SFT Tour - Day 5 - Machattie Park, Art & Mairy

Boer War and 
Carillon Memorials

This morning we parked in town and did some walking. Sue, still recovering from her dislocated kneecap, was up for the job if not entirely up to speed. It only becomes an issue when crossing four lane, busy streets in the heart of a city, even at traffic lights. As it was, we got chipped by some manic geriatric because we were walking too slow and he wanted to get past. We moved to one side and let him past, hoping our show of manners might rub off on him.

The first stop was the narrow park which lies between Church and Russell Streets, with George St at it's north and William St at the south and called Town Square. Another way of describing it would be to say it lies between All Saints Anglican Cathedral and imposing Old Court House. At the southern end of the park lies the Boer War Memorial, opened by Lord Kitchener himself in 1910. Local legend says that Kitchener came to town to do the deed but refused to until the name of Lt Peter Hancock was removed. Hancock was executed beside Harry "Breaker" Morrant during the Boer War for following what they alleged at trial were Kitchener's orders to shoot prisoners. 

The dominant feature of this particular park is the 30 metre high War Memorial Carillon which lies at the geometric centre of Town Square. Contsructed in 1933 as a tribute to the soldiers who died in the middle east and Europe, it now stands as a memorial for that war and all which have followed. The sounding of the carillon is on the quarter hour and on the hour, its 35 bells sing a harmony of the number of the hour. The smallest bell weighs 8kgs and the largest 1,575kg. Each are inscribed with the crest of Bathurst and the largest three with the words of dedication from the people of Bathurst to those who have served. In the pit of the carillion, on the ground floor, a gas fed eternal flame used to burn, but in 2019 it was replaced with a bronze statue representing the eternal flame. The sculptor, Terrance Plowright, also fashioned the image of Steve Waugh, with cap in hand, which can be found at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The dome of the old
Courthouse Building

To the west of Town Square is the magnificent Old Court House building, with its high dome of copper sheeting, sandstone entrance portico and two distinct wings which face Russell St. Of course, most of that is covered by scaffolding and building screens at the moment as restoration work of the original building, constructed in 1880 is undertaken. It will be again, when work is finished, the most imposing building in Bathurst. 

We cut through Court House Lane to Machattie Park, the site of the original Bathurst Gaol which closed in 1888 so that the park could be established. It was named for Dr Richard Machattie, a Scot who served as one of the town's medicos in the 19th century and spent three terms as Mayor in the 1870's. It has some of the old oldest and most unusual trees in Bathurst. We dropped in to the Bergonia House, with its staggering array of colourful bergonias. They were just beautiful. Next to it, the Fernery is another paradise of plants and even has some angels which I never took my eyes off. At the centre of the park is the bandstand which still hosts performances of the Bathurst Town Band and was built as the park was established. It pleased its long standing band leader, Sam Lewin no end. His contribution is marked by a small but significant memorial gate on the eastern side of the park. 

Its a lovely park, with one exception. The Grand Fountain, referred to often as the Crago Fountain was opened in 1891. It is, without doubt, the ugliest fountain I have ever seen: so bad in fact, that I wouldn't photograph it! Goggle-eyed fish at its base and one heron mounted further up with clear spaces for others which were either never installed of knocked off. Its a dreadful eyesore.

After our wanderings, we joined an old cricket team mate from Armidale days, Brian Mair, for lunch. Brian has not long retired after a long career teaching and raising his family in Bathurst. We had a lovely time catching up and going back just a bit to talk old times.

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After lunch, we took Brian's advice and dropped in at Annie's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlour. Yum.

Our last stop for the day was the Ballarat Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) for a look at two excellent exhibitions.

Loving the road.

SFT Tour - Day 4 - Prime Ministers, Prime Event, Prime Real Estate

Photo bombing in
bicentennial park

The day didn't start well. Our request for Google to find the Tourist Information Centre sent us seven kilometres to the south of Bathurst. If not in the middle of nowhere, we were at least close.

It is usual practice for Sue to read ahead on the next place we'll visit, form opinions of what's worth seeing and then early in the visit, drop in on the visitors information centre to confirm our selections. This morning, we were keen to ride the Hop On, Hop Off Bus and get an overview of Bathurst.

"Sorry its not running at the moment."

Oh well, we could go to a number of interesting museums.

"Sorry. That one is shut because of Covid. This one is only open on weekends. Another is being refurbished ..."

Do you get the picture?

Instead, we grabbed the self-guided, town tour and headed off with Sue navigating and me disgruntled. What could go wrong? Well, in the end, not much and we had a fun day.

Without giving you a blow by blow to all the sights or the couple of occasions we got lost - once Sue's fault, once mine - here are the highlights and boy, what highlights they were.

Ben & Elizabeth Chifley's Cottage

It wasn't open for tours but is was there and signage gave us a enough information to make the visit to the very humble home of Australia's Prime Minister of the 1940's interesting. No.10 Busby St shares a common wall with No.12 and was bought by George McKenzie. He lived in No.12 and rented No.10. He raised his daughters Anne and Elizabeth there and when Elizabeth marriage the engine driver and staunch railway man, Ben Chifley, they began their marriage as tennants in No.10. George relented and gifted No.10 to the young couple and Ben bought his share of the house for 10 shillings from Elizabeth so they would be on an equal footing. Increasingly away, once he became a member of parliament, Elizabeth would sit at home while Ben went to and from Canberra on the train. Whilst his transport graduated to a driver and a Cadillac when he was Prime Minister, it was still the same humble dwelling he returned to in Busby St when he could. 

Mount Panorama

Whilst my childhood love for what used to be called the Hardie Ferodo 500 didn't last until it became the Bathurst 1000, Australia's iconic racing car circuit remains strong among those things I love about my father. Every year, we would sit and watch the race, often with by brother in law Lindsay, each with our favourite drivers or in either the Ford or Holden camp. I know grown adults who still do so today and with all, much of the meaning comes from the family memories it evokes. I could feel the excitement rising in me as we drove toward the track and by the time we turned in Pit Strait at Murray's Corner, I was positively bubbling. Of course, on all other days of the year, its a two carriage roadway but I couldn't believe there were heathen turning left to drive it in a clockwise direction. Off we roared, at 60kms an hour, past the pits and then around the sharp left to head up Mountain Strait - only to be confronted by roadwork signs! Soon it was up and over and through the tight bends and sudden drops across the top of the mountain, after I had switched the car to manual and had finger tip control on the paddles and it was all I could do to not drop into racing lines and cut the apexes. For a moment I caught up with the Allan Moffat part of me, edging past Brock (bletch) and then rounding that final left hander, a Conrod Strait opened up in front of me. I'll admit, before I knew it I may have been exceeding 60kms/hour but reality set in quickly and I went back to cruise control.

What an experience! How fulfilling ... so I did another lap and it was only five minutes slower than the offical lap record.

Abercrombie House

Built in the 1870's by the Scot, James Stewart, the son of William Stewart, who was Lieutenant Governor General of New South Wales when he came to Australia in 1825, it is grandeur on the largest scale. Internal walls are render over brick and exterior walls, locally quarried Basalt and sandstone. The result is walls that are two and half feet thick! Two storeys, and rooms cropping up in all sorts of places from stairways which seems to rise from somewhere and go somewhere else. James son Athol became the landlord after the death of his father but in 1927, when Athol's wife died, he closed the place up and left. It was left to fall into decline. In 1968, Rex Morgan bought the place from James great grandson and he and his family embarked on a restoration project which has bought the house back to a close approximation of what it was. Importantly, Morgan, his son, Christopher and grandchildren have lived continuously in Abercrombie House since and they open it to the public as a living home. History has been lovingly recreated in every room and also in the out buildings but not at the expense of practicality. Heritage listed, it really is one of the best of these grand homes of so long ago we have seen.

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As I said earlier, there were other interesting places too but the only others I'll mention in passing are the bicentenary flagpole, which is mounted on a glass pyramid and nearby glass-etched panels with aboriginal motiffs and including the people who helped in the creation of them. The other is Government House, so named because it was thought to be the relic of the original seat of government in Bathurst. Later research turned up that the actual Government House was a little way down the street and this building was either the home and business quarters of the local tanner or a girls school. It was being used as a dog kennels when the local council bought it for preservation but for apparently the wrong reason!

A fine day.

SFT Tour - Day 3 - Mudge/Sofala/Hill End/Bathurst

Hill End

We made an easy run down the Castlereagh Highway as far as Ilford, before turning west towards Sofala. The road took on hills and a lot more bends, until we found ourselves on the steep hill which led down into the village that time didn't forget but rather ravaged.

What once was ten thousand people and a thriving community, is now well under 100 and resembles a movie set: not surprising then that at least 4 films have used the town. Most notable would Peter Weir's "The Cars That Ate Parris" and several scenes from the story of the avante garde lifestyle of Norman Lindsay "Sirens". It was also in the eye of Brett Whiteley, who created a series of paintings here in the 1970's.

You could describe it as quaint or at the least interesting and the best way to explore it is on foot. There is the building that was the backdrop for Russell Drysdale's famous painting "The Cricketers", a sturdy two story brick building but there are many rickety shanties which were cobbled together more than a hunderd years ago and somehow remain. The Royal Hotel is a drawcard and it was one of two pubs back in the day. The other, the Gas Hotel, is now a private residence.

The Rustic Cafe is a good place for some tucker and a great coffee. Created from new in the style and materials of the village, it fits in nicely. We had our morning tea there.

Before lunch, we drove further west to the Historic Site of Hill End, managed and controlled by NSW National Park and restored since the early 1970's, about a hundred years after the village was at its height. The Royal Hotel was opened in 1872 and still does a good trade. The school, one of many brick/stone building is remarably well preserved for the 10 students who are still enrolled. The are two magnificent churches and restored butcher shops, other commercial premises and many sad homes of the miners who were the majority of the past residents. 

The former Gas Hotel

Everywhere are notice boards telling visitors what they are seeing. Much attention to detail has gone into the identification of buildings and ruins and the communication of that information to visitors.

Near the pub, the self-guided Heritage Centre uses excellent static and dynamic displays to tell the Hill End story. 

Hill End was worked over first by alluvial gold miners but after they left, bigger mines moved in to take out the substatial reef gold through undergound mining. It reaped rich rewards. 

What strikes you how well developed this town was and how commited to an ongoing life here were the people who came . The infrastructre makes that clear and there is no greater evidence than the marvellous collection of glass slide photographs taken by Beufoy Merlin and Charles Bayliss and commissioned by Otto Holtermann. The collection is the greatest photographic collection in Australia showing its far past. The State Library of NSW holds the orriginal glass plates. Holtermann was a member of the NSW Parliament and holds the record for the largest gold specimen ever found in Australia.

We shall return and stay here to explore further.

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We left mid afternoon for the remaining kilometres to Bathurst, via the road south from Crudine, the Turondale Road. It was often steep - up and down - and very winding for about two thirds its length. We took our time and enjoyed the drive.

The next three days we'll be at Bathurst.

SFT Tour - Day 2 - Mudgee By Trike

The story of our day was the rumbling of a Peugeot engine and small sips of red wine.

Jeff from Mudgee Trikes turned up after lunch and took us on a tour of Mudgee: a little history, a little information on architecture, a little education on the best places to eat or get a coffee ... and a lot of roaring down the road to visit wineries.

I was more than a little nervous as the last time I was on anything less than four wheels traveling at speed was 44 years ago and that didn't end well but Jeff eased us into three figures gently and before long I was cheering on down the highway, with teeth clenched and once or twice I opened my eyes.

Actually it was a lot better than I expected and for Sue, it was all that she expected. I'm thinking of going to the hospital to see if surgery can remove her smile.

It was the perfect afternoon for this type of activity, with about 21C and warm sunshine, without a cloud to blemish the sky. The moll and I pretended we were young again but the only dope she'll be smoking will be me if I happened to get too close to the fire. We started the tour with a visit to the remains of a cottage Henry Lawson lived in as a child. Its a brick fireplace. Not very big but at least it would have been warm. Fitting then that Australia's second most infamous drunk should lead us into our first set of activities of the afternoon.

We visited several wineries: Robert Stein's, who offered us wines across a broad range (we purchased reds), Pieter van Gent who is known for his Pipeclay White Port (we purchased it and some reds) and Burrundulla Wines who have been growing wine in the Mudgee area since the first of the Cox family, George, arrived in the area in 1845 and they have been squashing grapes ever sinces. They are famous for their reds (we purchased reds).

Coming back to town, Jeff swung us past some interesting local stories. Did you know, for instance, that parks were created in Mudgee, in the late 1960's, from spaces that had been cemeteries. the headstones were removed and placed along what is known as the Mudgee Memorial Wall. Robertson Park, the most prominent park in town and nearly 1.6 hectares in size, was originally called Market Square and was the site of the first Mudgee Show 1846. In 1903, a rotunda was built in the centre of the park to honour the men who fought in the Boer War and was named, as was the park, in honour of the local member, Sir John Robertson, who was the Premier of NSW.

This was a really fun afternoon and Jeff couldn't have been more accommodating.

In the morning, we did some short wandering about the centre of town. Any longer stints are still beyond Sue's knee. We managed to see a few interesting buildings, find a chemist and have a coffee. We sat opposite the Town Hall, built in 1880 and badly damaged by fire in the late 1970's. Its no longer the official seat of local government but was refurbished in 2013 and now houses the Mudgee Library and the theatre and cinema. It is Heritage listed by the National Trust.

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We move on tomorrow as we couldn't secure more accommodation to further explore the place but this link will give you more information about the fascinating places here. Mudgee information from Aussie Towns

SFT - Day 1 - Tamworth to Mudgee

 At last.

Cudgegong River at Mudgee

Rig joined. Food on board. Tank full of fuel. Tyres kicked and away.

We left Tamworth mid morning and headed south to Werris Creek, before turning west via "The Gap", a narrow break in the hills through which both rail and road squeeze and opened up the Breeza Plain to us. In steady progression, we passed through Spring Ridge and Premer before joining the Black Stump Way and heading south to Coolah.

On the way, we passed the site of the Flaggs Inn. Named for the Flag Lillies that bloomed at the entrence to the inn, it was built in the 1880's and was the main coach stopping point between Mudgee and Gunnedah. According to the Mudgee Guardian ... 

"The Inn consisted of a large bar, office for the owner, parent’s bedroom and parlour,  sitting room and a spacious dining room. There  was an extensive  kitchen and an oversized bakehouse with an immense stove and oven. Hot  water was connected to the stone kitchen and bath rooms.  In addition there was a dormitory, fifteen bedrooms, one especially fitted for the governess, plus a big dance hall with a supper room. There was long verandah which ran around the front and side of the Inn with a school room at one end, containing book cases, shelves etc. Out buildings consisted of a butcher shop with all necessary equipment, a general store, saddle and harness room, a blacksmith’s shop with forge, a stable, with eight feeding boxes, plus a loft for the storage of hay and corn.  A shearing shed joined the blacksmith’s shop. Horse yards with watering troughs were provided nearby."

The inn was built by James Dempsey, who held the first licence. It lasted forty or so years before being burnt to the ground in the 1920's.

An interesting part of its history was its role in the search for Jimmy Governor and his brother in the huge manhunt in August of 1900. It became the search centre. The owner was told by the Police sergeant in charge that he should expect 75 at the Flaggs for lunch. 200 turned up.

Today, nothing remains except some exotic plants. All materials that mark it's existence were removed quickly after the fire.

We stopped not long after the Flaggs for lunch at the roadside stop which marks The Black Stump - or one of them - about 10kms from Coolah.

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After lunch, it was an easy run on through Gulgong, the town which used to be on the $10 note, along with Australia's most tragic creative, Henry Lawson. What awful irony that he should be replaced by his rival Banjo Patterson.

Arriving in Mudgee as the afternoon turned from mid to late, and we set up comfortably at the Riverside Caravan Park among the leafy trees, right beside Cudgegong River.

Its just so good to be back on the road in our little mobile home.

Starter For Two

 After such a long, long break from the road, caused in the main by everybodies favourite pandemic but also by some of our own personal trials, we are about to head back out on the road with the mini "Starter For Two" Tour. 

Too nervous of crossing state borders until the vaccine has either cured or killed us all, we've decided that its time we visit and stay at the many towns in NSW we have always driven through on the way to somewhere else. In that vein, the "SFT" Tour will see us do a short two week loop through the central west and some significant towns in which we have never - or almost never - stayed. Mudgee, Bathurst and Orange make up the bulk of loop but there are a couple of "find a cafe" small towns in the itinerary as well.

Its nineteen months (Oct 2019) since we had the Avan running along behind us on the way home from a three month jaunt to Darwin. Time to test the gear and try and rekindle the love affair Sue and I have had with the road for the past forty or so years. Its not over but like all love affairs, it needs cherishing more regularly than we've been able to.

Tally ho.

Pete & Sue.