Day 152 - Longreach to Blackall

08/09/11

We packed up at the Longreach caravan park this morning then decided to explore a little more of Longreach before moving on.

First we visited the School of the Air - found a lot of similarities with the Alice Springs school and some differences as well.  These guys cover an area twice the size of Victoria and have 170 students from years 1-10.  They have extensive programs for each of the grades.  The year 5 project is to design and build a windmill - with the specific idea to involve fathers in the process.  Each year these projects are displayed at the school then replaced the following year.  The variety and ingenuity shown among the items was amazing.


These year 4 projects to build a pioneer shack resulted in a lot of varied shapes and materials - great to see the work of young minds.


They bring in various groups of students to spend a week living at the school.  This was from the Year 2 group who had the theme 'fractured fairy tales" - its Jack in the Beanstalk.


On our way to leaving Longreach we noticed that we were on the Tropic of Capricorn - also a reminder that we're moving out of the tropical wet/dry cycle back into traditional seasons.


Finally goodbye to Longreach and on the road - very gusty south-east wind blowing making going slow.  Next stop Ilfracombe - a small place but found that the locals have done a great job in highlighting their history.  Starts with a long display of machinery by the roadside including this 1928 tractor.


Then there is an amazing collection of bottles and paraphernalia - this is the result of a serious obsessive compulsive.


A nearby display of locals involved in the WW1 Lighthorse is well done.

The town was originally settled to support the Wellshot sheep station and was originally called Wellshot when the railway from the east first reached here in 1888.  Bullock teams would cart the wool from the surrounding stations and take supplies on the return journey. The pub is still the Wellshot Hotel and the place is full of memorabilia from these days.


Inside the pub are these brands from the various stations as well as a heap of well worn hats - most of which have the owners name and occupation.


Next stop Barcaldine.  The main attraction here is the "Tree of Knowledge" - a large tree (now dead after being poisoned in 2006) which was a focal point during the shearers strike of 1891.

The other main industry in Barcaldine seems to be pubs - there are six of them along the main street - five of which have been burnt down at least once.


We then travelled further on to Blackall where we found a free camp for the night.

The Campbells