The Dingo Fence.

The Dingo Fence

It's hard to believe that Australia has the longest fence in the world, the Dingo Fence and it's 5,614km long, 15 km from Coober Pedy.  It was built in 1885 to protect the sheep in the southern states of Australia by keeping out dingoes and other wild dogs.

The idea for the dingo proof fence emerged in the late 19th century, with the first rabbit-proof fences being built in the 1860's and 1870's to protect crops from the introduced rabbit populations.

The construction of the fence began in the 1940's with the idea of joining existing fences creating a continuous barrier which goes through 3 States of Australia.  Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.  

The fence is 180 cm or 6ft high and of wire mesh.

While designed to protect livestock, the fence has had significant impacts on native wildlife, including increased kangaroo populations inside the fence due to the lack of dingo predation.  There are still ongoing debates regarding the fence.

At the Edge of the Desert.

 At the edge of the Desert in Western Australia we went looking for Wildflowers near a place called Carnarvan in that State.  How delighted we were to come across the flowers that I'm showing.  Somewhere there is always a flower in bloom.  These were taken in the springtime.

The Painted Desert.

Mother nature is the painter of this beautiful desert landscape in the State of South Australia.  It is 120 klms north-east of Coober Pedy, in the Arckaringa Station pastoral lease, not far from the homestead.  It is notable for its distinctive mesas, mountains, and geological formations.

The Painted Desert was seabed 80 million years ago.  As the land rose, some of the rock has eroded away, leaving the Arckaringa Hills in many shades of orange, yellow, and white shale on the slopes.

We have been to The Painted Desert a few times. It only seems like last year we were there the second time around however it's been 10 years!  These photos were taken then.

Two maps of the area, a long way from home and a closer map showing a few Stations, these ones have cattle.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in many areas of Tasmania due to so many past and present immigrants from Ireland including many of my ancestors at the time of the potato famine in Ireland.

Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon, and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.  It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to become a priest.

According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans.
In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianize the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish church.

A popular legend is that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland.

I have just got to tell you this story!

 In our local newspaper the other day it was written that this lady from a place called Westbury (with bush nearby a 30 minute drive to the town) not far from where I live let her two dogs out in the morning, the lady herself went to the toilet, her two dogs were barking madly, a Tasmanian Devil ran inside to get away from the dogs and the Devil went to the back of the toilet whilst the women was still sitting there.  The lady quickly moved and closed the bathroom door where her toilet was. The lady phoned a wildlife rescue person to come and collect the Devil which they did, during the process the bathroom was wrecked to a degree!

Must have been a frightening experience and as my husband has family living in that town, I will find out who the lady was.  I can see the funny side to this story!

Now what a fright that would have been, never heard of such a tale before - only in Tasmania this could happen.

A couple of photos of the Tasmanian Devil which are borrowed with permission.  They are certainly not a cute animal.

Tasmanian Devils, once widespread across mainland Australia are now confined to Tasmania, becoming extinct on the mainland about 3,500 years ago, possible due to dingoes and other factors.  These Devils have faced and are still facing a contagious facial tumor disease which has led to their endangered statues once again.

I do believe a few zoos in other States of Australia have a few Devils.

The first Europeans to enter Tasmania imagined demons lurking in the bush when they heard the blood-curdling shrieks and grows.  Hence being dubbed 'devils'.  It's now known that their various vocalisations (coughs, growls, snorts, sniffs, screeches and even sneezes) are designed to scare off other animals.

Perth, Tasmania

 Perth's history began in 1821 when Governor Macquarie, on a visit from Sydney, stayed with David Gibson of 'Pleasant Banks' across the river, and selected the site for a township, naming it after his host's native town in Scotland.  It was named a town in 1836.

Perth is about 20 kms south from Launceston with a few older buildings and as the years have passed more modern houses especially in the last 5 years have been built.  The South Esk River goes through Perth.

Not far from Perth there is a hill called Gibbet Hill and it's here in 1837 5 years after the practice ceased in England that the body of John McKay was gibbetted (a hangman's type of structure) near the spot where he murdered Joseph Wilson.  There was a great outcry, but the body was not removed until an acquaintance of Wilson passed the spot and, horrified by the spectacle of McKay's rotting corpse, pleaded with the authorities to remove it.

According to documentation, McKay was lowered and buried underneath the gibbet.

This was the last case of gibbeting in a British colony.  

The location is still marked today reading 'Gibbet Hill' on the left side of the road going south from Launceston with a few houses up on the hill.  My father often told the tale of Hangman's Hill!

On a lighter note some photos taken along the South Esk River in Perth, Tasmania last spring.

The bridge over the South Esk River, you can just see a bit of water to the left.

The graffiti is nothing much but it is someone's art.

The toilets and closeup of the cutouts on the walls.

There is a few picnic areas along the South Esk River at Perth, Tasmania and yes, people swim there.

A roadside Library to take or leave a book and a place to sit by the river or go for a walk.

In an around Geraldton, Western Australia.

Mount Scott.

The city is home to the Port of Geraldton, a major west coast seaport. Geraldton is an important service and logistics center for regional mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism industries.

We arrived in Geraldton on August 23, 2015, and found a caravan park easily down by the sea. So it's along time in fact it's 10 years since we visited there. 

There is a hill in Geraldton called Mount Scott, we could see it but be hanged if we could find it. Two days of driving around the city sightseeing and we stumbled across the hill.

On this hill is the 'Rotary Memorial,  World War 11 cruiser Sydney. 

The memorial recognises the loss of the light cruiser during a mutually destructive fight with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran off Shark Bay in November 1941, with none of the 645 aboard surviving.

(Note, this vessel is the second Australian warship to be named HMAS Sydney, and is sometimes referred to as HMAS Sydney (II))

645 steel seagulls

The Waiting Women.  Waiting for her child to return, but of course, he never does!

The Point Moore Lighthouse, located south of the Geraldton Port is a cultural and historical attraction. It is the oldest surviving Commonwealth lighthouse in Western Australia and was also the first steel tower to be constructed on the mainland of Australia. The Point Moore lighthouse stands 35m tall and its 1000w Tungsten Halogen Lamp can be seen for 23 nautical miles. It began operation in 1878.  

A very long way from home.