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Published: November 29th 2013
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So the great south trip home begins, just got to retrace the little white lines on the road all the way home, right, how hard can it be? what could possibly go wrong? Well nothing, but some exciting new scenery, oh for some new greenery!, well its been a very dry winter, not so green. We drove the short distance from Boyne River camp to Miriam Vale, (The Good") quaint little highway town situated one block off the bitumen madness of highway 1. We found ourselves a great little coffee shop up on main street, (well its the only street in a little town) ordered perc. coffee and home made bikkies, to set us up for the day. Soon after we were unwinding in a slow paced little town, breath the clean air, gaze up at the forever sky, its so good to be alive, and in the land of the living!
Sadly so many travelers fly through these little gems of towns, boast later, "been there, did that". Well not so fast 'Sonny Jim', did you bother to mosey on into the grand old pub and meet the locals rusted onto the bar, did you take a leisurely stroll uptown and marvel at 18th century architecture?, did you even bother to stop and smell the bloody roses?, probably not. Well Jimmy ole chap, you missed the best part of travelling, you probably told your bored to death audience, "Miriam Vale!!, Mate if you blinked your bloody eyes you would have missed it," and that jimmy ole boy is the unforgivable truth, You did miss it!!!.
The quiet pace of a fine old town, preserved and bottled in the blood lines of the multi generation locals, there are no Palmolives, Lux or Cashmere Bouquet folk here, locals don't say, I don't know them from a bar of soap, everybody seems to know everybody. Big towns are so inpersonal, lost the human touch of a country grin, that is as big as the batwing doors of the ole pub. So next time you fly around Highway One jimmy, treat yourself to a little ole country town, bypassed by the highway madness
, then, you could say "been there, done that".
Little towns and pioneer heritage sites should be visited more often by our fellow travelers, "warts and all", "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Occasionally we come across some warts tucked away in the annals of recorded history of pioneer settlement. One such wart, I spotted on a previous trip in 2007, hoping not to find it, but sadly we did, and there it was, still as offensive as last time. Rather than retrace through Bundy (Bundaberg), we took the inland route, Highway One, to Childers. Along the way we revisited Gin Gin historic rest area, (The Bad) where I think historical facts and attitudes need to be rewritten to reflect a balanced view and account, of the atrocities inflicted on the indigenous in the great land grab of white settlement. (invasion).
Situated prominently at the Gin Gin rest area, is a rock cairn with a plaque telling of the massacre of white settlers by hostile natives, defending their land from the greedy invaders. Now I do not condone intentional violence of any kind, but where on this rose coloured plaque is the account of the sad loss of the many indigenous lives, murdered by the hostile invaders,
their ancient bodies unceremoniously dumped in unmarked graves. We had so much to learn from these ancient people, who are the perennial caretakers of this ancient land. Ironically at the time, I was reading the story of Pemulwuy, the original Rainbow Warrior, who led the resistance of the Eora tribes against the white invasion in and around the settlement of Sydney. Where sadly he was wounded and captured and beheaded in the early 1800's. Inspirational and very enlightening reading of what truly happened at the time of white settlement.
Now I have to be very careful in Queensland with these radical views, but wait there are more, After lunching at Gin Gin, we stayed the night at Appletree Creek rest area, just north of Childers, once again, I find Neanderthal mentality, of a plaque telling of the reclamation of this roadside rest area from what was once "Wasteland", how abhorrent is the term "wasteland. This was probably a wetland marsh, home to all sorts of water dwelling life, but "oh no, not to Redneck Ralph", this is wasteland, how could precious land, an integral part of the earths' ecosystems be wasteland, what were the indigenous folk of Gin Gin,
Waste people, apparently.
Sorry for all the time on the soap box, well not too sorry, however, I would be very impressed if you have read this far. I would totally understand if you thought Morning bird, has just drunk to much coffee and is hyperventing yet again, but I am truly sorry if I have 'wasted' your time with my Greeny rants,
Love and sunshine to all, Morningbird and Littleflower
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