Jetty Tour Day 4 - Wilcannia

Ring Neck Parrot

As I have previously said (May 2017), Wilcannia is a town I find confronting. Not in the sense that I feel scared - although there are places and times of the day I would avoid, like most towns - but in the sense that I find it hard to imagine a place where the difference between Australia's non-indigenous population and its indigenous population is more pronounced.

This is blatantly obvious in the infrastructure of the town, where splendid examples of the white colonial past, which took everything from the culture that was insitu, are still standing in the form of huge limestone buildings. Magnificent as they are - the courthouse, the police station, the post office and several others - they are an in-your-face reminder that in the 1860's, white fellas arrived and took over the place. Meanwhile, much of the other buildings in the main street are ramshackle dwellings or the remains of shops and businesses long since gone and beaten up and beaten down by locals. Everywhere, decay and disadvantage stands beside everlasting privilege. 

The cafe we visited last time is no more. "Miss Barrett has gone to Tasmania" we were told. Next door, an old shack with damaged corrugated iron roof, was having solar panels fitted!

We tried the road house for a cuppa but that was as limited and as expensive as it was unfriendly. We retreated back to our campsite.

A drive around the property revealed what we already knew from looking at what used to be the billabong in front of the campsite. The larger billabong was cracked mud with a fresh layer of green that some sheep were enjoying. In 2017, they would have be covered by water. One small puddle still battled the sun for survival. Not that it stopped the Red Tailed Black Cockatoos. A mob flashed past as we drove along. The red sand dunes seemed to have denser tracks and even in low range there was some  tyre slippage. The Darling itself sort of sat there, way down the bank, with all of the fallen trees exposed like piles of old bones (Sue's description).

They need rain out here.

Today's photos

The afternoon was spent chatting with new chums as they arrived and other relaxations. Sue read a book while I spent an hour updating our financial records. In the late afternoon, I enjoyed a few beers while sitting in my campchair with my camera in my lap, snapping the odd little birdie. I had been hearing a Whistling Kite for two days but hadn't been able to capture it, until late in the day, just as the last orange light was leaving, I caught it high up in a tree about 200 hundred metres away.

A lovely place Warrawong, despite the lack of water in the billabong, there are plenty of birds to marvel at, tracks to explore and peace and quiet. 

Broken Hill tomorrow.