Ilfracombe, Landsborough Highway, east of Longreach, Queensland
Our next caravan park had been highly recommended to us by a number of Grey Nomads, also we had been told to telephone (as many free campers would want to be on electricity because of the bad weather) ahead to the Ilfracombe Caravan Park to reserve a pitch, which on arrival we were so pleased we did. The rain had been pouring down for a few days and lots of our fellow Grey Nomads were wanted the luxury of electricity. Our caravan was in a decent spot but we did have a large puddle to wade through for a day. Our stay here would be for 3 nights, we wanted to do the touristy things here.
The caravan park is owned by a lovely family, the husband and wife team are amazing poets and comedians. Our pitch was a little underwater, but, we managed to manoeuvre the van in just right.
Our first night we ate in the caravan park Bistro.. all very basic but there was a wonderful log fire lit keeping everyone warm. You must remember, it can get very chilly in the outback especially with the rain that we have just endured.
Ilfracombe is renowned for its Mechanical Mile, this is a row of tractors, combines and other farming machinery that lines the main road through this lovely little town. There is a beautiful area where Helen visited too to chill out! The Artesian pool!!
A tour of the Queensland and North Territory Air Services, Qantas museum was also a must do and we weren't disappointed. We had an excellent tour.
Barcaldine
After leaving Ilfracombe we continued travelling on the Landsborough Highway, we had a long stop and walk around the town of Barcaldine... Where we found the "Tree of Knowledge" surrounded by an amazing sculpture. This town is so full of history especially politics and the Labour movement.Labour movement
Barcaldine played a significant role in the Australian labour movement and the birth of the Australian Labour Party. In 1891, it was one of the focal points of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, with the Eureka Flag flying over the strike camp. The landmark Tree of Knowledge, under which the strikers met, stood outside the railway station. In 2006, persons unknown poisoned the tree with the herbicide Roundup, which led to its demise.
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| Tree of Knowledge |
One of the first May day marches in the world took place during the strike on 1 May 1891 in Barcaldine. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that of the 1,340 men that took part, 618 were mounted on horses. Banners carried included those of the Australian Labor Federation, the Shearers' and Carriers' Unions, and one inscribed 'Young Australia'. The leaders wore blue sashes and the Eureka Flag was carried. The Labor Bulletin reported that cheers were given for "the Union", "the Eight-hour day", "the Strike Committee" and "the boys in gaol". It reported the march:
In 1892, the local government area of Barcaldine Division was established, by separating it from the Kargoolnah Division, which had its headquarters in Blackall. Since then, Barcaldine has been the headquarters of local government in the area, commencing with the Barcaldine Divisional Board, which became the Barcaldine Shire Council in 1903, and then the Barcaldine Regional Council in 2008. The initial local government meetings were held in a building in Oak Street, which burned down in 1896. A shire hall was then constructed in 1898 on the south-east corner of Ash and Beech Streets, which eventually became too small. In February 1912 a new larger shire hall was opened and that building (somewhat modified and extended) is still in use today and is heritage listed.
Barcaldine is a very interesting town and we'll visit again one day!!
We carried on our journey to the next town and decided to stay.
Blackhall
Blackall is approximately 960 kilometres (600 mi) by road from the state capital, Brisbane. The town is situated on the Barcoo River and Landsborough Highway (Matilda Highway).Blackall claims to be the home of the original Black Stump, which marks the original Astro Station established in 1887. Places west of this point are said to be 'beyond the black stump'. The Black Stump was moved from its original location to make it more accessible to tourists, and can now be found on the boundary of the Blackall State School grounds, Thistle Street, Blackall. Blackall has many attractions for public use and entertainment, including the Blackall showground, the local pool and the historic Blackall Woolscour.
A visit to the Woolscour was a must.
The Blackall Woolscour, a collection of large sheds containing shearing and scouring equipment built for the Blackall Proprietary Woolscouring Company, commenced operations in 1908 at a cost of about £20,000. Situated 4 km outside Blackall adjacent to the newly opened branch railway line the scour continued to operate until its closure in 1978.
Wool scouring, one of the methods for cleaning impurities from wool after shearing, began as an alternative to sheep washing in Australia (e.g. Beaconsfield Station Sheep Wash) in the 1840s and had almost replaced it by the 1890s . Initially scouring was done by manual methods such as pot and stick or hand box, but by the early 1890s steam driven mechanised scouring dominated the industry.
In Australia the large mechanical scours were generally located in the major urban centres. Western Queensland was the exception with the construction of mechanical scouring plants in Charleville, Barcaldine, Ilfracombe, Blackall, Longreach, Winton, Julia Creek, Richmond, Maxwelton and Alba near Hughenden between the late 1890s and the early 1920s. Of these Blackall scour is the only one to remain intact and was the last to cease operating.[1]
Scouring, probably using the hand box method, began in Blackall in 1893 when William Henry Banks established a scour near the town bore. Operations were transferred in 1900, after disputes with the town council over water leases, to Duneira, Banks's property.[1]
Construction of the railway line to Blackall began in 1905, based on the understanding that local businessmen would establish a woolscour.The same year the Blackall Proprietary Woolscour Company was founded by five members of the local grazing and business community with John Henry Hart as chairman and in December tenders were advertised for the sinking of a bore "not more than three miles from the township of Blackall"; in February 1906 the tender of the Intercolonial Deep Well-Boring Company was accepted.[In September 1906, the Blackall Proprietary Woolsour Company contracted Renshaw and Ricketts, Rockhampton builders, to erect in four months the scouring and shearing shed was using hoop pine from Maryborough.
The plant, offered for sale in 1913, was acquired by Western Queensland Meat Export Company. The Melbourne-based company which already owned a boiling down works and a wool scour in Barcaldine made progressive improvements and modifications to the machinery to increase the efficiency of the scour and therefore its capacity, more than doubling the 1913 output by 1918 to 7640 bales, the largest output in its history. The years of peak production were 1916 to 1920. Business declined in the 1920s with other scours in the region closing temporarily or permanently. The general management of the scour was overseen by Allan Martin Ferguson from 1913 until his death in 1933. Members of the Ferguson family continued to manage the complex until 1957.
The Western Queensland Meat Export Company continued to operate the scour, mostly at a profit, until 1964 when it was sold to K Austin of Glencoe Station. In 1974 CF Thomas Pty Ltd bought the scour and it was closed in 1978 after a storm caused damage to the boiler. Subsidiary activities of the scour included fellmongering, the removal of wool from dead sheep skins; selling petrol for the C.O.R. Company and farming in the 1950s. Shearing was also carried out as a separate activity and wool could be classed and pressed without being scoured. The shearing board is still in use.
In 1988 Blackall Shire Council (now the Blackall-Tambo Regional Council) took out a 99-year lease. The site has since been subdivided to allow the Historic Woolscour Association to purchase most of the buildings and a substantial amount of associated property. The wool storage shed, on an adjoining property, is currently used by a pet food manufacturer. The bore remains the property of R Politch.
From 1998, Brisbane architectural firm Conrad Gargett has undertaken conservation work to stabilise the buildings and provide safe visitor access. The work won an RAIA conservation award in 2003.
Blackall was one of the first Queensland towns to sink an artesian bore in 1885, which now supplies the town with water from the Great Artesian Basin. The water temperature is 58 degrees Celsius. There is an artesian spa bath at the aquatic centre and locally produced soft drinks are made from the artesian water.
We spent a Sunday afternoon chilling out in the wonderful artesian pool for an admission of $2 each, with a very good café on site too.
Monday morning 29 August we travelled 300kms to another lovely caravan park called Evening Star which was highly recommended.
Here in Charleville is the home of the Cosmos Centre and Observatory, this is another definite visit.
The caravan park had a nightly happy hour with a selection of damper that was all free. Our first night we listened to a country singer that we have heard on a number of occasion on various caravan parks.
We travelled into town and booked our tour. Our night time tour meant that we had to use our vehicle at night and I mean it really was dark out here. Unfortunately, no photographs but below is a small piece of information about the centre.
The evening presentation at the Cosmos Centre is a delight. Take a tour with an experienced guide of the Outback Night Sky through powerful Meade Telescopes. See such things as star clusters, planets, nebulae and learn about the Milky Way and how we fit into the Solar System.
OBSERVATORY: Our special observatory is unique, an entire roof is rolled off to reveal the sky as you have never seen before.
A never to be forgotten journey of the night sky.
There is nothing quite like seeing the distant stars & planets with your own eyes through our magnificent telescopes.
If you are ever in the area the Cosmos Centre is just wonderful, we were lucky with the weather and a very clear night sky.
We headed off the next morning travelling further south, unfortunately the weather wasn't good while travelling, rain, rain.
We stopped on a free camp overnight and listened to the rain!!
Trangie
1st September, 2016, we pulled in at the caravan park in Trangie, it was pouring with rain but, Andrew, the owner had a great dry spot for us. We were invited to Pizza night in the lovely little camp kitchen. Andrew and his wife Deb prepare and cook every Thursday evening. We had a nice evening, we shared pizza with two young men, who were helicopter pilots working by looking for flooded roads.... Apparently some major roads are flooded with no way through. It rained all night. We decided to stay another night, hanging on and hoping the rain will stop!!! |
| The Camp Kitchen |
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| Trangie |
The rain eased off and we left on Saturday morning and then stayed for one night at a small town called Molong... here we managed to get a nice meal in the local pub, the place was buzzing.
Sunday 4th we decided to head through a part of the Blue Mountains on route to Richmond. We hit the town of Lithgow and were quite perturbed at the sight of a very steep incline into the Mountains. No worries, we managed to pull the caravan up there and travelled to the conditions. Helen had a good idea of pulling in to the Botanic Gardens, again, a bit scary with a 25ft caravan in tow. The Rangers were fantastic and guided into a good place to put the rig, enabling us to do a bit of sight seeing.
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| Restaurant full, its Fathers Day |
After our visit, we travelled to the town of Richmond, which is north west of Sydney. Our intention is to stay at the Wanderest Richmond Club. The club allows caravaners' to stay in an old part of their carpark for a maximum of 72 hrs. It was great, we became members and had a few meals in the club.
Our next destination is Lane Cove National Park, Sydney. We will be celebrating our youngest Grandsons 2nd birthday the weekend of the 9th, 10th September. We will be staying here for a few weeks, then putting the caravan in storage and helping our daughter and partner in their house move.
The next update on the blog will be of our tour of Tasmania, where we stayed for 4 months.
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