Sat, 23rd June, 2018 Muloorina Station campground, Lake Eyre to Lake Harry ruins, Birdsville Track, SA (exploring)

7.30 am 3.1 degrees, sun shining in on the kitchen side. 8am still only 5 degrees on the bed side of the truck but we got up. Lots of noise coming from the station as they are loading in the cattle they have mustered.

Steve got the fire going while we had breakfast while we waited for the sun to warm us up.

Eventually got to 13 degrees as we packed up.

Took another track down to the dry Frome River bed and met the road coming from the station.

A loaded cattle truck rumbled by then another one. We followed them for a bit then overtook one on a straight section.

As we were reaching the first one another empty truck was coming towards us. We listened to them chat on the UHF. They are transporting ‘weaners’. The empty truck driver commented about the ‘terrorists’ coming up behind the other truck. We laughed and gave him a wave as he came past us. Sadly though we passed two roos that had just been struck by that truck.

Steve commented that the steering wheel wasn’t centred and wondered if he has bent something in the steering on the corrugations yesterday. Then we heard a strange noise. We pulled over to check it out. He couldn’t find anything with the steering then he looked at the back and found the driver’s side spring had broken which has pushed the rear wheel back. He got out the high lift jack and set about fixing the problem.

As I was no help I made a cuppa then went wandering looking for more crystals. When I came back he had jammed some firewood in to push the spring forward. Then he found some wire and tied up the front part.

I did well with my rock hunting.

The cattle trucks came by and Steve told them we were ok. Steve turned the wheel hubs in and we started the slow drive back in high range 4WD to take the pressure off the back axle. Lucky he is a good mechanic. We still had 30km to get back to Marree. Spotted an emu in the creek.

Back to the turn off – the Ghan rail bridge and embankment.

Into Marree past the race course.

Now that’s not what we expected out here – a yacht club.

Marree

Aboriginal trade routes have existed in this area for centuries providing access for ochre from Lyndhurst and Parachilna, and pituri, a narcotic from the Simpson Desert. The springs 2 km north of Marree formed the junction of the routes which led to the Cooper and Diamantina regions in the north-east, and to the Finke River and the Musgrave and MacDonnell Ranges in the north-west. These original trade routes, explored with assistance from Aborigines, have now been established as the Birdsville and Ooodnadatta Tracks.

During John McDouall Stuart’s first attempt to cross Australia, one of his party, David Hergott discovered the springs to the north of the Marree township. Stuart named them Hergott Springs. They became an important camping place for travellers and for construction workers on the OTL.

In 1883, a new township site was surveyed about 2 km south of the springs and the railway line was built to the new township in 1884. Marree was the official name given to the township survey in 1883 but the area was commonly known as Hergott Springs and the railway station and post office continued to use that name. Signs and post-markers were changed in 1918 due to the hostilities of WW1 and the whole area finally became known as Marree, a sad epitaph for Hergott, a brave explorer, who died in Melbourne in 1861 at the age of 36.

Marree quickly outstripped Farina as the most important service centre for the north and the population rose to 600 in a few years. Stations on the Birdsville Track were supplied by Afghan cameleers from Marree and a strong Afghan community was established on the north side of the line. The use of the railway by the Afghans to move between their communities in Marree and Oodnadatta had some influence on the affectionate naming of the train as the Ghan.

In 1936 Harry Ding, a pioneer motor transport owner from Yunta, successfully tendered for the Birdsville mail run and employed Tom Kruse to drive for him. The flair for adaptation of vehicles by Harry and quiet dogged determination of Tom, started the legend of the Birdsville mail. In 1952 the classic documentary film ‘Back of Beyond’, featured Tom at work delivering mail along the track.

Since the closure of the Ghan Line the population of Marree has declined rapidly, however essential services has been maintained and the Aboriginal people have become involved in the town.

Pulled up beside the old Afghan settlement which went from here out to the racecourse. I went over to check it out while Steve went in search of a mechanic/wrecker hoping to find a spring.

 

A memorial mosque.

1.90c/l for diesel at the Oasis Roadhouse. Old rail carriages make good store rooms. No luck for Steve finding a spare spring.

Inside was a shop, café and lots of information about Donald Campbell and his ‘bluebird’.

BP did a film of the first attempt in 1962 so the people at Muloorina Station had a lot of visitors for a while and were part of the film.

$35 for a 4 litre cask of wine – will do without I think. Obituary of one of Birdsville Track’s legends – Kevin Oldfield.

Maybe we should stick around for this.

Crossed over the railway line past an old engine.

Drove around the township – neat and tidy with old and new homes. Now I wonder if we can have a sign saying Cairns ‘Caucasian’ school.

More carriages being reused.

Parked near the hotel then wandered over to railway station. The railway museum was locked.

Looking across to the hotel and the old things on display. Tom Kruse, the mailman’s old truck and a big wagon.

More info about Sid Kidman.

Wandered over to the hotel. Beautiful stained glass.

Lots of old photos inside. First telegraph station in Hergott Springs (just north of Marree), 1884.

Hergott Springs Station 1890.

Transferring the mail in 1930.

Birdsville Track wool wagons 1890.

The Ghan derailed near Lake Eyre.

Camel train at Hergott Springs.

Some old coins found when they were renovating the hotel.

Nice entrance.

The dining room has lots of information about Stuart’s exploring and is decorated with an old telegraph pole etc.

Another room was dedicated to Tom Kruse – the Birdsville Track mailman. Lots of information and photos.

They made a movie/documentary about him.

The old mail truck did one more run in 1999 from here to the Birdwood Museum, SA after it was discovered and then restored.

Another stained-glass window.

In another room all the boards about Donald Campbell were on display but this time without the glass front so easier to photograph.

Chatted with a chap from Canada who has been here for 4 months and loves it. They had a book exchange here so I got two new books to read. A pilot came in who takes people on flights over Lake Eyre. I commented that he had a great job and he agreed he has the best workplace in Australia. This window dedicated to the Afghan camel men.

Nice mural in the bar. Interesting door.

You can book flights over the Finniss Springs area to see the Marree Man. Found an article about the chap who first carved it in the ground and as it has become such a tourist attraction they have redone it so it can be easily seen.

Greenhide Bronco rope made by one of the Oldfield family from Clayton Station.

Very sad story about a family who perished just off the Birdsville Track in 1963.

Steve thought this was interesting. A small sticker at the bottom says ‘In an emergency – break glass’.

Back to the truck. Steve made another repair to the spring using the big hammer instead of the lump of wood and put some chain on the front as well as the wire.

This is the end of the Ghan railway and telegraph track for us for a bit. We will meet it again when we head back up through Finke to Alice Springs in September.

Onto the Birdsville Track.

Across Frome River again then into wide flat country. Good road – no longer ‘a track’.

A few flat topped hills appeared but mostly it was flat. Past Lake Marion – flat area covered in salt bush.

Pulled into the ruins of Lake Harry palm plantation. A bore has been capped and there are three pipes leading from it to the pastoralist’s dams/tanks and one tap which used to have a shower rose above it. Nice hot water – a bit salty.

Lake Harry

This area was developed in the late 1860s by the SA Government as an experimental date palm plantation. Other plantations were established at Oodnadatta, Coward Springs and Marree, but it was the plantation at Lake Harry that became the largest and most successful. More than 2,000 palms were planted and irrigated by large channels. Many palms were propagated and planted in other area (Renmark in SA and Mildura in Vic still have outstanding examples) but high labour needs and low yields resulted in the closure of Lake Harry in 1915.

Parked on the other side of the homestead ruin trying to get out of the wind. No date palms around here.

The swallows are the only ones living here now.

Checked out the old car and the bits and pieces left behind. Some frame work is still standing that would have held the pipes to send the water around the plantation.

Pretty colours as the sun started to set. Using the windows gives the pictures a nice frame.

The map of today’s travels.

We filled up our buckets with the hot bore water and had our showers while the wind has settled.

Nice temperature for dinner by the fire and cards. It got a bit nippy when a breeze sprang up and blew the cards off the table. We gave up trying to play and went to bed.