Our next destination was the town of Stanley, about 230km north-west of Launceston.
The road leading to the town was of good quality, with plenty of stopping places to view the ocean and scenery.
The town is located on the base of the ‘Nut’, an(other) extinct volcano, which the first peoples called Munatrik.
We’re starting a new journey today. Last December, we took a road-trip from Sydney to Central Victoria and back.
Our first leg took us through the town of Gundagai, with its quaint old buildings and brand-spanking-new pavements.
It was a chance for everyone to stretch their legs, including our old beagle, Bridie. Note the sign in the park – we’re definitely not in the city anymore!
There were a few monuments in town. We didn’t see the famous dog and tucker box statue as it was out of town, but we did stumble past Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel, along the road to Gundagai.
But the monument that was most touching was the tribute to two Wiradjuri men, Yarri and Jacky Jacky, who saved the township during the 1852 flood.
The construction of the telegraph line was a mammoth undertaking, but crucial to Australia as a nation. It meant that communications to the wider world (particularly to the Mother Country), need not take months, but hours. The line was build through the middle of the country, from Adelaide to Darwin, where it met with an undersea cable to Indonesia (or the Dutch East Indies, as it was then called).
Camels were used to haul gear – and they needed handlers – hence Afghani, Pakistani and Indian cameleers came with the camels. It took a couple of goes to get the materials right – the earlier wooden poles were chewed to the ground by termites!
There were no satellites back then, so the signal needed to be relayed after a distance. A series of relay stations were established, and Alice Springs was one of them.
Afterwards, the line had to be maintained. So a whole army of men, called linesmen, were dispatched along the line to inspect and maintain it in shifts. What a job they had, especially in the desert summer heat.
Black and white relations in the Red Centre has a chequered history, like in much of Australia, but it wasn’t all bad. This stationmaster had a particular respect for indigenous people and culture and went on to write a book about it.
Rain is a big factor in the Gorge in the Wet. These trees were bent at an incredible angle by the sheer force of water that rushes down-stream.
And sure enough, rain wasn’t far away that day. I had just landed to view some rock art…
When the rain came rushing down. Even the pandanus looked forlorn.
The temperature dropped by 10C in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, I did get a quick glimpse of the 3 metre high rock art on the cliff face before I was forced to return to the boat.
One of the most interesting walls of art were ones that depicted contact with outsiders.
Among the hand prints and animal drawings was a sailing ship. The groups in this region would have known about white men very early on, first perhaps from the Makassan fishermen from Sulawesi, Indonesia, and then perhaps from seeing passing Dutch and Portuguese ships.
By the time the English came, they were very familiar with ships, as seen from the wall below.
Here, the artist has painted a steam ship in great detail.
The artist has even tried to copy writing (and almost got it).
They didn’t know that the outsiders would end up changing their way of life forever. Now we only have these remnants to admire and wonder.
It wasn’t just ceremonial sites that we visited — many were places where families had lived. Some shelters were vast and could have fit dozens of people.
Others were more cosy. The overhang below had comfortable sleeping ledges and a ‘kitchen’ area with grinding holes.
Here were grinding and cutting tools, and a bit of metal salvaged.
At another site, a message stick (a major communication tool between clans) had been left. I wonder what it said?
Unlike in Kakadu National Park, where the rock art is easily accessible with signs, paths, hand-rails etc, the rock art at Mount Borradaile has been left in its original setting (bar some light weeding for easy access).
It meant that getting to some of the art works was a mini adventure which involved perching on boulders…
Squeezing into crevices…
Or scrambling up cliffs into high overhangs.
But the effort was worth the while…
When you see generations of art on one wall.
Land animals were always very important to the Amarak. During the last Ice Age, the ocean would have been more than 100km away, hence they would have relied on these animals more for food.
Wallabies were common in these parts as they lived among the rocks, and made a good feed.
And goannas were often found up the trees and also made a good feed.
However, the walls also showed animals from long past. The thylacine (a.k.a. Tasmanian tiger) for example had lived in the area at one stage. You can quite clearly see its stripes.
And what about this bird? Is it an emu, or some other extinct giant bird species?
Unlike in Central Australia, where life and art revolved around water, the people of Arnhemland were more interested in capturing their fauna, which was integral to daily life. We viewed many paintings of animals, some recent and some potentially very old.
Fish was of course very important, since it was abundant when the water levels were high. The white ochre paint used and the intricate cross-hatching meant that the painting was probably done in the last four thousand years.
This dugong (a sea cow) has been overpainted with a pair of wallabies.
And this fish was so bright that it could have been painted yesterday.
All our adventures had been on Amarak land, lying east of the East Alligator River across from Kakadu National Park. The Amarak lived traditionally on their land until the 1950s, and the land had seen little use until Mount Borradaile was established in the 1980s.
Given that the Amarak lived on the land until relatively recently, there were many paintings and habitation places around the property that are well preserved. We were able to see quite a few in the four days we were there. Some were ‘mens business’ places – mens ceremonial places – as you can tell from these set of paintings – they’re all of busty women!
Others were of a more spiritual bent. This giant three metre long serpent was drawn on the roof of an overhang.
Being so close to the coast, the serpent had many shark/crocodile like features.
And was spectacular close-up.
Static and Silence 