We took the van to Pt Pirie to have it serviced. While we were there we took a picnic lunch to Pt Broughton, a little down the Spencer Gulf. The area was deep green – wall to wall wheat at its best. From the Mountains to the sea, quite a beautiful sight. We loved it after the dry land we had been on for quite a while. Pt Broughton was a quiet, seaside place with lots of children and it was full of history, dating from the mid 1800s. There were lots of ancient buildings and many of the farmers who tried their fortune at farming in the area, left with their fingers burnt – especially those who went to the more arid regions. Nobody counted on years of drought and so little water. The railways were all so important then and often ran down the middle of the main street. Just imagine all the towns-folk stopping what they were doing to watch the monstrous steam train roll in to town. No cars on the road in those days.
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| Pt Broughton |
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| Wandearah East Uniting Church |
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| Wandearah East Uniting Church |
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| Wheat farming |
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| Wind farm and wheat farming |
We enjoyed the visit to the old railway station at Pt Pirie – it was fantastically well done out as a museum – but dusty. It is near the waterfront. There were several changes in the gauges of the railway lines over the years and one of the major platforms left over, has recently been turned into the local library and tourist information office. It is all built on the railway platform, but you would never know it when you are inside - it is fantastic and is gently curving around a bend. A beautiful affair all in all. We saw a 5 m shark which was found right at Port Pirie where the children swim. He was stuffed, but such a size.
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| Port Pirie Library from the converted railway station |
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| Pt Pirie railway station |
Driving from Peterborough to Broken Hill today we spotted about 34 emus all near the road, though they don’t make terrific subjects for photos because we are driving along at a rate of knots as we take their picture. Graeme and I were both surprised that neither of us could identify much with Broken Hill as we have not been here for about 38 years. Graeme lectured at the new University in Physics here and was able to find his old office. Much of the building is currently “mothballed”. I ran my own business college here and worked with the TAFE College. Darlene was born here and we left when she was four years old. We checked over what used to be the Uni and now it has multi educational uses. Our old home we bought – walk in walk out – complete with food and linen in the cupboards, was hard to recognize. We paid $4,500 for the house and we had to pay an extra thousand dollars to make the land Freehold. Graeme says his salary at the Uni was $5,000 p.a. I remember my weekly shopping cost $5.00.
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| Our old house for $4,500 |
All my beautiful Sturt Desert Peas had gone from my garden and all the Fairy Stattice which is every florist’s favourite – a beautiful feathery mauve flower - was gone. Oh! My poor garden. The Almond trees were also gone and instead there were huge trees of different kinds – most inappropriate for the site. The one redeeming feature was that the house we first lived in - and had been the bank in Silverton before the “line of load” had been discovered in Broken Hill – was in prime form. It had been brought into B Hill and rebuilt, still looked very wonderful, in its maturity. An historic piece altogether. It has been so very well kept and is a land mark. The owner was also the owner of the Pizza Hut in B. Hill and was very kind to us. When we lived there, the camels used to come up on the front verandah in the middle of the night and have a meeting there. I think they remembered the place when it was the bank in Silverton. It is the lovely two storey home in the photos.
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| Our old rented house |
Graeme got a series of night shots around Pt Pirie of the smelter, which has been operating since the 1880’s and also of the wheat silos. That area is one huge wheat provider for the world. There is a chap at Pt Pirie who swims up the gulf every morning and back singing at the top of his lungs. Quite a sight – forget the freezing temperature, he’s happy. Hope you are all happy as well. Its mighty cold here, but the days are sunny and similar temperatures to home.
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| Night reflections |
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| Night reflections |
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| Sunrise reflections |
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