43 To Winton & Charters Towers 18 July

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July 19th 2012

Published: July 19th 2012

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DonPattie

Aramac White Bull

Rustled in 1870

We omitted to mention that on the way from Charleville to Blackall we came across a recently upturned car and caravan. It appears that they lost control, fishtailed and overturned both the car and caravan. Luckily no-one was hurt. Many of the accidents involving cars and caravans are single vehicle accidents illustrating that towing a caravan is not always a doddle. The choice of a towing vehicle and the dimensions and dynamics of the caravan are very important. We would also have to say that that particular road would be the worst sealed road we have traveled on in our journey. Parts are safe at 100kmh, and parts are dangerous at 70kmh. Oncoming traffic also adds to the hazard, by narrowing the available road.

When we arrived in Barcaldine, we stayed at the same campground we stayed in in April 2011, thus completing the circuit of Australia. However, there is still more to do! It was campsite no 10 the first time and 110 the second!

The powers that be undertook a survey in Barcaldine and counted 30,000 caravans and campers passing through in 6 months. This has to be looked at in the light of a permanent population

Back roads

Driver's view

of 1700.

This time we took an all day tour with an old drover and rodeo worker, Tom Lockie. We drove about 250km around the area and Tom kept us in stitches with his dead pan humour. He is passionate about the early history of the area and the characters that created it. Not to mention the incompetence of local, state and federal government.

His tour took us to and through Aramac where there stands a statue of a white bull which was rustled in 1870 and is a long story in itself. After a bit of vandalism, his balls are now kept in the Council offices! We went out into the country and had saw remnants of a staging post, some aboriginal carvings and views. It was full on all day and always entertaining. What will happen when the old characters like Tom pass on? Our tour roughly followed one of the old Cobb & Co coach routes, not easy by horse and stagecoach.

Moving west, we passed through Longreach and moved to Winton, about 300km away. We wanted to return to the Matilda Campground where we had heard Mel and Susan, two bush poets. They

Billy tea

are still here and the “concert” this time included a NZ tourist haka that we found hilarious. We are traveling in the same general direction as Rowan and Glennis two NZers who moved to the Gold Coast about 5 years ago, so luckily we were not alone.

In Winton, there was a new building going up on the main street. It was the only one we have seen in our tours of the outback. However, its going to house a government department, so does it count as economic recovery?

Then north to Hughenden and the Porcupine Gorge National Park and east again to Charters Towers, about 130km inland from Townsville. From about Charleville north, the farming has been sporadic. There is no cropping anymore, and we only see the occasional cattle or sheep. There’s lots of grass due to plenty of rain over the last two years, so in patches there are lots and lots of kangaroos and other wildlife.

The Charters Towers area was opened up for grazing in 1872, and gold was promptly discovered. At its peak, the town had 65 pubs, 11 quartz crushing mills and its own stock exchange. Many of the buildings