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Published: June 17th 2023
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Heading for the small township of Quorn, located in the Southern Flinders Ranges, we stopped off at the ruins of the township of Wilson, and the ruins of Kanyaka Station. Both of these settlements reveal the folly of trying to farm crops north of the Goyder Line, which was a line drawn across South Australia by Surveyor General George Goyder in 1865, with places above the line receiving an average annual rainfall of less than 250 mm. There were several attempts at cropping north of the Goyder Line when periods of La Nina were present, however, the rainfall soon returned to it’s low average, and the farms were abandoned.
During World War II, Quorn was a vital service point for trains heading north to Alice Springs and carried over 1,000,000 troops heading to Darwin and on to Papua New Guinea. Trains services through Quorn peaked at over 50 per day during and immediately after the period of World War II. The troops passing through the town were all somehow fed a meal by the local CWA Ladies, which would have been a monumental effort given the troop numbers.
Quorn has retained many of its historical buildings in good order,
and this has led to Quorn being the filming location of some of Australia’s best known films including Tracks (2013), Gallipoli (1981), The Rover (2014), The Water Diviner (2014), The Sundowners (1960), Last Ride (2009), Sunday Too Far Away (1975), The Shiralee (1987), Robbery Under Arms (1957), Kangaroo (1952), The Last Frontier (1986), One Night The Moon (2001) and Bitter Springs (1950).
On arriving at Quorn, we hadn’t realised it was a long weekend, and we tried to book into the one Caravan Park in town, without success. We then tried the Lions Park, which had a limited number of caravan sites, however, this was also full. We asked at the Visitor Information Centre, and were directed to the local Recreation Oval for a two night stay for a nominal fee, no power and water though. That was a blessing, in that it forced us to road test our “off grid” capabilities. As we left the Information Centre, we heard a piercing steam whistle, and were informed that the “Coffee Pot”, the only steam engine of its kind still operating in the world was at the station. The Coffee Pot is a small steam engine with a railway carriage
physically attached as one unit. It has been remarkably restored and only runs four times per year, and seats are booked out over twelve months in advance.
One of the highlights of our visit to Quorn was to have lunch at the iconic Quandong café. Quandongs are a native Australian Fruit Tree, also known as the Native Peach. The fruit is red in colour and was prized by indigenous tribes in the outback. Following a delicious vegetarian burger, we shared a scrumptious Quandong and Almond Tart.
On enquiring about the steam trains that run from Quorn Station, we were informed that the Pichi Richi Steam Train would be running the following day, and seats were available. The Pichi Richi railway and steam trains is entirely volunteer run, and each of the volunteers love their roles. We arrived at the station the next morning to catch the train to Woolshed Flat. We enjoyed a hearty morning tea at Woolshed Flat, before returning to Quorn. We then walked through the Quorn Bush Tucker Food and Medicine Garden, looking at and sampling the various bush tuckers that we had seen on our travels, but not known of their food or medicinal
qualities.
On dusk that night, we attended the Light Show projected on to the Quorn Grain Silos. The show was informative about the history of Quorn and the Pichi Richi Railway. For a free Silo Light Show to run every night of the year for visitors, it really showed the friendliness of this small country town.
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