Winton and Banjo Paterson

The Combo Billabong where the poet Banjo Paterson
was inspired to pen Waltzing Matilda 


Off to Winton in the morning.
On departing Kynuna we made for the Combo Billabong waterhole, 10 ks south on the road to Winton and 8 ks inland from the Matilda Highway. It is a lot closer to Kyuna than it is to Winton. The Kynuna pub also has a lot of Banjo Paterson and Waltzing Matilda memorrabillia. It was a beautiful 2.6 km return walk out to the Billabong with many birds and the original creek and river crossings made o local stone enabling the likes of Cobb and Co coaches to negotiate the way over the rivers and creeks. Once at the Billabong it is easy to slip into the theme of the “Waltzing Matilda” ballad and you can hear the ghost of the jolly swagman around the Billabong. There should be more made of this site as it is the site of the peoples National Anthem despite the referendum outcomes.
Once this visit was over it was off to Winton and the Waltzing Matilda Centre. There is much on display with great audio and visual displays, an art gallery and many memorrabilia items from the Winton districts. A well worth visit when in town!
Following this visit we dove out to Long Waterhole and found a spot to free camp alongside the Billabong amongst many other campers. A beautiful peaceful spot. But guess what? some mongrel of a free camper did? cut down Australia’s beautiful Mulga trees that were alive around the Billabong! There were plenty of dead branches back from the Billabong he could have used L. They do not get it, this behavior type is closing free camps Australia wide.

The Waltzing Matilda Centre Winton Qld.

A windmill at the back of the centre

Waltzing Matilda - Australias unofficial Anthem

in the Centre

Stockmen at a camp fire

Winton and surrounding districts were the wool centre of Australia

Shearers at work

The Waltzing Matilda Centres Theatre

The Billabong Theatrette at the Centre

The picture says it all

We used to travel to Murray Bridge in trains like this

Carts at the Centre

A Steam engine at the Centre



Our campsite at Long Waterhole

A Green and Orange Lorrakeet at our site

A Honey Eater at our site 

A Willie Wagtail at our site

Another Honey Eater

The Long Waterhole campsite in daylight

The Long Waterhole campsite at sunset

A campfire across the waterhole.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bairnsdale, Paynesville and Lakes Entrance.

Image
Koalas at play on Raymond Island Paynesville Bairnsdale, Paynesville and Lakes Entrance. Now having arrived at Bairnsdale late in the day and although it would not have been our first choice we decided to remain in Bairnsdale for the Gippsland Lakes part of our journey as it is central to the lakes area. First day out we decided to drive to Paynesville and take a look around. It is only a short trip and once we had a quick look around we decided to catch the ferry, as walking passengers, to Raymond Island. This was a very pleasant journey and the walk around was well rewarded with the viewing of the local Koala Bears. Once back to the other side we decided to do lunch at the Paynesville Motor Cruiser Club. The meal was very nice, Dallas had Asian Vegetables with Rice and I had Fish and Chips, the rooms were lovely and warm with great views so it was a very pleasant way after the big rush of the day before. The lakes are just beautiful and the councils and port author...
Read more

Tathra and Eden, sadly the last of NSW

Image
A view from Tathra beach to the burnt hills toward River View Estate Tathra and Eden, sadly the last of NSW Having left Jindy we headed out to Cooma where after dealing with Dump Point and re-fueling we set off down the Cooma to Bega road. This is a spectacular drive through highland plains and then down the escarpment through the Wadbillinga National Park via the Snowy Mountains Highway passing the Fred Piper Memorial Lookout to Bemboka. It is also very steep and in places and a little scary when you have a van in tow particularly as you can see where there has been black ice on the road earlier in the day. Anyhow we made it safely to the famed Bemboka Bakery for a well deserved bakery lunch including tea and coffee. The Fred Piper Memorial Lookout with bushfire smoke in the background Following this we proceeded on to Bega where we visited the Bega Heritage Cheese Museum. What a gem of a museum, well done Bega. This Australian Icon is doing us proud, buying up Auss...
Read more

Borroloola and its Hidden City plus we see the ocean again, Whooho!

Image
A water colour of the Caribarrini Water Hole A  Tug at McArthur River Mines transfer Station with the Gulf of Carpentaria in the background. We did get closer to the ocean later. We arrived in Borroloola at approximately 3.45pm after a long drive from old Daly Waters via Cape Crawford. Borroloola is on the banks of the McArthur River. Our original interest in coming to Borroloola, which sits in the SW corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria, was twofold. It is the town closest to the commencement of the Savannah Way . The route we originally planned to travel to Normanton by. Secondly we had read about the “Hidden City” in the Cape Crawford and Borroloola vicinity Once we read a few blogs on this journey we decided it was not suitable for our vehicle and caravan. So we decided we would have to take the Barkly from NT to Normanton. But because of the “Hidden City” we decided to still include Borroloola on our itinerary meaning once departing there we would drive from B...
Read more