Day 8 -- Cloncurry

Off to an early start with John Green giving me the Cook's tour of the town.  Being a long-term resident he knows the place inside out, and his commentary was most informative.  I learned a lot from him about the Kalkadoon tribes that had inhabited this entire region -- a very warlike, well organised nation of warriors who we're also cannibals (not politically correct to say so!). He also showed me how the U.S. Engineers hid their fuel supplies in a hillside and fed it by gravity through pipes to the airport so that the Japanese could never find the store from the air.

Just outside the town is the Chinamans Creek dam which supplies the town's water and also provides for recreation -- swimming, boating, skiing, fishing.  From a nearby hilltop you get a good view of the town and the entire basin between the ranges where the mining and pastoral industries flourish.  There are small cemeteries where Chinese and Afghan workers from the past are buried.  Cloncurry has Australia's largest cattle sale yards, today only used for dipping and shipping.  Sales are all done by computer and contracts without need for yarding.  

Flynn Place is an historical memorial to Rev John Flynn of the Australian Inland Mission.  He was an extraordinary Presbyterian minister who traveled all over the inland ( including West Australia and Northern Territory) setting up mobile patrols and health facilities for the outback.

Here in Cloncurry he did a deal with the newly founded Qantas to have an airplane available for medical emergencies.  He engaged an electronics whiz to invent the pedal powered generator for simple wireless transmitters that were installed at cattle stations.  This became the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  A spin off from this was the creation of the School of the Air which was also started in Cloncurry before later moving to Mount Isa.

Down the road is the town's information centre and with it a memorial to Mary Kathleen mining township.  Lots of memorabilia there.   Also an extraordinary display of minerals, all neatly catalogued according their scientific descriptions.  It is said to be one of the most comprehensive in the nation.  I don't know who put it together.  The town has restored its old Council Chambers into a delightful community precinct, with concert hall, meeting rooms, library and art gallery.  Quite an asset to the place.

And that was about it for Cloncurry.  It gave me some time just to rest up and regather some energy which had been starting to lag.  A good night's sleep will see me off on the long leg to Winton in the morning.  A few photos from today's wanderings can be seen here.