LONGREACH AND THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

Monday 24^th August to Friday 29^th August.

“G’day mate, how youse go’an?”  We heard this greeting frequently during our stay in Longreach, and it set the tone for our experiences and adventures in this town.

That quintessential phrase of the outback of Queensland is one that all Aussies can identify with and usually invokes feelings of patriotism, but it took on an even more meaningful and thought provoking concept.

Brolgas!! In the caravan Park! Thats how bad the drought is, they came in to eat Geordie's Nibblies!

Geordie telling the Brolga's off! What is it with the birdlife up here, they all like Geordie's food

Finally! Made it to the tropics, and the first day the temperature reached 35 deg C

We had heard that the banks were foreclosing on the owners of the drought stricken stations up here and were then selling them off to international buyers. The fact that we saw many kilometers of new shiny, very expensive fencing would only appear to confirm this as no property owners, who have lost all their stock would have the cash or the need to erect brand new fences in areas where road side signs still warn of cattle on the road.

This feeling was intensified when we bought tickets for a Cobb and Co stagecoach ride.

One family, The Kinnons, who have been graziers since the 1950’s have used their resources to make the most of the growing tourist trade related to the outback way of life. They reenact stagecoach rides, complete with an exhilarating gallop on an out back road full of bulldust. Paul got to ride up on the top, which according to them was the First class ticket holder’s seat. Although the ride was authentic they used a brand new garden blower to blow the dust off Paul’s back.

Note, Bud the cattle dog seated on the rear, check out what he does in the next photo

Bud poses for every photo

This old gum tree has been examined by experts. Its over 400 years old, which means it was seen by the original Cobb and Co passengers as this part of the track is the original route used by the Cobb and co coaches

The rest of the adventure included scones jam and cream for morning tea, a fair dinkum old movie starring Chips Rafferty, “Smiley gets a gun” made in 1956 (I was only a baby then!) and then “The Harry Redford Old time tent show”. This show was very loosely based on the story of a cattle duffer called ‘Captain Starlight’ and included a lot of old time larrikinism and typical Aussie humour, but underlying all this was a message that was beginning to become clear.

We enjoyed this family’s approach to outback tourism so we booked a sunset paddle wheeler cruise on the Thomson river (the water is really clean because there is no pee in it) I hope you’se all got that bit of Aussie humour!!

I think the captain is shouting out for help!

This also included a drover’s tea (Stew and damper and apple pie and custard), a bush poet called Dusty, and a light show about Harry Redford (Captain Starlight).

 At the end of this show we sat around the campfire drinking billy tea (They aren’t allowed to swing the billy around any more because of OH&S) and while we were drinking our tea Mr Kinnon began to talk to us about the Outback way of life.

This is where I connect back to my opening thoughts. His family are the survivors, they are hanging on to a way of life that has epitomized the Aussie culture for generations. They are all involved in this show, his wife two sons and daughter are the show and with the help of a few other locals they are telling a story to the rest of Australia, a story about a lifestyle they fear is becoming lost.

Bush poet’s are becoming rare, the history of Australia dealing with cattle duffers, cattle kings and drovers is no longer being taught and the spirit, the soul of Australia is being undermined by “political correctness” …..there I said it, it was a term that was frequently used and with real despair.

Did you know in Queensland that 86% of the station owners are over 60? Their children all leave and go to the city because there is no future on the land for them. The Kinnon family is trying to preserve this way of life, but all too often this fantastic outback experience is only seen by  gray nomads and overseas visitors who want to experience the “real” Australian way of life.

The message behind this is we need to act and try to retain our way of life so that it’s not just a myth presented to international visitors,

 put the soul back into our way of life so that we can all say proudly, 
“G’day mate, how youse go’an?

Sunset on the Thomson!