Lingering in Longreach....

Sunday 26th March, 2017




    This morning we woke to another beautiful sunrise, a leisurely breakfast, packed up and hit the road. (it's morning like this that make travel worthwhile...)

We travelled through the township of Tambo, where we saw a road train with five (5) trailers, it was an impressive sight. Luckily we didn't have to give way to it and we continued on our way.



   Our next stop was at Blackall, which is ANOTHER town that lays claim to the 'Black Stump', so we took a picture of us at their black stump, and moved on.


    By lunchtime we had reached the historic town of Barcaldine, the birthplace of the Australian Labour Movement. The town was the centre of "the Great Shearers Strike of 1891", when 1000 shearers went on strike in aid of improved wages and conditions.

    The strike lasted four months, and resulted in thirteen of the strike leaders being imprisoned for 3 years.

    We toured The Australian Workers Heritage Museum, and checked out the tree of knowledge....the birthplace of what was to become the Australian Labor Party.


    By late afternoon we arrived in Longreach, we intend spending three nights here, as there is plenty to see and do.

Monday 27th March, 2017

    

   This morning we took in the sights of the main streets of Longreach. Longreach sits upon the tropic of Capricorn, and a marker at the start of the main street indicates where the line of Latitude passes through the town, (the boundary of the tropic(or torrid) and temperate zones)...although, when it's 38 degrees, I would describe the weather as "bloody hot" not temperate......

   After touring the town we visited the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame. This iconic museum is dedicated to the Stockmen, their families, and landholders that helped build and grow the cattle and sheep industries into the extraordinary industry we have today. It is not just dedicated to the stockmen in remote areas.   There is a plaque dedicated to Joe Atkinson, late of Branxholme, who spent his life working as a horse breaker and stockman, on "Sleat Bank" and "Basset" Stations in western Victoria.

And then there are thing you see that you would never predict in a million years.......

While driving through a residential street, on the nature strip outside an ordinary domestic residence you see a breeding pair of sarus cranes..........  It's OK........I had to look them up on google......

     But these birds are usually found in wetlands (like Kakadu) and one would not usually expect to see them in a suburban street??