Geraldton, Western Australia, has established itself as “ground zero” for the commemoration of the loss of HMAS Sydney and all hands in November 1941. Its hill-top, slightly over-done memorial overlooks the Indian Ocean. But the loss of the Sydney happened far to the north-west of Geraldton. Relics and historic sites are easy to find. Start in Carnarvon at the very good free museum near the jetty.

Here you’ll find the lifeboat in which the German crew from the raider Kormoran came ashore after they scuttled their ship. Apart from a rusted-out keel it’s in remarkably good condition and worth a look.

Head north from Carnarvon about 60 km on a good gravel coast road and you’ll come to Quobba Station. This is a wild, rugged coast with blowholes, rogue waves and a simple stone memorial to HMAS Sydney not far from the homestead. You can stay at the homestead in very spectacular surroundings. It’s also near the site where the Kormoran crew landed. They climbed out of their lifeboat on Quobba at Red Bluff (another 80 km north). Quobba Station owners have set up safari tents at this remote outpost. When the Kormoran crew landed they threw their handguns overboard and one of these was recovered recently and is now on display at the Geraldton museum. With a little sleuthing we found these relics and sites with ease. It’s a pity that the locals around here have not made more of their links with HMAS Sydney, especially since the shipwreck was recently discovered.

Strike me rich! Gold nuggets galore.

There’s a forested area of central Victoria called the Golden Triangle. Look at the map and find the towns of Dunolly and Tarnagulla. Back in the 1850’s and 60’s they found gold nuggets the size of footballs around here. Australia’s largest gold nugget, the Welcome Stranger a 66 kg monster, was unearthed on a hillside near the hamlet of Moliagul.
Gold rush church Moliagul

There are two good reasons to explore the Golden Triangle. You can still find gold nuggets around here and the cycling here is pretty good. In fact it’s the best way to explore the old mines, townships and early buildings. The ironbark forests are laced with delightful gravel tracks just made for cycling, leftovers from the mining days.
The mines and landmarks ring with history; Murderers Hill, Grumblegut Gully. You can thread your way down the Catch Me If You Can Lead or search Painkiller Gully.
Today’s explorer on a bike will come across old tunnels, ruins of townships that once housed 9000 people and the odd bicycle wreck.

One cyclist we know even bought an old Dunolly house and shop and, between bike rides, restored both as a weekender. You don’t hear much about the Golden Triangle, mainly because there’s still a lot of gold around here and nobody’s saying a word. It’s the cyclists who are doing all the talking.

Historic bicycle bits

Historic Milparinka Courthouse and Police Station

Until recently drought-ravaged Milparinka (1400 km from Sydney) in Corner Country, New South Wales, didn’t have much to look forward to. Population was down to seven and the small but historically significant collection of heritage buildings were facing neglect. There were not enough people to staff the tourist office located in the restored Old Police Station.

While it hasn’t rained for years in Milparinka there has been a deluge of another kind. Volunteers by the car, caravan and camper load have answered a very unusual call from local pastoralist and avid historian Ruth Sandow. People have travelled from all over Australia to spend time in this tiny town to act as tourist information officers. Ruth is the driving force behind the Milparinka Heritage and Tourism Association that devised a simple and successful answer to the staffing problem. Visiting Volunteers now spend a few days or a few weeks looking after the historic precinct and providing passing visitors with information.

She says most Volunteers are city people who find the chance to sample outback life a real buzz. Most find it a practical way of giving something back to a remote outback community.

Awaiting restoration.

The Visiting Volunteers Program has resulted in another significant building restoration too. The Old Police Kitchens have been restored and now provide self-contained cottage accommodation, thanks to a Federal grant that funded the restoration.

Restored: Old Police Kitchen now self-contained Volunteer accommodation.

Ruth says that she now has a full roster of volunteers for the upcoming 2008 tourist season. So if you’re heading for Corner Country you’ll probably bump into one or two Visiting Volunteers in Milparinka.

If you’re interested in volunteering go to: http://www.outbacknsw.com.au/Volunteering%20at%20Milparinka.htm

Back in 1933 Rod Lingard lived on the banks of the Howqua River in North East Victoria. He was six months old when Thomas Barnett, a bullocky regular to the riverside Carriers Arms Hotel, would bounce young Rod on his knee. This is Rod’s story.

Thomas Barnett ,104yrs. & me, 6 mths. in Jan1933.

Tom Barnett used to say that he was born in Braidwood, NSW about 1828. His parents must have been true pioneers because that town was not formally laid out until 1839. How he got from Braidwood to Howqua in NE Victoria is not known but would be interesting. What we do know is that he became a driver of bullock wagons on the ‘run’ from Melbourne to Jamieson. Reportedly, the round trip took about two weeks if he did not encounter too many problems on the way. Apparently he used to stop over at the Carriers Arms Hotel at Howqua to wash away some of the dust of the long journey. The hotel had been built in the mid 1870’s by Thomas and Bridget Hennessey. For a period it served as a changing station for coaches on the way to Jamieson and Woods Point. The stables had feeding stalls for 4 horses.
After only a few years, Thomas Hennessey died at the very early age of 29 years. Whether it was illness or accident we do not know. Bridget ran the hotel herself for three years but it must have been a huge task – and perhaps she did not care for the single life ! In 1889 she married Thomas Barnett who was about 60 at that time and she was less than 35. Bullock drivers were strong and resourceful men !

The old bridge over the Howqua River was known as Barnett’s Bridge.
Our Tom and Bridget ran the hotel until 1929 when they surrendered the licence. By then they were both becoming rather frail so they advertised for a live-in housekeeper to take care of them. This is where I come into the story.
My grandfather, John Henry Attwater was a miner in Bendigo. Like most miners he was afflicted with lung trouble arising from the dust in the mines. This contributed to his death in 1915 during the great ‘flu epidemic. My grandmother was left with four daughters and one son still at home. She moved to humble accommodation in Yarraville until the four girls were all married off – my mother being the last in Nov.1927. Grandma saw the Barnett’s advertisement and took the job. She got free board and lodgings but no salary. The deal was that she would get the property when the Barnetts died. Bridget died quite soon after grandma took the job, but old Tom lasted until Dec 1934 by which time he was said to be about 105 yrs.My youngest aunt died in hospital during a simple appendix operation in Aug 1929, leaving a 3 year old son. It was decided that he would go to Howqua and be cared for by our grandmother. In 1935 my parents were both struggling with a small tailoring business and it was decided that I should also go to Howqua to live with my grandmother and cousin. I stayed there until 1944. My grandmother stayed there until 1951 when the rising waters of the new Eildon Reservoir forced her off the property.

See also”The Carriers Arms Hotel at Howqua”. Thomas Barnett is in the middle of the group of adults at the front of the hotel in the photo with the motor bike.

Carriers Arms Hotel

Rod Lingard grew up on the banks of the Howqua River in North East Victoria. His recollections paint a vivid picture of a lifestyle that has now disappeared. This is Rod’s story.

I spent nine years of my childhood at the Carriers Arms Hotel. It was 14 miles south of Mansfield on the road to Jamieson. In its heyday it was pretty close to being a self-sufficient community centre. Next to the hotel there was a stable with stalls for four horses. Near that was a hayshed and a three-sided shed to house two jinkers and a dray. There was a blacksmiths “shop” with huge bellows aimed at the centre of the small furnace, and a great big anvil in the middle of the building. Hammers, tongs, horse-shoes and a selection of metal and leather harness equipment adorned the walls. These walls and those on the stable were vertically-mounted hand-split slabs of timber cut from the nearby bush. There was a bark-roofed ‘cow shed’ with bails to restrain just two cows as they were milked by hand. Some distance down the paddock was the ‘slaughter-house’. This was an open sided structure with a heavy central beam high enough and strong enough to suspend a bullock for butchering.
Down on the alluvial flat by the View Larger Map Howqua River was the orchard, with about a dozen apples, several plums and a big pear tree. Up near the kitchen was an airy ‘apple-house’ with rough pole slats which allowed air movement around the stored fruit.
Of course there was a kitchen garden, and a ‘chook house’on the hill above the river.
The river yielded Murray Cod, Macquarie Perch, Blackfish and, in later years, both Brown and Rainbow Trout. Large freshwater crays were fairly easy to catch. Each autumn, mushrooms were plentiful, although only in certain paddocks.
The original title to the land was granted in the 1840’s and the first building erected about 1845. It was clad with hand split weatherboards and had a bark roof which was later covered with corrugated iron. It was a simple rectangle with a thick brick wall at one end. This wall enclosed a huge fireplace and a large baker’s oven with a cast iron door. The fireplace had a hinged metal beam from which you could hang a 4-gallon drum or the huge kettle directly above the fire.

Fireplace and lounge room
The hotel building was erected about 1875. It was quite a grand structure with a bar-room, lounge and five guest bedrooms. The ceilings and lower half of the interior walls were of t & g Oregon boards, and the upper half of the walls were of hessian covered with wall paper. Each guest room had a porcelain water jug and wash basin, and another, more compact, porcelain vessel under each bed ! Lighting was by kerosene lamps – some of them quite beautiful things, imported from U.S.A..
Behind the bar was a trap-door which gave access to a brick-lined cellar which helped to keep the drinks cool – no refrigeration in those days !
According to local folk-law, Ned Kelly was reputed to have drunk there on more than one occasion. I can’t vouch for that but there were a few relations and supporters in the Mansfield district. The Hotel closed in 1929.

I went there to live with my grandmother in 1935 and remained until 1944. In the early 1950’s most of the property was inundated by the waters of the new Eildon Reservoir. Many of the historical relics went in a clearance sale as the waters rose around the home paddock. We moved the two main buildings onto a remnant hilltop at the southern end of the property but we could not move the true ‘character’ of the original setting. Sadly, the buildings were destroyed in a mysterious fire in Jan 1992.

A group at the hotel c.1927. The bike is my uncle’s 1920 Indian.

Cowshed, with blacksmiths shop at left

The slaughterhouse

Broad view of the buildings in 1950