Barcaldine, is pronounced Bark-all-din, as was pointed out to us very early in our quick stop there. I can understand this since I’m always correcting people on how to pronounce Windellama (Win-dell-ama) too. You can excuse newcomers, but not people who have been to a place before, or journalists who annoyingly tell people about “Winde-llama” on the news.
Barcaldine is known for being the place where the Australian Labor Party formed after the shearer’s strike and the founding of the Queensland Labor Party in 1892 under the Tree of Knowledge. What’s left of the tree’s stump is protected under a canopy of timber framing where the cutouts replicate the original green canopy of the tree.
Longreach was the destination on this day, and after parking up at the Longreach Tourist Park we walked to the Qantas Founders Musuem, only 500m down the road. The stories about these men and how they set up the first air service in Australia is remarkable and worth looking up. The Avro aircraft in the photo below is the first plane bought by the founders when they started Qantas in Winton in 1920.
The other claim to fame in Longreach is the Stockman’s Hall of Fame across the road from the Qantas museum. Seeing them both on the same day is a $150 day plus the $16 for the plastic souvenir wine glass made in China that Mark mysteriously had to buy.
Next stop was Winton, where we stayed at the Long Waterhole where pelicans and other waterbirds come to fish and glide around, looking very content. Winton is famous for selling boulder opals and for the bones and footprint stampede of dinosaurs, both found nearby.
Having looked at all the opal stores in town, I decided I have enough opal jewelry and that the black and white opals of Lightening Ridge and Coober Pedy are better for that. So we bought a polished boulder opal rock as a genuine souvenir instead.
Last but certainly not least on this leg of the trip is Boulia and the Melbourne Cup of Camel Race days. Outback people know how to have fun and party.
Besides the camel races, which is a serious business, there were also races for lawnmowers, yabbies and truck pulling, amongst other novelty races. With markets, fireworks and comedy shows, the Boulia event is well worth the effort of travelling there. The band was really good too and played each night and the final afternoon.
We will be back!
Travelling Old Farts 