|
British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
|
Home Copyright
© |
Journey
to the Red Centre by Jan Turpin On the 24th March this year we (my twelve year old daughter and myself) set off for Australia. This wasn't a new experience as I had lived there for 18 years, which sometimes seems like it was in a previous life. However, this time we were heading for Darwin and the outback; Tennant Creek. After a short sojourn in Northern NSW in a town called Lismore and its surrounds, where the beaches are unsurpassed, we headed for Darwin. We flew with Royal Brunei Airlines which I would recommend to anyone. Royal Brunei is one of the few Airlines that fly into Darwin. Darwin itself is not a new city but the buildings therein are, as the town was flattened during Cyclone Tracy which hit the area on Christmas Day 1974. All the new buildings are attractive, clean and modern, and surrounded by palm trees as the area is very tropical. However, though beautiful to look at, the beaches themselves are rock strewn, and the sea uninviting as it harbours the lethal box jellyfish. During our day's stay there we took a bus out to the museum to see the Cyclone Tracy Exhibition which was very interesting and gave some indication of what it must have been like to live through it on that fateful night. After a night at the Darwin YHA, which I recommend to any traveller as being well situated, with all amenities at hand, and boasting its own swimming pool, we caught the overnight bus to Tennant Creek, which was approximately a 14 hour journey. 14 hours on a hot bus at night I do not recommend, however it was the cheapest option. The more expensive options would have been hiring a car, or flying on a light aircraft. We were met at 9.30am by my sister who has lived in Tennant Creek with her partner Peter and their three children for the past three years. A feat I regard as being worthy of a medal. Although according to her it was a metropolis after having lived at two Aboriginal settlements previously; Borroloola and Nirippi. My sister's partner Peter is a school teacher working for the Northern Territory Education Department. The pay for working in the Northern Territory is very good as it is not a sought after area. His job is to cover for teachers in order that they can have some 'no contact' time away from their pupils to catch up on other work. The schools are mainly in Aboriginal settlements and isolated areas. One school that he travels to is approximately 600 km away. He will leave home on a Monday morning in his four wheel drive, taking his 'swag', a weeks supply of canned food and water, and a good book, and return again on the Friday night. While I was there Peter needed to visit one of his schools at an Aboriginal community called Epenarra which was 200 km south east of Tennant Creek. The community is very isolated and they have no television or radio. There are no council offices with communications infrastructure for doing business with governments or outside agencies, and yet there are 200 people living there. The trip started on the Stuart highway south for about half of the journey, then East on a dirt road for the rest of the journey. The weather was hot and dry, and the scenery consisted of dry red earth covered with small shrubs, Eucalyptus trees and spinifex, dotted throughout with towering termite hills. This scenery was broken up at intervals with small creeks running across the track. Once there the day was fairly uneventful. Whilst Peter worked I used the time to catch up on some Open University homework I had taken out with me. The school was an excellent setting for this and I felt I had no excuse not to do it. Tennant Creek itself is about two thirds of the way from Darwin to Alice Springs. It was named in 1860 after John Tennant, a pastoralist from Port Lincoln, South Australia. It has a population of approximately four thousand people, where Aboriginals still maintain many of their cultural traditions.. The Stuart Highway runs through the town and has a number of small shops each side where people can get most of their requirements. However, my daughter was alarmed to find there was no Kmart. There is one 'Food Barn' which sells food and other associated goods. The shop has a delivery twice a week so if you miss something after the Sunday delivery you may have to wait until the next delivery on Thursday. We encountered a problem at Easter as leaving our Easter Egg shopping until the last minute found there were none left. We had to resort to scouring the petrol stations around town, and were even found lurking in the vicinity of the local MP who was giving eggs out hoping to boost his electoral chances. All so we would not disappoint four children who were expecting the Easter Bunny to leave them something in the morning. There are a number of interesting places to see in Tennant Creek. The Mary Ann Dam is a short ride out of town and has a beautiful picnic spot. Another short trip to the Bill Allen Lookout which boasts beautiful views of the surrounding countryside, which contains very little. However, the view is breathtaking for precisely that reason, as all you can see is red earth, shrubs, Eucalyptus trees and spinifex, interspaced with a few rocky outcrops as far as the eye can see to the horizon. The most interesting aspect of Tennant Creek is its history. In 1874 a telegraph repeater station was erected near the watercourse of Tennant Creek. Telegraph Stations were erected in order to carry communications from Darwin through to Adelaide. The Stations between the two main cities were called repeater stations as the morse code would be too weak to be transmitted right along the distance, and people were employed to re-transmit the information from Station to Station. These stations were very isolated. The old Telegraph Station buildings at Tennant Creek are still in very good condition, although there is little inside them to see. It is fascinating to visit just to dwell on how people used to live and try to imagine what life was like living in those basic conditions in the middle of nowhere. It is one of only four remaining original telegraph stations. To one side is the graveyard which contains two graves. The stories of the lives and deaths of these pioneers is sometimes unbelievable and often sad. The sign erected at the graveyard states: "Here lie the remains of Archibald Cameron, a stockman at the Telegraph Station who died in 1906. With him lies Tom Nugent, the boss of Banka Banka cattle station, who came to the area in 1896 with 1200 head of cattle to establish the property. He and his family were frequent visitors to the Telegraph Station, where they had many friends. Tom Nugent died in 1911." The Tennant Creek Telegraph Station remained an isolated outpost until the 1930's when gold was discovered. People put up with the harsh conditions in order to make money, and to date the Tennant Creek field has produced gold worth about four thousand million dollars in today's values. The gold at Tennant Creek is inside the ground in ironstone, and it is extremely hard to extract it. The rock would have to be pulverised in a 'Battery'. The Information office at Tennant Creek is located at the old Battery, and tours are run through it each day. Initially I thought the idea of touring the Battery sounded extremely boring, however the tour guide, Norm was one of the most interesting and amusing tour guides I have ever come across. It was an hour well spent. Being suckers for punishment we returned the next day to do the tour of the mine, again with Norm. The mine at the Battery had not been a working mine but one cut out of the hillside to show tourists what a real mine would be like. This included plastic bats hanging from the ceiling at intervals to frighten unsuspecting tourists. Unfortunately the mines in Tennant Creek have all recently closed down. Some have been sold and some have caved in due to the recent high rainfall and flooding. Many people have left the town for work elsewhere. It is a pity in some ways as the town's future seems uncertain now, except of course for its tourism value. There are many interesting features around Tennant Creek and the surrounding area. We did not get to see all of them as some were a way out of town. For example the Devils Marbles; one of the most significant geological features in the Northern Territory which are 104 km south of Tennant Creek. According to Aboriginal dreaming, these sacred and mystical rocks are the fossilised eggs of the Rainbow Serpent. After a two
week stay with the family we returned to Darwin, booking into the YHA
again for two nights. Being on a budget we either walked to places of
interest or we caught the local buses. They proved to be very reliable.
During the stay we visited an area on the beach where one can feed the
fish by hand, and we visited Crocodylus Park which is a bus ride out,
to watch the crocodiles being fed. Unfortunately we never made it to Kakadu
National Park or Katherine Gorge. Maybe next trip. On the last evening
we took a walk down to the wharf and enjoyed a seafood meal while looking
over the harbour. It was an extremely pleasant way to finish the holiday. First published in VISA issue 42 (autumn 2001) View some pictures of Australia |