The drive from Karumba is an easy one on the tar, and we spent the afternoon and night in a free camp called the Cumberland Chimney Stack about 20k from Georgetown. The site of an old gold mine and small township now remembered by the tall, slightly crumbling tower of bricks; and loved as a stopover because of the beautiful lily-filled dam and creek that is home to the rare and endangered Gouldian Finch. Needless to say I did not see it, but we did enjoy our spot looking out through the bush and termite mounds watching a couple of Rainbow bee eaters and the noisy Apostle birds., and listening to a myriad of others invisible to us. Highlight was this monitor… haven’t looked up info yet to find out her real name but isn’t she beautiful?
I love that we ‘discover’ great things in little towns along the way. Croyden is home to just a few hundred people and a wonderful heritage precinct and mining museum.
Credit to the folk that have done such a professional and entertaining display for both. The old court house is brought to life with a radio play triggered as you enter. You sit as the jury, and cardboard figures are in place as judge, prosecutor and defendant. A verbatim and very funny transcript of an actual drunk and disorderly case which was brought before the court early last century plays out. It did more than bring the courthouse to life, it brought the history of a bygone era closer, listening to the language and turn of phrase, and the hardships faced by some.
The stories abound about the men, but the women were never written about much. You look at the faces and the times they lived, the clothes they wore, the facilities they had, they were the glue that held the family together, doing the job of man and woman while men were away, often for expended periods. I am in awe of their strength and resilience and fortitude.
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