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Published: August 21st 2009
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Tablelands (1)
Taken from top of Australian Great Divide Atherton Tablelands and the Great Divide, Queensland, Australia
After leaving Lake Barrine, I traveled through the Atherton Tablelands. This area is primarily farming and dairy country in Australia. It reminded me a lot of England's rural areas....but seeing dairy cows standing under palm trees tipped me off that this wasn't the English countryside! Based on what my tour guide said, the Tablelands was pretty much a rain forest until just after WWII. After the war, many veterans bought land and started clearing out the trees in order to start farming. There were several places where I saw the rain forest begining to reclaim land that had been left untended.
Here's a brief history of the Atherton Tablelands that I found at http://www.athertontablelands.com.au/pages/back-in-time-tableland-history-trail/:
Back In Time - Tableland History Trail
The Atherton Tableland is a place steeped in history and played a major role in World War II. There were over 100,000 troops located around the Tablelands and you can visit the Rocky Creek War Memorial Park, which has dedicated over 108 plaques to the many troops from various countries, who fought and lost their lives during the war years here. Rocky Creek is approx 12 minutes drive
Tablelands (2)
Taken from top of Australian Great Divide from the town of Tolga, and can be visited on your way to Atherton from Mareeba or vice versa.
The town of Atherton, originally called Priors Pocket, grew out of the camps that sheltered the men working in lumbering operations when cedar was plentiful and cheap, and the first official town lots were sold on 23rd February 1886. W.B. Kelly, known as the "Father of Atherton", who engaged in the store and hotel-keeping business was the first person to select a site. Some of the early pioneers of the town were Neil McGeehan, who built and occupied the very first cottage on the town site, Charles Tucker, who brought sheep to the Tableland, the Loder family, who manufactured both cheese and butter, George Windhaus, who grew and processed eight to ten acres of coffee on a site east of Hallorans Hill and the four Mazlin brothers, timber-getters and sawyers, who cut much of the timber used in the erection of the early buildings in the town.
The Atherton War Cemetery is located just off the Kennedy Highway, near the International Club. Here you will find the white identical headstones erected in tribute to those who died fir their
Kim with Tablelands
Taken from top of Australian Great Divide country.
The Pioneer Cemetery which is located on Herberton Road, next to the Transfer Station, is an interesting place holding the history of many of our great pioneers. Although many may think that wandering through cemeteries is a morose thing to do, it's actually quite interesting to read the many different inscriptions and old dates written on the headstones.
The next town on the list is Herberton. Herberton's main claim to fame is Tin Mining. Willie Jack and John Newell found tin in Prospectors Gully, in the present town of Herberton, and smelted some in a tree stump at the present post office site to prove it actually was tin. In 1880 a Chinaman reported tin and the Chinese flocked to Herberton to find it. Willie and John returned to Prospectors Gully and found the Great Northern Lode on April 20, 1880, resulting in John registering the first discovery of lode tin in Australia. Thanks to some target shooting later that year, a lode of native silver was uncovered and the Silver Valley was named.
Driving through the town (Grace Street) the Camera Museum is first on the visit list. Here you will see the huge camera
Tablelands (3)
Taken from top of Australian Great Divide collection displayed, including the first Russian Spy camera, one made entirely from gold and many other weird and wonderful cameras and equipment. Turn right into William Street, then left into Ellie Street, then left again into John Street where you'll see the Mural on the left depicting the history of Herberton. Last on the list is the new Tin Mining Museum located on Jack Street. You can see displays of minerals, metals and tin and information on the alluvial and hard rock mining, while the larger mining equipment is displayed outdoors. There are also various walking trails that head off from the car park, where you can see the Gully Shaft (first shaft), the Eastern Shaft (begun in 1886 and 600ft deep), and the New Gully Shaft. Original buildings still stand today.
Yungaburra was first called Allumbah, which was the Aboriginal word for "Red Cedar". Land was surveyed in 1886 for group settlement and Allumbah village was chosen. A shanty pub was built by H S Williams and Maud, one of his daughters aged 16, came from the farm in Carrington to manage the shanty. In 1910, the railway came through from Tolga and the town name was changed from Allumbah to Yungaburra. The shanty pub was turned into a flour mill, and then later H S Williams built the famous Lake Eacham Hotel, now called the Yungaburra Pub. Many of the original buildings still stand today and can be seen and some even entered as they are still operating shops. Yungaburra's first church was St Marks Anglican and built in 1911. St Patricks Catholic Church followed 2 years later in time for the wedding of Maud Williams to Jack Kehoe, a station master. You will also find a street named after him.
My tour then crossed the Australian Great Divide and went into the Outback. The change in climate was noticeable right away and it actually surprised me that it was so dramatic. As I continued going westward the dirt became more red and the trees thinned out and turned into mostly scrub brush.
To see my photos go to: http://picasaweb.google.co.th/kdupak/03July2009AustralianGreatDivide?feat=directlink
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