8/6
Drove the 101 km to Mataranka. Saw a dreadfully skinny black
cat on the side of the road. Trees a bit bigger and more undergrowth than the
Darwin road. Magnificent Bunya tree here. Lots of natives sleeping in the park
and at the pub! Coffee and scones – rainbow bee-eaters everywhere, then to
Territory camp. Nice grass site. Drove down to Bitter Springs and soaked for
ages. Warm. Most people take a noodle and float down the stream then walk back.
Snorkels popular also. Did the washing and had a clean up. Feeling quite sleepy
after the swim – early to bed I think.
9/6
Drove to stock yards and Mataranka Homestead, looked around,
drove back to camp. A lot of shallow water sitting near the roadside and a few
fords as well. Fueled up. Back and knee sore today
– think I twisted the knee a few days ago. Bugger. Saw Barramundi being fed,
had fish and chips for lunch then lay on my back with feet up. Mark said it
would help – maybe I should lie on a carpet – ended up even worse!!!! Hot pack etc.
for a while. Chatting to neighbour then went over for apple strudel for dinner
and talked to a older farming couple from VIC. Going fishing at Boroloola…???
10/6
Off at 8.30 to Daly Waters
pub for the night. Only $15 for power, plus $27 for the famous beef and Barra
BBQ dinner. Glad I came early – vans pulling in constantly now! Another Etamoga
pub – stuff everywhere - bras, gruts,
shirts… and ‘dunnies’ – they have worked hard to make the place ‘rough’ . Bought the girls a bracelet each – mother of pearl etc. Show tonight
so that should be fun, and happy hour! Nephew from Perth called in for half hour. Hadnt
been to the pub. This place is famous as the first Australia international
airport many years ago. Amazing how many WWII airstrips there are in the NT. The
drive here seemed a gentle climb then maybe going down again. A high plateau?
Scattered trees and lots of cattle. Grass not so high though. I should count
the nomads on the roads – hundreds of us! A few troad trains and the odd car
otherwise. Tomorrow is a holiday – probably wont make any difference.
11/6
Excellent meal and show last night – havent laughed so much
for ages. Chilli has been a bull rider & clown, stockman etc. croc dundee
type – very astute observer of humans and excellent poety and songs.
Delighful couple sat with
me durning the show – from Tasmania.
I have been wondering about the native ignorance. The ones from
the bush don’t speak english and don’t understand our ways so why on earth do
the do-gooders insist that they are given our houses with out making sure they
understand how to live in them – but then I suspect they don’t want to live in
them so why not give them what they want and don’t complain when they pull the
roof off to make a lean-to and burn all the floorboards in the stoves to try to
cook! I'm told they were given a farm and stock but when checked up on had wrecked the house and the stock were all
dead. DUH – had anyone taught them how to look after sheep – or even asked if
they wanted to be responsible for sheep. I refuse to believe that they cannot
be taught. If that was the case how come so many were such great stockmen when
the settlers arrived – they were taught back then so what has changed. Maybe
going back to feeding and housing them and their families in exchange for work
on the stations would be a better way – it worked very well before until people
who thought they knew best butted in!
Good 4.5 hour drive today
from Daly Waters to Banka Banka station. ($10, water no power) Tired though.
Bit noisy last night being so close to the pub. Amazing wide mown verge from
the grid into the ‘Tick free Zone’. More scrubby trees and getting into more
open plains again. Seem quite high up also. Very good roads that seem to gently
climb, over a crest and down again.
3 hugh road trains today – had to get almost right off the
road for them.
12/6
Barkley Homestead. Had
dinner at the pub here with 2 nurses last night who work with the indigenous
people – ‘we don’t call them aborigines now!’ What an amazing insight to their
way of life and so many of my questions answered! It seems those who still live
in the bush are very different to the ones who come to town and sit round
making mess. Very gentle intelligent people apparently, with an amazing
knowledge of the land etc., and very strict customs and tribal justice systems.
The shouting I have heard is how they talk to each other yet talking to the
white man they are quiet and shy. The rubbish they leave around is a sign to
others of how ‘wealthy’ they are now, and they do not like the houses the
government insists on putting them in, and that they insist on spending money
repairing when they have been stripped to make lean-tos that the breeze can go
through. But thy are not asked what they want the gov to spend money on
for them and these women reckon it is the gov way of looking good and hoping
the problem will go away.
They suggested I do an adult teaching certificate and go into
the bush – desperate for numeracy and literacy teachers, and that the
communities where there are schools have much healthier kids. No – can't see me
teaching again but was an interesting thought. Thank you ladies - a pleasure meeting you.
No comments:
Post a Comment