History on the Hume: The Herald Road Guide 1950

Hume Highway: On the Way

Albury to Gundagai

The old highway through Bowna has been closed and the new route runs through Table Top. Fingerboards in Albury make the way clear.

Holbrook, situated on Ten-Mile Creek, is the centre of rich cattle, sheep, and wheat country, and has a population of 4000.

In places, the hills, skirted by the main road, are remarkable formations, while volcanic rock outcrops are frequently visible.

The land surrounding Gundagai is devoted to grazing, wheat, maize, lucerne, dairying, and fruit growing. It is estimated that more than a million sheep and 60,000 cattle are kept in the district, and the industries in the town include a cheese factory and freezing works.

Extensive changes were being made to this section of the highway when this Guide was revised in 1938. A new road was being constructed from the Adelong turn-off at Tumblong right through to Tarcutta. When this has been completed, the route will be shorter and the difficulties of this section eliminated.

Meanwhile, 23 miles of rough gravel surface, with steep grades and sharp turns, must be traversed.
The Monaro Highway enters the Hume Highway near Hillas Creek. It begins at Bega, crosses the Brown Mountain to Cooma, and passes through Kiandra and Tumut.

The Sturt Highway begins at Lower Tarcutta and runs through to Mildura.
the esegi ve Denis

Goulburn has a population of 15,000 people, and is one of the most important towns in New South Wales. It is noted for its granite and slate deposits, and its other industries include woollen mills, soapmaking, brick-making and lime burning.

Leaving Goulburn, the route first runs parallel to the cliffs of the surrounding hills, on an eminence of which is the Goulburn War Memorial.

It then passes through forests to Marulan, then deviates (at Paddy's River) from the old highway through beautiful Mossvale.

Many tourists still take the Mossvale route. The road is good and more picturesque than the new highway. At Mossvale a road to the right leads to the beautiful Kangaroo Valley and Cambewarra look-ut, from which one of the finest views in Australia is obtained. It joins the Prince's Highway at Nowra.

The new highway runs through Berrima to the Wombeyan Caves Road, then bears right into Mittagong. From there a wonderful road leads to historic Picton, The Razor-back is next climbed and the route then takes the tourist through the oldest settled districts of Australia via Camden and Narellan

From Camden the new road, built on the historic Cowpastures Road to Liverpool, cuts out the old highway and Campbelltown.

Extract from Herald Road Guide kindly supplied by Mr Hoss Bolenski

MORE: History on the Hume series

The abandoned Sofitel Heiva resort in Tahiti

Despite the resorts dilapidated look, locals continue to maintain the grounds.

Ideally located on a secluded spit of land on the French Polynesian island of Huahine, the over-water bungalows still appear alluring and the botanic garden-like grounds are meticulously maintained by locals.

Floors are swept and polished.

A closer inspection reveals a totally derelict property, battered by the elements, stripped of all fittings with gaping holes in the roofs and in danger of collapse.

Once the site of good times, the resort now lies in a pitiful state

It’s been a decade since the last guest checked out and the former Sofitel stands as a sombre monument to the change of fortunes in many parts of this onetime holiday paradise.

All images (c) Roderick Eime

[Visited in 2012]

Visiting NSW Central West (1990)

Text source: Gregory's Touring Australia 1990. Included for historical purposes only
Photographs: Roderick Eime

It was not until 1813 that the early settlers were able to cross the seemingly impenetrable barrier of the Great Dividing Range and open up the Central West's rich farming and grazing lands.

The 1850s gold rush attracted thousands of people and today towns like Hill End and Gulgong still bear testimony to this significant chapter in the history of New South Wales

Hill End 

Hill End 1993 (Roderick Eime)

Formerly known as Hawkins Hill, now under the control of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, was settled from 1851 and, by 1872, when Beaufoy Merlin took most of his photographs, had a population of 8000, more than a kilometre of shops and twenty-seven hotels.

It was at Hill End in 1872 that the famous Holtermann's Nugget, the largest gold specimen ever discovered in Australia, was unearthed. It was 1.5 metres tall, weighed nearly 300 kilograms, contained 93 kilograms of gold and was worth £12 000.

Most of the surviving buildings in the town date from 1872 and many - including the district hospital that is now a visitor centre and museum, the Royal Hotel and some of the shops - have been restored in recent years. Even those buildings that have not survived are not forgotten - plaques with copies of Beaufoy Merlin photographs stand on many of the vacant sites in the town, showing what used to occupy the site.

Storekeeper, June Durie, Sofala. 1993

Visitors can inspect underground mine workings at Bald Hill, and explore Hawkins Hill, where Holtermann's Nugget was found. They can also fossick for gold at Tambaroora, about 3 kilometres from Hill End, and slightly further afield at the villages of Sofala, Hargraves and Windeyer. Fossickers are sometimes rewarded with small amounts of gold.

Gulgong

Gold was found at Gulgong in 1870, and by December 1872 the population of the town and the surrounding villages was more than 20 000. Among people who flocked to Gulgong were the parents of poet and writer Henry Lawson, who was four when he went to live in Gulgong in 1871. He immortalised the town and some of the people he met on the goldfields in many of his best-loved works.

Today Gulgong is known to many people as the town on the $10 note - the old paper note (not the new plastic one which is universally hated in the town) which townspeople petitioned to save.

Mary of Gulgong's buildings have survived from the gold rush days and are still in use - 170 properties, mostly dating from 1870 to 1910, are classified by the National Trust as being of historic significance.

But Gulgong greatest asset is its Pioneer Museum, which is said by many to house the finest collection of Australiana in the country. Displays tell of the gold rush, the development of transport and agriculture, the war years and the changing way of life of Gulgong's residents. There is even a collection of faithfully restored local buildings at the rear of the museum, including the Reedy Creek Inn, which was first licensed in 1851, an 1871 blacksmith's, a cottage dating from 1891 and a late nineteenth-century schoolroom. Among recent additions is an audiovisual room where a series of presentations documents the lives of the towns pioneer women using the recorded memories of their descendants.

Gulgong's other major attraction is the Henry Lawson Centre, which boasts the largest collection of Lawsonia outside the Mitchell Library. The centre has a number of early editions of Lawson's work, photographs and newspaper cutting detailing his life, and paintings depicting some of the scenes so colourfully described in his poems and stories.

As gold became harder to find in the Central West in the mid-1870s, agriculture again became the dominant activity in the region. Today the rolling hills and flat plains of the area support cattle, sheep, wheat and fruit.

Mudgee 

Historic Mudgee Railway Station (Roderick Eime 2017)

This pleasant town is becoming famous for it's thriving wineries, which produce wines to rival some of Australia's best. There are about twenty wineries in the area and although some are owned and run by large Australian wine companies, many are small, independent concerns. Most welcome visitors and offer wine tastings as well as cellar door sales. Quite often visitors will be greeted by the winemaker himself, and be shown some of the wine-making operations. Botobolar winery is particularly interesting because it grows its grapes organically, without chemical fertilisers or pesticides. At certain times of the year, sheep graze among the vines to keep down the weeds, and a sign in the car park warns that "trespassers will be composted". The town is also noted for its honey and at the Mudgee Honey Company, staff will explain how honey is produced, then offer tastings of more than twenty different varieties.

Orange 

Further west, Orange - paradoxically best known for the apples grown in the region - and Dubbo are modern cities serving their predominantly farming communities, as well as tourists.

Orange, the birthplace and home of poet Banjo Paterson, is on the slopes of Mount Canobolas, an extinct volcano that is now a popular reserve. Walking trails lead to the summit, where visitors are rewarded with 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside.

Dubbo

Rhino at Western Plains 1993 (Roderick Eime)

Home of the Central West's principal tourist attraction, Western Plains Zoo, where the animals are displayed according to their geographic origins. The clever use of moats and inconspicuous barriers means there are no bars between the animals and the public - a bonus for everyone, particularly photographers. An 8- kilometre drive or cycle ride (bicycles can be hired) will take the visitor through Africa, Eurasia, North America, Australia and South America, enabling them to view a number of endangered species as well as more common creatures.

The zoo is near another of Dubbo's attractions, the National Trust-owned Dundullimal, claimed to be the most sophisticated slab homestead in Australia. Dating from the 1840s, it boasted such refinements as plastered internal walls, glazed french doors and cedar windows, and even a bell-pull system for summoning the servants.

In the city centre, Old Dubbo Gaol, dating from 1848, has been brought alive by the introduction of a number of lifelike, animated models that tell their story at the touch of a button.

Wellington

Wellington Nearby is Wellington, noted for its limestone caves with their dramatic formations of stalagmites, and Burrendong Dam, which offers an abundance of watersports.

Bathurst 

Start of the 1997 Bathurst 1000 (Roderick Eime)

The oldest city in the Central West is Bathurst, which was settled in 1815 and is perhaps best known to Australians as the home of the Mount Panorama motor racing circuit. It was the birthplace and home of Ben Chifley, Australia's prime minister from 1945 to 1949, and his humble cottage in Busby Street is among attractions in the city.

Other attractions include Abercrombie House, a grand mansion built in the 1870s, and Miss Traill's House, an 1845-built colonial cottage with fascinating displays charting the growth of the city.

The Warrumbungles 

Located just west of Coonabarabran is one of the state's most spectacular National Parks - the Warrumbungles. Discovered in 1818 by explorer John Oxley, the Warrumbungles offer good bushwalking and rock climbing opportunities. The name Warrumbungles is believed to be Aboriginal for "little or broken mountains" – something of an understatement because the rocky spires and forested ridges of the range rise dramatically from the surrounding plains. A well-signposted network of walking tracks enables visitors to view some of the most stunning scenery and to spot some of the diverse wildlife found within the 21 000-hectare Park. Kangaroos and wallabies abound, while emus, possums and numerous colourful parrots can be seen. Eagle-eyed visitors may even spot that shyest of Australian marsupials, the koala.

Just outside the Park is Siding Spring Observatory, home of the Anglo-Australian telescope, one of the most advanced in the world. The observatory is open to visitors during the day but not at night when its astronomers are at work.

Tetsuya Wakuda: A Sydney culinary icon

In Sydney, he's a culinary icon, a survivor for over a quarter of a century in one of the most competitive restaurant markets in the world. Winsor Dobbin profiles this master.

In Singapore, he is the relative newcomer whose tiny eatery keeps garnering award after award.

Florence Broadhurst: Enigmatic stylist, unsolved murder

Florence Broadhurst, one of Australia’s most remarkable creatives, continues to surprise. Acclaimed author, Helen O'Neill, recalls her own fascination with this doyenne of design.

The first time I heard her life story, told to me twelve years ago in only the sketchiest of details, I was stunned not only that her home country seemed to have forgotten her but that the world did not know.

Broadhurst’s tale, which I would tell in full in my illustrated biography of her, beggared belief. She had been born in 1899 to a poor farming family from near Mount Perry in rural Queensland. She had a strong contralto voice, singing her way out of the bush and then, using the name ‘Bobby’ Broadhurst, out of the country as part of a vaudeville troupe that spent the Roaring Twenties touring Asia.

In Shanghai she changed tack and launched her first business – the Broadhurst Academy finishing school where the daughters of wealthy British ex-pats could learn everything from elocution to the Charleston from her and her ‘expert’ staff. By the 1930s Broadhurst had reinvented herself again – this time becoming the chic Madame Pellier, a French couturier based in London who claimed to be a ‘genuine dress artist’ engaged by the famous and rich.

In the 1950s, back in Australia, a whole new Florence emerged. This time she masqueraded as an aristocratic English woman visiting the colonies to recuperate from the ravages of World War II. She painted landscapes, claimed to know the British Royal family, and happily likening her modest artistic style to that of the great impressionists and Leonardo da Vinci.

Broadhurst embedded herself in Sydney’s high-end social scene as a businesswoman, public speaker and charity fund-raiser, at one point even announcing that she wanted to be Australia’s ‘Ambassadress’. When her landscapes failed to impress she moved her on to portraiture, concentrating on images of people she considered significant.

That did not work out either, and in desperation, as her marriage broke down and her business endeavours faltered, she launched what would become her defining venture – a Sydney wallpaper business.

During the Sixties and Seventies, Florence Broadhurst produced a stunning kaleidoscope of hand-printed wallpapers from bespoke, hand-drawn designs. She took the colours of the time and magnified them but it is the sheer range of images in her design archive that continues to surprise. They range from conservative European tapestries to interlocking geometrics, romantic florals, psychedelia and charming Chinoiserie.

Broadhurst designs are still available today. Pic  Florence Broadhurst's design library

Yet however dynamic the wallpapers were, Florence Broadhurst seemed more startling still: a tiny woman with bright red hair, a penchant for false eyelashes and dramatic clothes. She did as she pleased, picking up younger boyfriends and living life to the full. She was difficult to ignore yet somehow easy to take for granted.

On October 15, 1977, the 78-year-old was brutally murdered in her Paddington wallpaper showroom. Despite an intense police investigation, her assailant was never found. Then an even stranger thing happened. Florence Broadhurst and her designs were somehow forgotten, disappearing from view.

‘Did I think there could be a biography in this woman?’ I was asked, back in 2003. I answered immediately, before I had even had a chance to see the images, then being gradually restored by Signature Prints, the Sydney business that held what was left of her designs and silk screens.

‘If what you are telling me is true, I don’t understand why there hasn’t been one already,‘ I said. ‘Could there a book on this woman? Yes indeed.’

Much has happened since then. Fashion designers such as Akira Isogawa and Nikki Zimmerman have incorporated her patterns into their own creations. Interior designers have used her designs everywhere from Melbourne to London, Fiji and Los Vegas. She has developed a celebrity following, with people such as Elle Macpherson, Mark Jacobs, Gwyneth Paltrow and Courtney Love are all believed to own examples of her work.

When my biography came out in the USA it caught the eye of Deborah Lloyd, creative director and president of the luxury brand Kate Spade which went on to make Broadhurst designs a key part of its entire 2012 range, stocked in every store. Lloyd even emailed me to say, ‘Thank you so much for writing the book that started this love affair’.

Broadhurst’s reach continues to grow as Signature Design Archive, a company that evolved from Signature Prints, finds new partners to license her work across the globe. Already you can sleep with Broadhurst (there is a range of bed linen), eat with her (on specially designed crockery), and even take garden with her using trowels made using her designs, and her trajectory shows no sign of stopping.

Florence Broadhurst is back for good and looks set to travel further perhaps even she ever imagined.

~~~~~~~~~

Helen O’Neill is the author of
Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives
published by Hardie Grant Books, $65.

Famous shark attack victim, Rodney Fox, wants to protect sharks.

In 1963, a 23-year-old spear-fisherman was taken by a great white shark. He received 462 stitches and survived to retell his horrific ordeal. But instead of wanting to kill sharks, RODNEY FOX explains why he has campaigned to protect them.

Lucky to be alive. Rodney Fox and his 426 stitches.

BEFORE I was attacked by a great white shark, each time I went spearfishing my mother would say to me "Watch out for the sharks - they are hungry this time of year!" My knowledge of sharks and attacks was limited. It was like when you were young and crossed a busy road. Your mother always told you to watch out for cars - you might get hit and killed. You understood. but never believed it would happen to you.

In hospital, in great pain, I continually thought about shark attacks and whether I would go back into the water. Those thoughts were increased by friends who didn't discuss it and others who said I would make a good golfer.

I was not sure if I could or wanted to go back into the water. When I tried my first dive, my imagination went wild - I saw sharks coming at me from all directions. I remember saying to myself "Stop this! If you don't control your mind, you will never make it."

Sometimes, when sleeping, I would drift into what could be a violent nightmare, reliving the attack.

Just after my attack I was introduced to the underwater explosive power-head. I screwed this device on the end of my rubber-propelled speargun, replacing the spearhead and barb. The explosive head was loaded with a .303 bullet which would go off on contact with the shark's skin, making a large hole and killing it.

I shot a few sharks this way, but we had lots of trouble and great difficulty in finding sharks.

I shot some while being filmed. I wanted to prove to myself and to show others that there was an effective weapon you could protect yourself with while exploring the wonderful underwater world.

Because of the huge amount of publicity the shark attack generated people were very interested. They asked many questions and were very interested in sharks. I read every shark book I could find, but not much was known about sharks and I still wanted to find out more.

Alf Dean, an Adelaide businessman and world record holder for white pointers (great white sharks), sent me a letter in hospital that really made me think. He said: "If you had seen what I have seen, you would give up diving forever". I wanted to see what he meant, so I made the first protective shark cage and organised an expedition.

Alf Dean with his record shark catch at Ceduna SA, 1959

There was Alf Dean, three victims of great whites - Brian Roger, Henry Bource and myself - and underwater cameraman Ron Taylor.

Alf caught five great white sharks between 3.3m and 4.2m long on that first trip, and from the safety of that first underwater cage, I saw just how big they were. How effortlessly they would glide through the water and turn and dive with graceful fluid movements. I saw another side to the story and wanted to find out more.

We filmed them above and below water, cut out their jaws and dumped them back in the sea. This film was the first ever made on great whites and titled Great White Death (1981). It was the start of a long career of more than 150 expeditions to film and study this feared predator.



During the next few years I caught a few great white sharks on set drums. Catching and killing sharks was easy with a good strong boat and a knowledge of the right places.

Each year I also made two or more filming expeditions. Each film company would bring with them nature experts, shark scientists and researchers from all over the world.

I didn't feel right killing sharks for fun. and I did not believe the old saying "the best shark is a dead shark". but couldn't understand why they didn't attack more people. I knew that sea water made up seven-tenths of the Earth's surface and thought there must be thousands, maybe millions of big sharks out there. Not so. Sharks aren't fast breeders and don't have many young, so just killing a few may upset the whole balance of nature.

About two years after my shark attack. my diving pals and I found a huge bed of abalone off Tipora Light, Port Hughes, and I started diving full-time as an abalone fisherman. I thought about sharks a lot, but never saw any big ones.

JAWS. (1975)

A major Hollywood motion picture company asked me if I would organise an expedition to film great whites. I felt quite proud to share my new knowledge, and we spent six weeks filming at Dangerous Reef. Only about one minute of our footage was used, because the real sharks made the big rubber models look unrealistic. This film was Steven Spielberg's first blockbuster movie, Jaws. Millions of people around the world saw this film and some queued for hours. When Peter Benchley was in Adelaide last year he told me "Jaws, the book and movie hit a nerve in so many people who had a great fear of being eaten alive." He could not believe the Jaws phenomenon.

I have met many people who saw this movie and have said because of this film they hate sharks. I felt a little responsible. and have spent years telling people that sharks aren't so bad. We are not the sharks normal prey. They don't like us - we are too bony. If they do bite us they mostly spit us out.

I started to believe we shouldn't kill and wipe out any species because of fear. We must learn to live with the sharks. On average, we only have one death out of six to eight shark attacks in Australia each year.

We need sharks in our oceans because they are a key predator. The great white is at the top of the food chain where it directly controls the diversity and abundance of all other species underneath it.

Without them, the next level in the food chain, such as the seals and dolphins. would get out of balance changing the whole structure of our local ocean ecosystem.

Then their food, such as squid and baitfish which also support other high-level carnivores, would be depleted. causing some species to displace and eradicate others and so on down the line. The health and biological fitness of these populations would suffer.

Footnote: Today Rodney Fox operates an internationally renowned shark dive experience out of Port Lincoln, South Australia. See Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions

END

Source: From the original newspaper clipping

Juneau, Alaska's unknown capital

Words: Len Rutledge Images: Phensri Rutledge

Travel to most places is difficult at present but planning for future travel has never been more popular. People are avidly reading about destinations that interest them and many are already booking for future travel. Alaskan tourism was booming in 2019 and it is expected to be successfully revived in 2021. While wilderness is probably Alaska’s most appealing feature, don’t forget the cities.

Most people are vague about which city is the capital of Alaska. Most would not recognise this as the most scenic capital city in the U.S. Even less would know which is the only capital city in the U.S.A you can’t reach by car. The answer to all these comments is Juneau, a natural wonder, wildlife hotspot and cultural jewel.

The 32,000 residents must come and go by plane or a three-day ferry trip. I, like most of the 1.3 million annual visitors, arrived by cruise boat. I discovered it has a great blend of extreme and relaxing activities for just about anyone.

For those looking for adrenaline pumping action there are helicopter tours, glacier trekking, dog sledding, kayaking, zip lining, all-terrain vehicle riding, taking the Mount Roberts Tramway and so forth. More relaxing activities include sightseeing, whale watching and history chasing.

Sealaska Heritage Institute



This is a place where Native people tell the Native story. You can walk through an authentic clan house, listen to an ancient story, and explore exhibits that share knowledge about Southeast Alaska through Native perspectives.

Monumental art pieces have been created for the building, representing the three tribes of the region. Outside there are giant red metal panels designed by an internationally celebrated artist and three, bronze house posts by emerging master artists. Inside you see an enormous house front and the largest glass screen in the world.

Mount Roberts Tramway

I recommend you travel 600 metres up the mountain in this thrilling ride and then explore a park offering cultural heritage education, dynamic crafts and some amazing, expansive views. This is undoubtedly Juneau’s most panoramic and breathtaking view and the tramway leaves right from the wharf.

At the top you explore the Sky Bridge and Mountain House complex. Inside you’ll find a theatre, gift shop, restaurant and espresso bar. Enjoy the complimentary 18-minute film, “Seeing Daylight”, about the Native way of life.

Alaska State Capitol building

Don’t look for a dome and don’t look for big grounds when searching for the Capito because this is one of the few that have neither. This was built in 1931 well before statehood, so originally it was a federal building.

The large, boxy building can be explored on a self-guided tour from the lobby. You see two murals of living off the land and ocean in Alaska, governmental chambers, and hallways bedecked with historical displays featuring photos, newspaper clippings and artwork.

The nearby State Administration building proved to be an interesting find. We were alerted to it by a local resident and we found a huge stuffed bear, a magnificent theatre organ and a great view overlooking Juneau and the Gastineau Channel.

Mendenhall Glacier

Juneau’s most popular attraction is a kilometre wide with ice 100 metres to 600 metres deep. This is Alaska’s most easily reached glacier and provides some of the most spectacular landscapes in the state. It is only 20 kilometres from downtown and the Glacier Shuttle provides transportation every 30 minutes.

The Visitor’s pavilion has a 15-minute film about how Mendenhall is part of the huge Juneau Icefield and it provides a great view but take a short walk down Photo Point Trail to a lookout platform which provides an unobstructed view of the Glacier’s face.

The 20-kilomere-long river of ice terminates on the far side of Mendenhall Lake. Blue icebergs float in the lake amid reflections of the surrounding magnificent mountains.

Nugget Falls

In my opinion the most rewarding walk from the Mendenhall Visitors pavilion is to Nugget Falls. This is a waterfall downstream of the Nugget Glacier which drops 115 metres in two tiers of 30 m and 85 m onto a sandbar in Mendenhall Lake.

The walk to the falls is a very easy and flat 3 kilometres round trip as part of the East Glacier Loop. The hike can be done in a leisurely 45-60 minutes but you will find that you are stopping at many points because the views are so stunning.

Black bears frequent this area although we didn’t see any. Visitors are warned to stay on designated trails, not to take food or flavoured beverages on walks, and give bears plenty of space if encountered by not approaching them.

Restaurants and shopping

The Red Dog Saloon with its sawdust floor and relics covering the walls is a popular tourist attraction. Crab lovers should head to Tracy’s King Crab Shack for some of the best crab dishes in Alaska. Seafood, Asian, fish and chips, and pizzas are also on offer.

Jewelry stores dominate offerings to tourists. Many are promoted (and some are owned) by cruise companies. Caribou Crossing features over 60 Alaskan artists while House of Russia trades on the old Russian connection. The Raven Eagle Gift Shop is one of several Native-owned outlets.

www.LenRutledge.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX5HUmGP1lR2aoscn3O8P2Q

Visiting Historic Yanga Homestead in #NewSouthWales

Yanga Homestead was constructed between 1867 1872. The homestead kitchen wing appears to have been constructed in two stages with the southern half of the building possibly built around 1862. The southern half features walls of adzed drop slabs set between vertical posts while the northern side of the kitchen wing is of drop log construction (Cypress pine logs with adzed ends). This section contains a pantry, kitchen, maid's room, storage rooms and the station office.

The main homestead wing facing east is also of drop log construction but the logs have tenoned ends and painted uprights. A tenon is a projection on the end of a piece of wood shaped for insertion into a mortice to make a joint.

Local drop log construction used either logs cleaned of bark or with bark attached. Bark has been retained on the logs used at Yanga. Cypress logs have also been used to support veranda roofs and rafters.

The interior design comes from the wool boom of the 1950s, with little evidence surviving from earlier periods.

Pressed metal ceilings and door lintels in the formal dining room appear to date from the 1920s following acquisition of the property by Sims Cooper in 1919. The northern end of the homestead was converted into an apartment for the manager and his family in the 1980s.

YANGA COUNTRY

BEFORE ALL THE DAMS, WEIRS AND IRRIGATION appeared along the Murrumbidgee River, the so-called 'flooded country below Hay' was a landscape of stately River Red Gum forests and blue lakes. Travellers to this river country' have long noted how its shade, water and lush seasonal grasses sharply contrast with the surrounding dry, saltbush plains.

For thousands of years the low 'Bidgee regularly spilled its banks as it neared the Murray River, full of snow-melt and spring rains carried from distant mountain ranges. These floods created a place teeming with fish and migratory birds that was a valuable economic resource for Aboriginal people in the area. The Nari-Nari, Wadi-Wadi and Mutthi-Mutthi people fished, farmed and hunted in what was one of the most densely populated areas in the country.

Although the river country was boggy, wet and swampy, some Europeans also saw it as a valuable resource. From the 1840s squatters such as George Hobler arrived, looking for grasslands to run their sheep. Some were driven off by Aboriginal warriors. Others either forced their occupation through firearms, or like Hobler, offered Aboriginal people work on their squatting runs. Huge swathes of Aboriginal land were claimed by squatters - sometimes up to 500,000 acres. By the 1850s a series of runs had been converted to a leasehold of nearly 300,000 acres called Yanga Station. Yanga stretched from the Nap Nap swamps in the north to Yanga Lake in the south - over one hundred and fifty kilometres of 'Bidgee riverbank. Much of the land flooded annually, so the early pastoralists made sure they had some 'high ground' for their stock to shelter on. When the floods receded each year, not only were the lakes replenished, but good grazing grasslands appeared. During the 1850s Augustus Morris and his wife Eliza built a red gum slab homestead on the peninsular overlooking Yanga lake. Eliza set about establishing a garden that was to be a well-known feature of the Yanga homestead for the next 150 years.

The Morris' simple red gum building was enlarged to a grander residence during the mid-nineteenth century and the remarkable pine drop-log homestead became the centre of operations of the largest freehold title pastoral station in Australia.

HOMESTEAD GARDENS

Photographic evidence suggests that the current garden layout was developed a short time before 1920 and retained its general character throughout the twentieth century. Early photographs show a profusion of annuals planted in the garden beds and a formal garden had also been established in the courtyard formed by the two wings of the homestead. Much of this was removed when a tennis court was later constructed.

A terrace between the formal garden and the lake once contained a substantial vegetable garden which produced sufficient produce for the needs of the station and sale of surplus in Balranald. A small gardener's hut is located at the northern end of this terrace. An orchard is located to the north of the formal garden.

Where: 38773 Sturt Highway, Yanga, NSW, 2711 - in Yanga National Park
Accessibility: Easy
Price: $15 for an audio set if you'd like to take a self-guided tour.
Opening times: Yanga Homestead precinct is open 8.30am to 4.30pm daily.
What to bring: Drinking water
Bookings: Collect a self-guided tour package (key, audio and map) at the Yanga National Park office on site.

TEXT SOURCE: NSW Parks & Wildlife Service