around Barcaldine

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Because of the lack of accessible campgrounds further along to Longreach we have decided to stay put here for another 2 nights. The rain persisted overnight and looked like it wasn’t going to stop for another 24hrs. With no caravan park availability and roads into bush camping areas closed all around we thought it a lot easier to alter our plans slightly and just make a day trip to Longreach. It is just over100km west of Barcaldine so not too far a journey in the car. We will secure the caravan, pay the extra $32/night camp fee and off we will go.



We spoke with some other travellers this morning who had just arrived from Longreach – they were camping at the Showgrounds there and had become bogged. They sought help from the showground operators (read: Council) who did nothing to assist them. In the end they had to pay a private tractor operator to pull them out. Upon learning that, we think we have made the right decision to stay here in Barcaldine.



The Australian Workers Heritage Centre has a vision to pay tribute to the people who built the nation and who fought for the ordinary working class. It is made up of several huts, halls and display rooms each one dedicated to various trade unions from over the years and beautifully laid out around a central artesian bore and billabong.



The Tree of Knowledge, a ghost gum, marks the place where the first significant labour struggle began in 1891 when a group of shearers plotted a strike over reduction in pay. The rest, as they say, is history – the Labour movement had begun.



The tree itself was 200 years old when it was poisoned and killed in 2006. A protective screen has been built around the trunk and that in its own right is well worth a look. Comprising over 5000 pieces of recycled hardwood timber that have been suspended from the roof, it measures what would have been the trees canopy. It is a cleverly designed memorial. “History rests forever in the shade of the old ghost gum.”



At the centenary of the shearer’s protest in 1991 an offspring tree was cut – the “Young ‘un” as it is called stands within the grounds of the Workers Heritage Centre. We understand they collect seeds to ensure the continuation of the original ghost gum’s DNA.

After dinner we went for a walk into town to have a look at the Tree of Knowledge lit up at night - it was even more striking.

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