On the road : Barcladine , Tambo, Cunnumulla and Cobar

When we left Dunblane the plan was we would pretty much be on the road moving daily until we reached Griffith, NSW. So with 3-4 hours on the road every day , that doesn’t give me much material to blog about  , but you can usually find something.

Barcladine: shearer’s strike and the tree of knowledge 

In the history of Australia there has only been two armed insurrections  between white settlers and government backed forces.

The first was the 1854 Eureka revolt, the second was the 1891 shearers strike in Barcladine.

In May 1891 at least 3000 striking shearer’s marched under the Eureka flag , protesting against poor working conditions and low wages , beneath the boughs of the tree of Knowledge ( a ghost gum) located outside the Barcladine train station. Unfortunately their strike was unsuccessful however 

The strike and the dramatic happens thereafter at the base of the “Tree of Knowledge”

Marked the beginnings of the working man’s voice in Queensland.

In 1892 at the foot of the tree,  the manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read out, this manifesto is considered to be one of the foundation documents of the Australian Labour Party. 

 The tree is considered an icon of the Australian Labor party and of Australian trades unions.

Sadly in 2006 the 200 year old tree was poisoned, fortunately cuttings of the tree had been taken and they now have several clones growing in Barcladine and also at the Brisbane ecosciences precinct.

It was really interesting and the display around the tree has large pieces of wood suspended from the roof that move in the wind like a wooden windchime 

Tambo chook races 

Our first stopover was at Tampo , a lovely little country town.

When booking in ,the owner of caravan park said make sure you check out the chicken races. We chuckled and said sure.

After setting Ruby up,  we headed down the street ,  we had a look at the antique fire engine they have displayed and wandered in and had a look at the Tambo teddy bear shop. The bears and chooks and other items available in the shop are sooo lovely and are made of Australian sheepskin.

The owner was very friendly and we had a good chat with her.

We then wandered further up the street finding the Royal Carrangarra Hotel , the home of 

Ben’s chicken racing.

We had a drink, found out so more information , like time ect…. And headed back to Ruby to get things organised for dinner ,  for when we returned from the races. 

5pm found us seated ringside at the schnitzel stadium awaiting the arrival of the “girls”

Ben the landlord of the hotel introduced himself and explained how the race works ,there were 9 chickens , each with their own names and some were beautifully coloured, Pink, green, blue and purple.

He introduced each girl, gave us their current form , then he got a remote controlled car out with a container of food on the back and showed us the “girls” form on that day.

Then he commenced the bidding, you could purchase a chook for the race, half of the proceeds went to the “little windmills children’s charity, the other to the owner of the successful chicken.

There was also a lucky draw, that everyone who had purchased a drink prior to the  race was popped in a draw, and would you believe it , we won a chicken. Ben asked us our team name gadget said “Um” whilst he was thinking Ben said great , team Um….

The main race consisted of the girls chasing the remote control car (that had food in it, Ben assured us that they were well fed, he just offered special treats in the car ,like worms) around the track three times and the first one over the bar mat won.

Unfortunately our chicken didn't win she was very easily distracted and the black chicken Beyoncé won, the charity received almost $300 from the race.

It was so much fun and such a great idea.

Cunnamulla

Our next stop was Cunnamulla and our last sleep in Queensland for this trip.

After setting Ruby up we wandered up the street to find the 

Cunnamulla Fella 

The statue was created and unveiled in 2005.

The inspiration for the statue is the song written by Stan Coster and sung by Slim Dusty. The fella  epitomises the iconic Australian bush character the “ringers” of the bush. The legend comes from the 50s and 60s when Australia was riding on the sheep’s back. The ‘Ringers” were usually 15 or 16 years old , they worked long hours seven days a week mustering sheep , chasing scrubbers and breaking in horses.

The statue shows the iconic image of a ringer sitting  on his swag, as they  did of an evening around a fire chatting about their days work.

We have a lovely meal at the Hotel Cunnamulla that night.

Cobar

Cobar was our next stopover ,we arrived early afternoon,  we did our second best reverse in of the trip. 

Sadly because we usually don’t unhook Reggie and Ruby for a one night stop over and the caravan park was a little out of town, we really didn’t get to explore Cobar. But we did go for a walk to the service station down the road and Gadget shouted me an ice cream.

That evening we gathered around the campfire of the caravan park and chatted with all the other travellers sharing tales and stories ad I may of got some puppy cuddles in as well.

It’s been a big few days , it’s exhausting being the passenger princess, but it’s great for my crafting.

Anyway we are now safely at Griffith, NSW 

So watch this space

Until the next blog

The Touring Knights

Every day deserves a story