Date: November 7th 2008

 

Westprint Friday Five November 7, 2008

Included this week are:

·        King’s Marker

·        Hay River

·        Imparja Television 

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Friday Five 07/11/08 

1. To Ayers Rock and Beyond. WE (Bill) Harney. Second-hand, 1964 hard cover with dust jacket in fair to good condition. Yellow sticky tape marks where plastic has been used to cover the book. Bill Harney, know to all NT Aborigines as ‘Bilarnie’, was made the first ranger when the Ayers Rock (now Uluru) area was proclaimed a National Park by the Australian Government. He held the job for six years, his duties being to protect the cave art, flora and fauna. One copy only $25.00 including post. 

2. My Love Must Wait. Ernestine Hill. Second-hand, 1946 hard cover with dust jacket. Book is in fair to good condition, dust jacket is quite tatty. The story of Matthew Flinders and Ann Chappelle. As a newlywed, Matthew Flinders set sail for Australia and didn’t return home again for almost ten years. The story of Flinders circumnavigation of Australia and his detention by the French on his way home. One copy only $25.00 including post. 

3. Letters To Ann. Catharine Retter & Shirley Sinclair. Ann Chappelle was sweet-natured and clever and having lost her seagoing father at a young age, wanted no attachment with a naval man. He was Matthew Flinders, ambitious and making his mark in the Pacific. During almost ten years of separation, infrequent letters sustained their relationship. This book is an interweaving of letters and diary entries and gives an insight into one of history’s most remarkable couples. One copy only $27.00 including post. 

4. River Tracks. Johnson and de Courcy. Six easy tracks suitable for all vehicles exploring our river systems. Information on permits, camping, facilities, fishing. 352 pp. One copy only $34.00 including post.

5. Namatjira the Painter – Video. Rex Battarbee met Namatjira when he was 30 years old and taught him to paint. Namatjira is now one of Australia's best known Aboriginal artists. Two only $30.00 including post. 

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An important message.

Please note that the opinions and articles included in the Friday Five are not necessarily those of the Westprint crew. Nor do we endorse products (other than our own) listed in contributed articles.

Friday Forum

Jo’s forum comments in green.  

Hay River 

For anyone interested in travelling the Hay River Westprint has two products that relate to the area.

Westprint Hay River CD

Westprint Plenty Highway Map

Please note that you must have a permit from the traditional owner Lindsay Bookie and these can be obtained from Jol Fleming in Alice Springs. (08 8952 3359). 

·        We recently travelled the track from South to North. First of all you have to obtain a permit from the owner. This can be obtained from Jol Fleming in Alice Springs. Personally I would not tow any sort of trailer. The Southern end of the track has quite a few tricky sand dunes. Then of course you also have all the sand dunes between Poeppels Corner and Birdsville. Having said that we did meet vehicles with trailers on both tracks. My advise is that you should at least be travelling with some one else. Bill 

·        We travelled south along the Hay River track in September this year (using Westprint Maps, of course) and the northern part of the track is on a firm surface that winds along the eastern edge of the river. Once the river disappears into the southern desert sands it becomes a mostly sandy track. There are many fairly difficult dunes to cross; we found some steeper and the sand much finer and therefore looser than say the QAA or French Tracks. I would not attempt towing a trailer in that direction.

Both QLD and SA National Parks and Wildlife advise people not to tow trailers in the Simpson Desert and at some stage Hay River travellers must travel through either the Qld or SA parks. It is a common sense rule that really applies anywhere in the Simpson but of course people do it and they put additional stress on their vehicles, themselves and they scallop the dunes making it difficult for those following.

Be warned. We booked to do the Bush Tucker tour but our guide failed to turn up. Alan 

·        We travelled the Hay River Track in a 100 Series towing an Ultimate Camper in 2006 as part of a 12 vehicle group which included a total of 5 trailers.

 Depending upon the level of moisture in the sand, some of the dunes on the QAA line into Poeppel Corner can be a challenge but from there up to Beachcomber No 1 Oil Well is not difficult.  By far the most challenging is the gap between the ‘shot line’ to the East of Beachcomber (near the Qld/NT border) through to the Hay River itself to a point shown on most maps as a ‘Clay pan’.  There is no track on most of this section and you need to find your own path over many dunes.  From there the track is well established and a breeze all the way through to the Plenty Highway, the only risk being mud if there has been recent rain.

 While we enjoyed the trip and only had to be assisted once (before we got our tyre pressures right) it is certainly do-able with a capable trailer but it would be unwise to go without the backup of another vehicle not towing a trailer.  We ended up with 8psi in the trailer, 18psi in the front and 23 psi in the back of a fairly heavily laden 100 Series.

Jim & Jane  

·        I have taken 4 groups through both N to S and S to N. In my opinion there are too many hard dunes and Hay R to Lake Caroline that would stop a van. The final verdict remains with Lindsay Bookie (the owner of the northern area) contacted thru' Jol Fleming (08 8952 3359). Graeme   

Kings Site Original Marker

By Graham Reid 

My wife Deb and I live in Charleville and operate Travel West Outback Tours and  have been conducting tours to Innamincka for many years, along the way I have learned a lot about the history and in particular the Burke & Wills story.

I have always been amazed how little bits of the story keep popping up around the place and I keep telling our passengers that the whole story is not finished by a long way.

In late 2007 I noticed a post about a hundred yards off the track on the right hand side and about 500 yards before you get to Kings Site. It wasn’t till early 2008 when I had a chance to walk back to the marker while Deb took our passengers for a walk along Cooper Creek. When I got to the post I couldn’t believe what I found. It was a piece of brass tube about 8 inches long and 4 inches round, cemented on top of a 2’steel post with the words 

 KING

FOUND

HERE

1861

The words were punched into the brass with a centre punch. Over the years the steel pipe must have rusted and the expansion has caused the brass pipe to split, right down the centre of the words. As you can imagine I was very excited with my discovery.

I took some photos and on my return to the Innamincka Hotel I downloaded the photos to get a clear look at what I had found.

I emailed Dave Phoenix from the Burke & Wills Society to ask him about what I had found.  

Dave replied;    The site was first marked in 1947 by Alf Towner using a 4" brass pump ferrule and he blazed the tree which currently is at the site. I have not been able to find any details of what happened to the brass marker, so it sounds like you have located it - is the writing in the same style as the marker at Wills grave that Towner also erected in 1947. 

(The writing is the same as Dave suggested).

 I don't know what the next step is regarding Towner's pipe. It is not Heritage listed and has no legal protection. The pipe at Wills' grave was knocked over in 1996 (by tourists reversing over it I think) and it has never really been recognized as a marker post. I collected rocks from the airstrip at Innamincka and replaced the post and put the rocks around the base and it has remained intact ever since. I suppose it depends where Towner's pipe is at King's site and whether it is in danger of being damaged or removed. You could always do what Mike Steel did with Red Rover Tours when he put up the cairn at Wills' grave and make restoring the pipe part of a tour. I will be in Innamincka in October and could fix it up then if you are not going to be in the area again this year. Is the pipe in an area regularly visited by tourists and therefore likely to be damaged or removed?
Dave 

I emailed the Department of Environment & Heritage to tell them of my exciting news on 5th June 2008.

The reply I received on the 14th July 2008 was not what I expected. Part of the reply is below; 

I would advise that you contact the Burke & Wills historical society via their web site at  http://www.burkeandwills.org/ and advise them of your information.

This group regularly have expeditions and research all things to do with Burke & Wills etc. and could advise if your info is accurate or all ready known of.

The department would give consideration to information verified by the Burke & Wills Society that advised of Heritage considerations not currently being addressed. 

I did forward to the DEH the information that Dave had supplied to me and am still waiting for a reply!! 

I started to make some arrangements to place some rocks around the base of the post, just as Dave did with the Wills pipe after some tourists reversed into it and knocked it over.

Deb and I were returning to Innamincka in September a couple of times and I was horrified to find on the first of these trips that a bull dozer had driven to within 15 feet of the post.

I have found out a company called Adelaide Energy has contracted another company to do some site testing in the area.

We were returning for the last time in late September and arranged to borrow a Toyota Ute and collect some rocks and place them around the pipe. When I went to get the Ute I was told that the local ranger had advised the Ute owner that I needed his permission to place the rocks around the pipe. As you can imagine I was a little disappointed with all this and will be very upset if the marker is damaged in any way until Deb and I return in April 2009 on our first tour.

I have emailed local ranger at Innamincka to seek permission and to date am again still waiting for a reply. At the end of the day all I want to do is to protect this site I have rediscovered and let people know where it is so they can visit it.

The Burke & Wills story just ‘keeps on getting better’

I was wandering around near Innamincka Township the other day and found a smaller brass marker in the dirt. I will let you know what it is in a later edition.

I hope your readers get a chance to visit this new site.

Kind regards Graham and Deb. Travel West

Condamine Bells 

·        Would any of your readers have any photos of genuine Afghan camel bells also Cobb & Co bells? I am a Condamine bell collector and I have been trying to track down genuine photos of them with no success. Any information would be appreciated also if possible someone could email me with any photos. John

If you can help please send an email to Westprint and we will put you in touch.

Imparja Television

The following information was sent by Kate. I have checked the information on the Imparja website 

·        Do you ever watch TV? Even if you have not yet got a satellite dish and may even never get one, you may still want to watch the cricket or footy on someone else's setup.
Imparja are stopping legitimate travellers (and even people living in a reception black spot) from receiving Imparja (Nine network). The following is a copy of a letter sent to the minister.
Dear Sir,
I am a self funded retiree and have joined the thousands of grey nomads touring this great country. My wife and I have been travelling for 3 years now and part of the enjoyment in our life style, has been the ability to travel and enjoy remote areas of Australia. In fact, we spend most of our time in these areas well away from the east coast of Australia.
We have had a traveller's permit to view free to air satellite for these past 3 years and it has enabled us to follow our favourite TV programs, especially sport, such as cricket and the Olympic Games, no matter where we are in remote areas. The process until now has
involved us reapplying with both commercial stations every six months to keep our decoder cards working. No doubt this is an unnecessary administrative burden on the stations involved. However, this enjoyment is about to end. The free to air TV stations
are now about to stop giving us travellers the licence to watch satellite TV in remote areas, because they will no longer switch on our decoders.

Surely we could be allowed to apply just once, and thereafter have the ability indefinitely to watch satellite TV. This would save the on-going and time consuming administrative burden on the stations involved by not having to renew everybody’s access every
six months. This decision by Imparja (to start with and probably to be followed by Central 7) to no longer cater for travellers will affect many of the 250,000 people in caravans and mobile homes. Most of these are pensioners and self funded retirees.
Sir, it is a simple request we ask for. We are not asking for money or hand outs. Just the means of watching free to air television like all other fellow citizens. We have already invested our own money into satellite dishes and decoders to give us this freedom of choice.  

Wanted – Book

·        In answer to Liz's query (We would like to be able to identify what crops are growing and what the trees and shrubs on the roadsides are.) might I humbly suggest my book "The Bush: A Guide to the Vegetated Landscapes of Australia" by Ian G Read (published by Uni of NSW Press - they have copies available for around $29.95). It covers every vegetated landscape in Australia with sections on how to "read the bush" as well as giving numerous common and less common plant species with hints on how to recognise them. 

www.unswpress.com.au  

Friday Funnies

·        If you are having trouble understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help...
Once upon a time in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10. The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the
forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'
The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!
Welcome to WALL STREET.  

·        An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard; I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me then curled up in a corner and fell asleep. An hour later, he left. A couple of days later he was back, greeted me in my yard, resumed his spot and slept for about an hour. This continued for several weeks.
Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'Do you know that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.' The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?' 

·        An old man goes to a Witch Doctor to ask him if he can remove a curse he has been living with for the last 40 years. The Witch Doctor says, "Maybe, but you will have to tell me the exact words that were used to put the curse on you."
The old man says without hesitation, "I now pronounce you man and wife."

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Cheers for now,

Jo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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