Silver, Dust and a Painting.
Mike Sutherland
Page 2 of 3
Broken Hill is a city of 20,000 people and is mainly concerned with silver and tourism, both of which they know a lot about. We find Broken Hill a city in every way with all the services you may want to make your stay an enjoyable experience. This, being our third trip to the Hill and having done a lot of sightseeing before, there were other special things we wanted to see. So after setting up camp at The Broken Hill Caravan Park we organised a day tour with Tri State Safaris to Mutawintji National Park to see some of the ancient Aboriginal culture and heritage of the area .Our guide for this trip was Bill, a man of many talents, none of which were lost on us. Bill picked us up at 8am sharp next morning and we were off on a day filled with knowledge, insight, laughter and fun. Bill took us to the site of ancient cave paintings and rock carvings as old as time. With his vast knowledge of the land and the people Bill transported us back to a time long ago making the experience all the more real.
After a full day spent with Tri State Safaris and Bill, we parted company with a lot more knowledge and a new friend. Broken Hill is known for its artists and is home to many, such as Pro Hart. Jack Absalom, John Dynon, just to name a few. Broken Hill is a real thrill to the art lover. We have spent many a hour in the past in the art galleries of Broken Hill. The following day also had us up early for a visit to The School of the Air Broken Hill. Where we met the principal and vice principal who were only too willing to explain how the school worked. Maria, being a teacher herself found this most interesting. We also took a look in at The Royal Flying Doctor Service and were given a tour which has given us a greater insight in to the wonderful work The Flying Doctor does for the people of the Outback.
After a wonderful three days in Broken Hill it was time to start the next stage of our trip. We would continue on the Silver City Highway to Tibooburra. After the highway leaves Broken Hill heading north, it becomes dirt, so now we are really getting into the Outback. It is advisable to travel on this type of road at not more than 70-80Ks an hour as they can be quite dangerous. This gives you a chance to take in the scenery and also relax and enjoy the ride. On the way to Tibooburra we came across the little town of Milparinka which also has a gold mining past and some of the buildings can still be seen today in all their glory as they were all those years ago.
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By now we were getting closer to Tibooburra and the painting, so we were a bit excited and a bit apprehensive as it had been such a long time. Would the painting be the same? We arrived at about 3.30 pm and wanted to go straight to the Ranger Station to see the painting and have a chat to the Ranger. As we wanted to stay in the National Park we would have to get a park pass from the ranger, so things worked out well. The ranger station was still there, and the painting was still there, but it had been altered and Angela was no longer there. She had been replaced by a wedge-tailed eagle in the bottom right corner. Maybe this indicates something of Angela’s personality!! We were a bit disappointed as we were so looking forward to seeing Angela in the painting. We told the rangers about the day it was painted, and as they were new to the station they found our story very interesting because no one knew the real history of the painting. Afterwards we were glad we could share some knowledge and also gain some insight about the painting that we had come so far to see.
We made our way to a National Park camping area just outside Tibooburra, where we planned to camp for three nights. This was also a special part of the trip as we had not stayed in the bush being fully self contained since my operation, so we were both looking forward to it. After we set up camp we just relaxed with A couple of West End draughts and what more could we ask for? Just magic! We had our generator set up for lights and the outback turned on a beautiful sunset for us. The next morning we were up and going at about 7.00 am as we had lots to do. First bacon and eggs for breakfast, fresh coffee and toast. The ranger must have smelled the coffee because she was down to see us nice and early. I asked her about the name “Tibooburra” and its origins. She told us that it was Aboriginal for “place of many rocks”.
The town and surrounding area are covered in stones of all shapes and sizes. They make for some good photographs in the light of sunset or sunrise. After breakfast we set out on a walk around our camping area, just the thing after a big breakfast. On our return to camp we decided to go in to town. Not much had changed in twenty years really, just a couple more buildings and a park at the far end of town that was dedicated to Captain Charles Sturt. It even had a replica of the boat he took with him when looking for the Inland Sea back in the 1800’s. The two hotels were still there, the Family and the Tibooburra just as we remembered them. The Family Hotel is the better known because of the Bacchus paintings by Clifton Pugh. It also has Art work by the acclaimed Australian Artists, Max Miller and Russell Drysdale. We spent the rest of the day exploring the local area. One of the things that impressed me was Mt Poole and Poole’s grave. On the top of Mt Poole there is a cairn to mark the time spent there by Captain Charles Sturt and his men. His men were planning to desert so to give them something to do he got them to build the cairn as a mark of respect to James Poole who was his next in command and had died the previous day.
On our return to camp it was time to get the camp oven out for one of our not too bad roast dinners. After a day of exploring we were in need of a good feed. As the dinner went down and the light faded life just got better and better. Next morning I was up early to take some photographs of the sunrise and the landscape. Today was also the day we were to go Cameron’s Corner, this is the place where the three states meet, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. The Dog fence is also out there. The Corner Store is where you can get fuel and a meal and even a drink. Cameron’s Corner is 140 km from Tibooburra through Mitchell grass plains and red sand country. With a full load of fuel and plenty of water we were off on 280km plus round trip on dirt roads .The road (track) was in good condition and we had no trouble in doing the trip. The Corner was just as we remembered it but eighteen years ago there was no corner store. We remember the wooden post that marked the Corner. This is now in the ranger station in Tibooburra, and the spot today is marked by a concrete post and a fence. After a drink at the store, and a top up of fuel we were on our way back to Tibooburra. First we were to check out Fort Grey, one of the camps of Captain Charles Sturt back in 1845. It is now a main camp site in the Sturt National Park, which in part was a sea bed over 120 million years ago.
We were looking forward to some outback hospitality, so at the Family Hotel we had a beer with Pete before sharing a beautiful sunset over the hills back at camp. Next morning we set off on the road again to White Cliffs after saying our farewells to the rangers at the station on the way through. We travelled about 138 km on dirt roads through private property, so we were sure to shut any gates we passed through so as to not upset the property owners. The trip went well, stopping on the way to put in some more fuel from a Jerry can. We had to carry fuel as there is no auto gas out here. As a safe guard we carry up to 40lt of fuel as the petrol tank in the Nissan will only carry 45lt because of the gas tank. On arrival in White Cliffs, and after setting up camp we had a well deserved shower as we had been in the bush for the past three days. White Cliffs is all about opal mining and there are mine shafts everywhere so it pays to watch where you are going .Opal was discovered in the 1890’s. Most of the people live under ground as the temperature can be in excess of 40c in the summer. The town is a mixture of ‘old world’ buildings and dug outs. The Post Office is over 100 years old being one of the oldest buildings in town still doing business today.
One of the things to do in town, is the self guided heritage trail. This will give you a look in to the towns past and also it’s future. You pass by things as diverse as the Pioneer Cemetery and the Solar Power Station. After a stroll around town we went to look for a man we had met over 18 years ago. Back then he had been showing the public the fossilised Plesiosaur that he has discovered while looking for Opals. On making some enquires we were told that, that man was Doug Brook ,still in town and the owner of Outback Treasures, an opal store and gallery. So off we went and, yes, after some introductions, it was the Doug we were looking for, so there was a bit of catching up to do. You can spend an easy two days in and around White Cliffs. It’s a case of the more you look the more you see. One of the places in town we were taken with was Otto Rogge Photography. Otto has some beautiful prints for sale and you can see some of his work on his web site at www.ottophoto.com. He’s a nice bloke and gave me some pointers on my photographic skills.
We were to make Menindee Lakes our camp the next day. So we had to say good bye to our friends at White Cliffs and head to Wilcannia. Wilcannia was once a major river port on the Darling River with many riverboats plying their trade in cargo. Today it is a very sleepy town and a far cry from the heady days of the past. We only passed through and picked up fuel. The road from White Cliffs to Wilcannia is bitumen and in very good condition. Not so the road from Wilcannia to Menindee. This road follows the south side of the Darling River down to the Menindee Lakes and is a main through road, but still it was in need of a good grade to take out the corrugations (about 100ks). Menindee was a welcome sight to the weary travellers. We went to the Copi Hollow Caravan Park and set up camp on the bank of the lake, a beautiful spot.
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