2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Wed, 20th June, 2018 Bush camp, Strangways Siding to Coward Springs Campground, Oodnadatta Track, SA

7am 6.4 degrees – warm!! Compared with the last couple day it is. Still low black clouds hanging around but you can see blue sky through them. No sun to warm us but there is no wind which is good. Steve got the fire going from the coals from last night – good timber here. Two cyclists rode by – they must be freezing.

Packed up and drove across the road and up the track to Strangways Overland Telegraph Station ruins on a ridge. Like Peake it was used by pastoralist’s first – sheep wool wash site. There are also Mound Springs here which is why the pastoralist etc chose this place.

Strangways Springs

These were discovered by Major PE Warburton in 1858 and the surrounding area was taken up for sheep grazing in 1862. The remains of the woolshed, yards, homestead, water tank and cemetery are still evident and date from the mid 1860s. In 1870 Strangways was chosen as a site for a repeater station on the OTL as it had an assured water supply and accommodation for staff. This complex remained in use until 1896 when the telegraph line was moved to the railway line and the telegraph office to William Creek. North of Strangways, the Oodnadatta Track follows a new alignment built on the Old Ghan railway embankment. This construction took place in 1988 to overcome a difficult creek crossing and a dune field.

Interesting gate! Lucky we are able-bodied.

Lots of information.

Three walks here too. Picked up a brochure and headed off.

The ground is covered in shale type rock.

A dried up mound spring but the hollow must still hold water to keep the reeds alive.

Came to the cross roads for the walks – more information.

More mound springs.

Walked around the Settlement first. The Manager’s residence and Telegraph Station has fallen apart. Good signage here too.

The stone water tank beside it is holding up well.

The Police Station (c1886) is just rubble.

Behind that is the Woolshed (c1867) with dry stone walls to keep the sheep enclosed.

An original telegraph pole, native pine (Callitris) brought to this treeless area by dray from the Flinders Ranges. The pine is termite resistant and has a strong, straight trunk.

The ground is covered in broken bottles.

The kitchen and living quarters (c1867) – built for the pastoralist then extended during the Telegraph Station era.

Nearby is the Ration Store also from the pastoralist era.

The Men’s Quarters & Store was also built by pastoralist then extended during the OTL era.

Mounds are everywhere. I wonder if they were all flowing when this area was being used in the 1800s etc. This one is behind the Men’s Quarters and they must have sat up here and thrown their beer bottles down the hill as it glitters with broken glass.

Onto the Mound Springs Walk. Frankenia Spring is one of the many extinct springs at Strangways. The small grey-green mounded ground-cover here is a Frankenia. It has tiny pink flowers and is common near springs and other saline areas.

Two trees growing together.

Reedy Spring has just enough moisture to support a small patchof tall bamboo-like reeds (Phragmites), along with sandhill wattles and turkey-bush.

Continued on the walk. Steve spotted this bullet on the ground. The poor boy still has his blister from raking the spinifex when we were detecting.

The small cemetery is on the sandy ridge where digging was easy. It has both marked and unmarked graves. This poor lady had a sad story – dying in childbirth. She was the wife of a telegraph linesman.

More mounds – this one is very rocky.

Sedge Spring is a small rocky spring which includes two sedges (the smaller and finer Cyperus laevigatus and the taller Cperus gymnocaulos), typical of many mound springs. The ledges indicate the original depth of the pool. The overflow forms a tail of permanent water supporting the sedge community.

The water continues down the slope then just stops.

I thought this was an unusual bush then realised it was upside down. It has become a big tumble weed.

Salty ground where water has flowed at one stage.

Cutting Grass Spring. This large mound is well vegetated, including cutting grass (Gahnia trifida). Cutting grass occurs at some other mound springs, but its nearest other occurrence is hundreds of kilometres away in south-eastern Australia. There is no pool at the top here.

Glad we have our coats on as it is still very chilly. Luckily Steve keeping an eye out for the path markers.

Waterfall Spring has a pool at the top and as the water falls off the top ledge it makes a nice waterfall which feed a tail of tall, dark green Juncus rushes and small Cyperus sedges, though the flow has diminished. In 1871 a north-bound traveller wrote that showering under the fall was ‘… a very good sort of arrangement and by opening your mouth you can get a mild dose of medicine.’ There are isopods, water snails with native couch, sedges and samphire plants.

Climbed up the top to the pool. I think you would get more than a dose of medicine if you put that water in your mouth these days. Steve tried the water as it came over the falls – cold and a bit salty.

Saltbush Spring is supposed to be damp supporting rushes and saltbush (Atriplex), low bushes with silver-green leaves but I think it has dried up now.

More broken glass as we headed back to the main settlement.

Back to the junction then onto the Woolwash Walk. Info off the brochure.

Drilling site – much research has been conducted into the ground-water systems of the Basin. This drilling site found that springs have been active at Strangways for at least 60,000 years.

Looking over the gibber plains to Beresford Hill, 15km away, a single extinct mound spring.

The dark clouds over us decided to plop a few drops of rain on us.

Continued on the trail to the site of the Woolwash. The fenced spring was the water supply for the adjacent woolwash plant. Early photographs show fluming carrying water to troughs where the wood was washed by an agitating mechanism. Clean wool was lighter and cheaper to transport southwards and sold better at markets. The spring has declined in flow since those days. It was fenced in the mid 1980s to prevent damage by stock.

Back to the truck for a cuppa. The sun has come out now which is lovely but it has awaken the flies!! Warm enough to take off the big coats now.

When Steve was little they lived in Mitchell which is in the Great Artesian Basin. They had a new Forestry house and it had 6 galvanised 44 gallon drums side by side under the house. The very hot bore water would be piped into them to cool down before going up into the house pipes. He also remembers the winters – frozen water pipes. You couldn’t get a drink of water at school till after 11am. He remembers once his Mum or Dad leaving the sprinkler on watering a tree when they first rented a place in town, while the Forestry house was being built. When they got up in the morning the sprinkler had frozen and there were icicles hanging on the tree. Erica has a photo of it.

Headed back to the main track and on to Beresford Siding and Dam.

Beresford Siding

This was named after GWD Beresford, private secretary to Governor MacDonnell. This complex includes fetters’ cottages, a flowing bore and a Kennicott water softener. A dam which supplied water for steam locomotives is a haven for birds.

Lots of interesting things to see here. The capped bore and old pipes. No water in this dam.

Steve spotted a rabbit but he quickly disappeared down his burrow. Old railway line and the stand pipe.

This building has lasted well. Looks like it has been restored at some stage.

Inside Steve found some interesting comments on the walls. Sadly the roof has collapsed in the middle section so it won’t be long and the rest will follow I suppose.

Nice view – of the dunnies!!

Evidence of when copper was worth pulling out of electrical cables to sell.

Another shed out the back.

This is what they used to dig out the dam – pulling it behind horses.

Back to the OT with the railway embankment still on our left. Past Beresford Hill (72m).

Further on the map it showed that Warburton Springs are near another flat topped hill but it is fenced so no access into it.

Crossed over the railway line and continued through more gibber plains.

Into the Mound Springs (Wabma Kadabu) Conservation Park. Past a large salt pan. This area is called Kewson Hill and there are lots of active mound springs here.

On the other side of the hill we spotted one mound spring though it looks like it has dried out. The fence was lying down so we climbed up and went up for a look. Very salty top. Found a little trickle of water coming out which is slowly going down on to the flat.

Steve found a little hole where water was sitting in a hollow.

Another cyclist goes by.

Past more mound springs then onto open flat land again. The old railway cottage of Coward Springs Station has been renovated by Greg and Prue and they have created a campground here.

Coward Springs

Tom Coward passed through this area with the Warburton Expedition of the 1850s. Greg Emmett, a builder formerly from Kangaroo Island, has taken a lease on 30 hectares of land at Coward Springs. His dream is to restore as much of the townships’ original character as possible and to provide ‘low key’ camping and accommodation.

Lots of broken bottles as we drive in.

A soak in the artesian pool sounds inviting. Decided to stay the night so put our camp fee in the honesty box and picked up one of the history boards then found a spot to camp. Lots of nice spots in the shade of the big Tamarisk trees (planted here in the 1930s) but we wanted one in the sun to warm us up.

Picked a spot next to the long firepit – Steve thought this was a great idea – half a big gas bottle.

Went for a walk with the ‘information board’. The campground is the site of the Coward Springs Hotel (Licenced from 1897 to1953 then it was a store till 1962) back when this area was a little village beside the railway siding. Hence all the broken bottles as we came in. The hotel was demolished in 1965 and the timber and corrugated iron was used on a pastoral station on the Nullabor Plains. Around the corner from us is an old bird aviary which was built by the publican, Roy Lewitzke. He kept parrots and supplied the Adelaide Zoo with them in the 1940-50s.

The toilets (made in 2001) are made out of old standard gauge railway sleepers from Farina (the ones around here are narrow gauge) and decorated nicely with old ceramic insulators as door knobs etc. Interesting sign on the rainwater tank.

This was the rainwater tank at the back of the hotel. It was originally roofed and sealed with bitumen paint.

Further over is the shower block heated by a ‘donkey’. This was built in 1990 using standard gauge sleepers from the Kingston line (south-east SA).

Lots of date palms about. The Afghan cameleers brought them to South Australia. Two acres were planted with them in 1898.

The corellas moved in for a noisy session in the tree beside us while we had our lunch.

The flies are here too and were so bad I had to eat my lunch under my fly net. Steve thought that was a photo he had to get.

Greg, the owner, stopped by to say hello. I asked him about Beresford Siding being restored. He said did a lot of work 15 years ago and thought it would make a great hotel/tavern but it never eventuated. Steve asked about firewood and he suggested going on 8km and collecting the old railway sleepers as you can’t cut down anything in the Conservation area. He headed off to do that while I walked around with my ‘info board’.

The original Oodnadatta Track ran past the front of the hotel. The new track was made in 1965. The railway houses were built in 1886 from sandstone quarried in Quorn. Steam engines were phased out from 1954 so Coward Springs siding and its buildings become insignificant.

Where the railway line would have been.

Further over I checked out the spa pool. The original bore was sunk in 1887. The casing eroded by mineral salts by the 1920s. Several attempts were made by the Dept of Mines and Energy to ‘kill’ the old bore. In 1967 the water flow rate was reduced but the water still flowed freely. In 1992 a new bore was drilled to relieve pressure from the original bore. Between August and October 1993 the old bore was successfully rehabilitated. Water now flows at a controlled and reduced rate through the spa pool and then into the wetlands. This ‘natural’ spa was constructed to imitate the old pool created by water bubbling uncontrolled from the Great Artesian Basin. (32 p.s.i. 102 metres deep – first flowed 27 June 1992).

Spotted an interesting bird.

Walked around the other side of the spa to the wetlands. Climbed up on an old stone wall (I think from the original pool) to get above the reeds so I could take a photo of where the water comes out from the spa. Info off the board about the wetlands.

Three bore drains were constructed and maintained to water stock. Although today only cattle are stock on pastoral properties above the ‘dog fence’, sheep and goats were run here for many years. They were, however, yarded nightly, safe from dingoes. I met Prue who was heading off to look at the birds on the wetlands.

Steve arrived back with his sleeper firewood. We set up camp then changed into our togs to try out the spa.

I didn’t notice on the map that it said the water was only 29 degrees. Luckily the sun is out and the timber walls protect us from a chilly breeze. It is 1.3m deep and had a sandy bottom but the walls were covered in a weed so I stayed in the centre. The water gushed in and around us. We chatted with a cyclist from Gippsland, Vic. He is heading to Darwin than is planning to ride to Czech Republic to reconnect with his mother’s heritage. Started to feel cool so we headed back to the truck for a hot shower before checking out the museum. It was salty but didn’t leave your skin feeling dry.

Walked over to the old railway building precinct. Greg and Prue renovated the Station Master’s house and then the Engine Drivers’ Cabin as the museum. They have done so much work and presented it all so beautifully. I haven’t seen any camels about – should have asked about them when we saw Greg earlier.