowned Australian artist Jimmy DVate was chosen to paint the towns silos in 2018, he decided to feature an endemic threatened bird species, a Barking Owl.
The Owl is now considered to be an endangered species and there is said to be only 50 breeding pairs currently living in the wild. The mural would hopefully bring to the general publics attention, the perilous situation the birds was in and make all aware of the need for more habitat protection.
In 2019 Jimmy was asked to return to town to paint another silo for the residents and the general public. He created a magnificent tribute to three Clydesdale horses that had originated from the area, Banjo, Clem and Sam.
Banjo was a locally bred horse, in time his owners moved him from Goorambat to Toowoomba where he became a Queensland Ploughing Champion, even doing well in the show ring.
Later Banjo's brother Clem was sent to Toowoomba to join him, the pair turned out to be a highly trusted team and would work displays at the local museum, they also won hundreds of ribbons at local shows as well. The third horse is Sam, the grandson of Banjo.
A short distance up the road is the small community of Devenish, the silo art there has really put the town on the map as a place to now visit. The Devenish silo art pays tribute to the 50 or so local men and women who enlisted into the military during World War One. It represents the sacrifice people make for others whilst in military service, it also acknowledges both the historical role of nurses and modern-day military medics and the role women have and do play in the military.
The silo to the far right was the one we hadn’t seen previously.
The Australian Light Horsemen were a tough breed who served as mounted infantry brigades during World War One. At the start of the war the 5th and 7th Light Horse Brigades were based in Victoria and included the 17th (Campaspe) Light Horse Regiment which was based in the region near Devenish. An interesting fact is Australia sent over 122,000 horses to WW1 and only one returned.
There’s more to see in town other than the silos, the busy main street has some interesting architecture!!
This display of farm machinery and other items took my interest.
So cool to see how things were done in days gone bye. Another pic of the silos and we were on our way to the next town, St James.
The silos at St James were painted by local artist Tim Bowtell in April 2019, (he just recently completed the acclaimed Colbinabbin silos, some of the best artwork of its type in Australia). The theme of these silos was to capture some of the towns early history and one of its more famous residents, George James Coles (known as GJ)
In the early 1880s his father had opened a couple of stores in the town and nearby. In 1906 GJ bought the stores from his ailing dad, later selling them just before the outbreak of WW1. During the war two of his brothers were killed and he was lucky to survive being severely wounded.
After his return he opened a store with another brother AW Coles in Smith Street Collingwood. From there the business grew from 100 pounds in 1914 to 1,132 million dollars in 1972. GJ Coles never forgot where he came from and returned many times to St James to visit family and friends.
The Coles company made a generous donation towards the St James Silo Art Project.
The next town up the road was Tungamah, since our first visit the artist Sobrane had returned to town to add to the the silo featuring the Kookaburra. She added a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Superb Fairy Wren, Pink Galah an Azure Kingfisher and the “Bin Chicken”, otherwise known as the Australian White Ibis.
We headed across the border at Yarrawonga and pulled up at Daysdale, very little has changed there since 1922!! A couple of pics before some info.
The first post office was opened in 1876 (operating out of the pub), just over 20 years later this building became the centre of the towns activities when a telegraph line was connected to Albury.
The Catholic Church was built in the 1920s, just before a mass exodus of most of the towns residents. After the war the men folk who returned were doing it pretty tough, then soldier settlements were offered to the returned servicemen down along the Murray River and around Yarrawonga, most of the town up and left as what was offered was considerably better than what they had returned to.
The Butcher shop opened in 1907 and closed in the mid 1920s, whilst I was taking the shot the current owner popped out and told us its and the towns history. She owned a number of buildings in town and was proud of their heritage.
We stopped for lunch at Urana, I spun a bit of a tale here telling Kristie that the town was famous for having nearby the biggest spider found in the world. The one she then saw on the towns silo was I said, a near life size replica of the local monster. I can be pretty convincing at times and assured her that at this time of year they were in hibernation and we weren’t going to be camping nearby anyway. The look on her face for the brief moment of, not sure if I was pulling her leg or not, was priceless.
Urana was gazetted in 1859 being the first “village” in the central Riverina. It has more than just the silo to attract visitors with some quite impressive buildings and art work.
We were a little concerned about how we would be received considering the recent dialogue from many in NSW re Melbourne’s covid out breaks and their residents, but this first pub made us feel right at home. The front of it is basically a facade as most of the building behind had been demolished some years previous.
Both hotels were in existence in the late 1860s, the Royal George had an upper story added in 1926 and the Urana Hotel under took major renovations during the art deco period (around the late 20s and early 1930s) giving it the look you see today.
One of the most impressive buildings in town is the Soldiers Memorial Hall built to honour those who served in WW1.
It had some quirky art work as well, this is fairly self explanatory with a farmer moving some sheep and a local nag having a drink.
If quirky art work and dioramas are your thing, then the town of Lockhart is a must visit. Pretty sure that some were pre Covid particularly the first!!
Many featured the common and not so common species found locally!!
This piece (as well as many others) was constructed by award winning local Andrew Whitehead.
The towns water tower has taken on a life of its own since being painted by artists, Scott Nagy and Janne Birkner (Aka Krimsone) in October 2018
After leaving Lockhart we headed for Milbrulong, the towns name being derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning “Rosella Parrot”. There were a number of old buildings still standing, the Boundary Inn Hotel (which had been closed for many years) was undertaking renovations which were probably 50 or 60 years over due.
But the reason we came to town was to see their recently painted water tower featuring the towns mascot/symbol.
Only a couple of ks from our intended camp on the Murrumbidgee River west of Wagga Wagga, we stopped to photograph these impressive water tanks located at rest areas on opposite sides of the Sturt Highway.
Heading down to the river and our camp.
It had been a pretty full day since we had left Melbourne that morning, so after setting up the van we lit the fire and settled in. Some nice colour in the sky was a lovely way for the day to end.
Day one had come to an end, well almost!!!!!!!
It had started to rain about 8 and as it was a bit picaddilly we decided to head in doors. Twenty minutes later the wind had picked up a bit so I got up to go outside to fold the awning away when there was an enormous bang as we were hit by the strongest wind gust that we had ever experienced. It literally ripped an awning arm away from the van (snapping it off at the bottom and top attachment as well) it also ripped half the awning material from the roller and twisted the whole shebang up and onto the roof of the van. I could barely open the door against the wind, all hands were on deck as we rushed out to try and secure things, which we eventually were able to do. We were all drenched and once back inside with dry clothes on were quite shocked by what had just happened. Maybe 10 minutes later there wasn’t a breath of wind, an extremely freakish event.
Well most of my holidays are fairly full on, packed with excitement and adventure, day one had certainly given us all that and more, what would transpire over the next 7 days??
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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