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Published: August 15th 2014
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Underneath the Arches
We were camped between the Capricorn Highway and the rail bridge at the edge of Emerald Botanic Gardens. I wanted to have a walk through the Emerald Botanic Gardens so I set my phone alarm to go off at 7am. I got up and left Barry sleeping, tired after all the driving. It was lovely strolling quietly along the pathways past palm groves and bamboo stands next to the Nogoa River. There were lots of Rainbow Lorikeets and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos just stirring at the entrance but not many in the Garden itself. I was surprised at how many picnic tables and bins there were, as well as an exercise circuit (with several people running along it or exercising their dogs there), and two rotundas. Best of all were the beautiful Bougainvilleas along the fence on one side. They were totally covered in flowers and had a wide range of colours, not just the purple we tend to get in Melbourne.
I had set my phone to go off at 8am, to remind me to go back, and it did - while I was at the far end of the garden - so I had to walk briskly back for breakfast.
While we were getting ready to leave the “Spirit of the Outback” Passenger Train came across
The Spirit of the Outback
This train only runs twice a week between Brisbane and Longreach. the bridge above us, very fast. It runs a service from Brisbane to Longreach twice a week, and back again- Tuesday and Saturday from Brisbane and Monday and Friday from Longreach (with Sunday and Thursday for turn-arounds, I presume). We finished hitching up and set off through the town, only stopping for me to activate my bank account card at the bank and buy a few things in Woolworths that I couldn’t get in Coles yesterday.
We had started to head out of Emerald, when Barry spotted an enormous painting on an easel in a park. I remembered reading about it in one of the information brochures and wanted to have a look, so we turned around at the next roundabout and found a parking spot next to Morton Park. There in the middle of the park, surrounded by a small circular garden, was a 25 metre tall easel with a 14 metre copy of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, painted by Canadian Cameron Cross, standing on it. It was painted in 1999 and celebrates the region’s reputation as a major grower of sunflowers (not in season so we hadn’t seen any). The easel weighs 13.6 tonnes and the painting is
The Enormous Easel
This enormous copy of Van Gogh's painting "The Sunflowers" stands in Morton Park, Emerald. It was chosen as the area is well known as a sunflower producer. 4.5 tonnes. It is the largest painting in the Southern Hemisphere.
We noticed an Information Centre at the end of the park and went in. We were told about the Centenary of Federation Mosaic Pathway leading to the painting from just outside the Centre. It is 100 metres long and celebrates the 100 years of history in Emerald since federation. The 21 mosaics are brightly coloured circles laid in the footpath in groups of three, each having a theme: Creation, Aboriginals, Exploration and Settlement, Early Days, Settlement, and finally The Future. They were all wonderful and one, the black and white Yin and Yang symbol with red blood pouring out of it to represent the massacres of Aboriginals, was very poignant and chilling. My favourites, though, were the exploration by Leichhardt watched by an Aboriginal couple; the coal mining plaque with its large yellow machinery and the last of the Future Group – a satellite flying above the blue Earth. I really enjoyed looking at them and reading their meanings.
While we were in the Information Centre (which, incidentally, was constructed of straw bales!), the lady showed us a flood marker that was set about calf height above
Emerald Heritage Railway Station
This lovely station is still in use for the "Spirit of the Outback" train that comes through twice a week in each direction. the floor and which marked the level of the 2011 flood, and inundated a lot of the town. We would have been completely submerged where we were camped last night! She has built her house much higher up on the slope; is on steel stumps well set into the ground; and has her own generator and septic tank so she is not affected directly by the floods.
We discovered, too, that Emerald (established in 1879) is not named for the gem, but rather after the property of one of the pioneers from 1861, MacDonald, which he named Emerald Downs because it was so green and lush (must have been summer and the wet season!).
The lady suggested we went up the road to see the Heritage Railway Station, still in use by the “Spirit of the Outback” train passengers, and into the CBD, where there were a lot of sculptures.
It looked like a lot of walking so I went back and picked up my stick from the ute and we set off for the station, originally built in 1900 and restored in 1986. It was very pretty and had a lot of iron lacework all over
Exploration
One of the lovely mosaics that makes up the Centenary of Federation Pathway. It shows Leichhardt trekking his way across the outback watched by a couple of the local tribes people. the front and nice polished woodwork inside. In the CBD, we also saw some 250 million year old fossil trees, which had been gifted by Broken Hill, and still showed the tree rings; two intricate bronze inlays set into the footpath; some colourful banners on street lamp posts; a silver coloured, stainless steel “wave” with 6 streams to represent the water as it flows out of the Fairbairn Dam, sitting in a garden on a roundabout; and the “Hands on the Wall” – panels with 96 handprints recognising the contribution to the community, as well as their reliance and bravery during the 2010 and 2011 floods and during Tropical Cyclone Yasi. My favourite, though, was the 3 “Place-Time Sticks”, which were each 4.6 metres tall and shaped like very tall, skinny, square pyramids that were decorated with coloured panels, steel engravings and stainless steel sculptures representing the town’s past, present and future. It was fascinating going around all the sides and discovering something new everywhere. It was very unexpected to see so many interesting and decorative street art pieces and I really enjoyed exploring them.
By this time we were getting tired and thirsty so we sat
Settlement
This mosaic from the Centenary of Federation Mosaic Pathway shows the coal mining that is the major industry of the area. down for a rest and an iced coffee each. Then, refreshed, we went back to the ute, feeling we had seen quite a lot of Emerald, after all, and hit the road to Sapphire.
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