Outback Adventure - Day 4

Outback Adventure - Day 4

This actually being written on Day 6 - Thursday June 26 as Days 4 and 5 were very busy days and it was too late to up date my blog when we got back to our motel.

Day 4 had an early morning start as we we off to another station for a tour and Smoko.  For those who don't know the sheep shearers in the 1890s had two big strikes which resulted in establishing the union movement in Australia.  As part of their working conditions they were entitled to a morning and afternoon smoking break which became known as a Smoko.  Virtually nobody smokes in public these days but morning and afternoon breaks are still known as a Smoko.

This station was only 18,000 acres and as the joint owner, the wife, said not big enough to be viable in the harsh climate around Longreach. She and her husband also owned and worked two other properties totalling 80,000 acres.  They employed only one full time worker so were very busy.  She explained during the tour that they worked six days a week from dawn to dusk to keep up maintaining their stock and facilities. They tried to keep Sundays as family days but often these were interrupted by property maintenance.

They ran about 4,000 sheep for wool and meat  and about 2,000 cattle for meat and 800 for a cattle stud they ran. Like everybody in this area they were badly affected by drought and would soon be reducing their meat cattle herd but would retain their stud stock as long as possible.  She took us back to the homestead for Smoko but no shearer ever had the spread that she put on for us. The profit she makes from these tours pays for he two older girls to go to boarding school.  Her youngest girl is still at home.

She was born on the property and her grandfather and father had developed it from scratch and bought up surrounding properties.  She and her husband had bought the original property from her parents and her brother bough the adjacent 100,000 acres.  She believes that they have enough reserves to sit out the present drought.

This tour really showed us city folk how hard our farmers had to work and how tough they are doing at the present.

After Smoko we were off to the The Stockmans Hall of fame.  This was established in the 1980s by R M Williams, a well known stockman turned manufacturer, who established the internationally acclaimed range or country clothing especially boots.

On arrival we were entertained by a country showman/stockman who demonstrated his horsemanship and sheep dogs. He also sung a few country song he had composed.  It was quite a performance and he ended up riding a big bull.

We had time to tour the museum in the main hall which as it name suggests is devoted to the history of the stockman.  It was interesting but I think it would be more so if you were country bred.  I left before the coach came and walked a couple of kilometres back to the motel having let the tour leader know.  I had time for a couple of hours rest and photo uploading to my tablet before our evening activity began.

At 16.30 where taken to Smithy's place by the Thompson river.  Smithy runs the tour company and runs a river tour on the Thompson which is a lovely placid river and we were out to look at its beauty and the sunnset.  Both were great.  It is amazing that in flood this river is up to 9 kilometres wide.  Smithy lives in a house on stilts near the river and sit out the floods commuting to town by boat.

After the cruise we had and outside dinner at Smithy's while being entertained by a nationally acclaimed country star, Tania Kernigan.  She was joined by her father, Ray, who has a bust at Tamworth.  They were really terrific,  the food was great and the big bonfires and gas h eaters kept us warm.  It was a great evening and were got back to the motel at 21.30.