Penola

Awoke to a howling gale and freezing temperature: but by lunchtime it had transformed into a nice sunny day.

Penola is lovely little town, about the size of Nambour I think. The highway runs through the middle of the town which spreads out 2 or 3 blocks either side. It is a very history-conscious place, with historic markers scattered all around the town providing essential information about the local history.

There have been 3 Catholic churches here. A small wooden chapel built by the first pastor was replaced in the 1860s by a stone church under Fr Julian Tennison Woods. More recently that was demolished and the present stone structure was erected.

Woods is an extraordinary character. Son of Irish parents (one Anglican the other Catholic) he grew up in London and was mainly self taught under his father's tutorship. He was apprenticed to The Times newspaper, then at 18 joined the Passionists. His health broke, so he continued seminary for a while with the Marists in France. Next we find him age 22 as lay assistant to the convict chaplain in Tasmania. He moved to South Australia where he was ordained and sent as parish priest to Penola to care for an area of 20,000 sq miles. He rode all over the area on regular visits. He was an explorer and a very competent geologist / natural scientist who wrote dozens of books and learned papers as he did his bush rounds. He it was who inspired Mary Mackillop to found the Sisters of St Joseph at Penola.

The Mackillop Intrepretative Centre is a fascinating museum of all things Mackillop and Woods. I spent 3 hours there and had the good fortune to meet Fr Paul Gardener SJ who is retired there: he was responsible for guiding Mary Mackillop's canonisation through the murky waters of Vatican bureaucracy.

Several sites around the town have connections to St Mary Mackillop. Penola Station south of the town used to be owned by her uncle through marriage: she came there as governess to their children. Another uncle on her mother's side owned the Royal Oak Hotel in the town's main street: And it was managed by yet another uncle. She used borrow the hotel horse to ride 70 odd km to Mt Gambier. The cottage where she and 2 of her siblings lived for a time has been lost.

After lunch I headed north to explore the Coonawarra wine region. It is a very compact strip of rich red soil that is about 2 km wide and stretches 20 km north from the edge of Penola. The entire area had been settled by John Roddich who eventually subdivided It on strict terms of vine planting and improvement. He built a winery which is the beginnings of the present Wynns Estate. Today there are 30 or so wineries along the strip, most of them with cellar door shops and wine tasting. I bought a dozen mixed reds at Rymill Cellars and they will be delivered next week. (And yes, I am sure I could have got much better prices at Dan Murphys!)

All in all a vet y enjoyable and informative day with a good rest from long drives.

Here are today'photos.