You may recall that as we drove into Thargomindah we noted that the two town signs we passed both trumpeted the fact that this outback town was the first in Australia to produce and use hydro-electric power. Now all this is well and good, but I rather suspect that the good folk of Waratah in Tasmania's north-west might justifiably feel somewhat miffed by this claim.
I'll have a bit more to say about this shortly but first something of the history of what we soon discovered is a fascinating outback town.
The excellent Bulloo Shire website provides a good introduction:
It was, in its early days, not only home to the redoubtable Mr Dowling, but also to one John Leahy, another remarkable man who strode the Queensland stage with giant steps (more of these two later).
The website goes on to note:
The wide streets of Thargomindah are typical of towns which came into existence on the back of cattle and sheep, when wool was carted by bullock drays and camel trains and cattle were moved about in large mobs. Room to turn and manoeuvre the long bullock teams in particular, was paramount.
The origin of the name is somewhat obscured. No one quite knows what the word 'Thargomindah' means but the popular versions are that it comes from an Aboriginal word meaning either 'echidna' or 'cloud of dust'. Frankly, having seen the surrounding countryside, the 'cloud of dust' alternative has my vote!
Apart from anything else, visitors to 'Thargo' are encouraged to see at least four local places of interest, the bore and hydro scheme, the old hospital, the post office and Leahy House. We did all this and more, but I have constrained this offering to the first two, together with a few local snippets along the way.
As this aerial (from guess who!) shows, whilst Thargomindah does sit right on the banks of the Bulloo River, its surrounds are anything but a green and leafy paradise. The red earth of the outback is a real feature of this town, and whilst the reasonable water supply to its homes and businesses allow for the nurturing of lawns and gardens (as we found in our caravan park) beyond this the topography can be pretty bleak although it does have its own beauty.
I've circled the Explorers Caravan Park in yellow, the hospital in blue and the old bore and hydro-electricity plant (and the airport terminal) in red. The light blue arrow denotes the spot where Leahy House stands.
Although one of the standout local tourism projects in Thargo is the construction of a network of walking paths (we shall see more of these), we had quite a bit of ground to cover today, so it was into the Cruiser and off north along the Noccundra Road to the northern outskirts of the town where our charts told us the Hydro-Electric bore and infrastructure could be found.
The flags of the UK, France and Australia which fly above the entrance grid (of course there has to be a grid...this is cattle country!) flutter to remind visitors of the claim that this was the world's third such scheme after those of London and Paris.
Now I would argue that there is more than enough interstate rivalry in Australia (much of which is so trivial as to be laughable), and have no desire to inflame more, but as I mentioned earlier, for want of a word I am of the view that the Tassie town of Waratah has every right to mount a challenge to the claims made here in Thargomindah.
Why? Because, dear readers, the streets of that mining town, in what was then the north-western wilderness of the Apple Isle, were illuminated by hydro-electric power in 1886. The lights in Thargomindah streets were not switched on until the year 1898, twelve years later.
But here's the rub......the Waratah scheme relied on water falling over a cliff to drive the generators whilst in Thargomindah it was the reverse, literally. Here the generator was driven by the force of artesian water thrusting its way upwards under enormous pressure from the Great Artesian Basin, in this case from 2,650 feet below the surface.
So, if one were to be pedantic (and I am) every sign in Thargomindah should include the word 'Artesian' when describing this hydro-electric power scheme as 'the first' in this country.
Well, with that off my chest, the next thing to be done is to find out how this all worked.
So, turning an historical 'blind eye' to the entrance sign,
we made our way into the quite large car park and wandered over to the bore site and the building which housed the generating infrastructure.
This is what now remains of the first town bore. Water still trickles to the surface, but the main town water supply is now extracted elsewhere, and the power generation system has been long shut down.
The interior of the plant is a little 'agricultural' as far as historical displays go, but at least the old generator remains (Liz took this shot during the guided town tour she did).
The walls are dotted with old photos
and rather quaint 'information strips' (I'll bet the townsfolk were less than impressed on these occasions!). This particular snippet indicates that the hydro scheme had been superseded, and indeed it had,
as one this told us.
Frankly it was only the hydro generation which interested me, and this is another instance of Aussie ingenuity at its best.
A bloke named Edward Barton, one of Queensland's earliest electrical lighting pioneers, was responsible. Born in Melbourne in 1858, he later worked and trained in the UK, Europe and the USA before returning to Australia in 1884. Whilst in England he had completed the installation of an electric plant driven by a water wheel, and I suspect this was the genesis of the Thargomindah scheme.
In this case the power of the gushing water was harnessed by a device known as a Pelton Wheel.
How the demand requirements were so precisely controlled is beyond me, but not the redoubtable Mr Barton.
These are some of the diagrams from his notebook, circa 1897. Remarkably, the system he devised for Thargomindah was more advanced than that powering the State's capital city, Brisbane at the same time.
As we have seen, the lights of Thargomindah were water powered until the installation of the diesel generators in 1951. Finally, in 1988, the town 'came onto the grid'.
What an utterly fascinating story to discover in such a remote outback town. Only in Australia!
As we made our way back to the Cruiser to continue today's adventure, the proximity of the town all weather airport was highlighted by a landing commuter aircraft taxiing towards the quite large terminal building,
whilst between the airport and the car park, another strip of the ubiquitous Thargomindah cement walking paths
snaked its way over the red earth back towards the CBD.
I subsequently discovered that this town actually has its own cement plant, and I can attest to the fact that its product is being widely used. In fact, one of the things we did note about Thargo was the level of local enterprise. This appeared to be very much a town on the move with increased tourism one of its goals.
With the original bore now defunct, the town water supply has been guaranteed by the sinking of the second 'town bore'
not too far from the first.
Like its predecessor, this bore delivers water at high temperatures, not quite enough to boil and egg, but hot enough to cause serious discomfort.
The solution? A large cooling pond across the road.
This end of town is the industrial hub, one well used feature of which is the huge truck (and other vehicles) wash down bay.
This is where the serious cattle road trains pull in to rid themselves of either mud (rare) or, much more commonly, dirt and dust which may contain noxious weed seeds.
The old Thargo hospital was the next item on our agenda, and to get there we drove back into the northern end of the housing area, and past one of the two town service stations which also doubles as the only local roadhouse.
And here, as we drove by, we almost missed the attractions of this otherwise ordinary looking home.
But then we spotted the roos and the goat,
followed by a real 'Cooktown' dog
and not too far away a few chooks, scratching their way around the front yard. All seemed quite at home with each other in what must be the Thargo zoo!
But now on to the old Thargomindah hospital, which lies at the far north-eastern corner of the town, a rather grand looking building, comparatively speaking, made of somewhat striking red bricks (a story in itself...shortly!)
Here more information plaques inside the building told of its history.
The rear of the hospital
looks out over the several outbuildings which remain today (and yet another walking path!).
To the east of the main building, the 'new' doctors' residence sprawls
whilst in the front yard this rather primitive but effective shelter, complete with a white cross, provided shade for outdoor gatherings in the days of old.
Posters and a couple of the old beds adorn the original eight bed ward
whilst a few bits and pieces of old equipment can be found in the surgery room.
As this plaque detailed, life was not easy for those responsible for maintaining a service for
the care of the sick and injured of the district in the early days. I was particularly interested to note that this facility began its existence as genuine 'community hospital' in what I would consider to be yet another example of the folk of the bush looking after themselves because they had to!
But even this remote medical centre was not without some degree of Royal patronage.
Having been a very young boy when Queen Lizzy visited Port Lincoln back in the early 50's, and remembering the fever pitch of excitement this generated (together with standing around for interminable hours waiting to dutifully wave a flag and shout hooray!), I could well imagine the stir this visit by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester would have created in Thargomindah in 1946.
I also had some fun trying to contemplate just what His and Her Nibs must of thought of the Aussie outback....but I am pleased to see that they did not dress down for the occasion!
And finally, the bricks. I did search in vain for the animal footprints described here, but at least
I think I did find the old mould used to make them. It did strike me that this example of the enterprise and fortitude (the hospital and its surrounds) of those who pioneered this area could have been just a bit more carefully presented, but then I suspect Thargomindah is really just realising the economic benefit tourism can bring to towns such as this.
And indeed there is much to see and learn here. In my next we shall meet two most remarkable locals, make a connection with the king of the cattle, Kidman, and take a general wander down the main street where we had the privilege(?) of meeting and chatting to 'Surly Shirley'.
I'll have a bit more to say about this shortly but first something of the history of what we soon discovered is a fascinating outback town.
The excellent Bulloo Shire website provides a good introduction:
"In 1860, Burke & Wills epic expedition through far South West Queensland helped to pave the way for settlement in the area.
It was during this time that a remarkable bushman by the name of Vincent James Dowling pioneered and settled Thargomindah Station. The Station was, and still is, situated on the opposite side of the Bulloo River to where the town of Thargomindah is located. The Town Reserve of Thargomindah was gazetted on 31st December 1874."This certainly is 'station' country. Following Thargomindah Station, Bulloo Downs and Durham Downs were soon established in the area and apart from becoming a service centre for these enterprises, Thargomindah later became an important stopover for carriers taking wool from Queensland to the steamers which travelled down the Darling River from Bourke to South Australia.
It was, in its early days, not only home to the redoubtable Mr Dowling, but also to one John Leahy, another remarkable man who strode the Queensland stage with giant steps (more of these two later).
The website goes on to note:
"Today, Thargomindah is a modern country town providing the facilities and services expected by visitors, including a fully sealed airstrip with Pilot Assisted Lighting. The town has a population of approximately 230, with the traditional source of industry in the Shire being beef and wool. In recent times, petroleum/oil and gas make up a large part of the Shire's economy."
The origin of the name is somewhat obscured. No one quite knows what the word 'Thargomindah' means but the popular versions are that it comes from an Aboriginal word meaning either 'echidna' or 'cloud of dust'. Frankly, having seen the surrounding countryside, the 'cloud of dust' alternative has my vote!
Apart from anything else, visitors to 'Thargo' are encouraged to see at least four local places of interest, the bore and hydro scheme, the old hospital, the post office and Leahy House. We did all this and more, but I have constrained this offering to the first two, together with a few local snippets along the way.
As this aerial (from guess who!) shows, whilst Thargomindah does sit right on the banks of the Bulloo River, its surrounds are anything but a green and leafy paradise. The red earth of the outback is a real feature of this town, and whilst the reasonable water supply to its homes and businesses allow for the nurturing of lawns and gardens (as we found in our caravan park) beyond this the topography can be pretty bleak although it does have its own beauty.
I've circled the Explorers Caravan Park in yellow, the hospital in blue and the old bore and hydro-electricity plant (and the airport terminal) in red. The light blue arrow denotes the spot where Leahy House stands.
Although one of the standout local tourism projects in Thargo is the construction of a network of walking paths (we shall see more of these), we had quite a bit of ground to cover today, so it was into the Cruiser and off north along the Noccundra Road to the northern outskirts of the town where our charts told us the Hydro-Electric bore and infrastructure could be found.
The flags of the UK, France and Australia which fly above the entrance grid (of course there has to be a grid...this is cattle country!) flutter to remind visitors of the claim that this was the world's third such scheme after those of London and Paris.
Now I would argue that there is more than enough interstate rivalry in Australia (much of which is so trivial as to be laughable), and have no desire to inflame more, but as I mentioned earlier, for want of a word I am of the view that the Tassie town of Waratah has every right to mount a challenge to the claims made here in Thargomindah.
Why? Because, dear readers, the streets of that mining town, in what was then the north-western wilderness of the Apple Isle, were illuminated by hydro-electric power in 1886. The lights in Thargomindah streets were not switched on until the year 1898, twelve years later.
But here's the rub......the Waratah scheme relied on water falling over a cliff to drive the generators whilst in Thargomindah it was the reverse, literally. Here the generator was driven by the force of artesian water thrusting its way upwards under enormous pressure from the Great Artesian Basin, in this case from 2,650 feet below the surface.
So, if one were to be pedantic (and I am) every sign in Thargomindah should include the word 'Artesian' when describing this hydro-electric power scheme as 'the first' in this country.
Well, with that off my chest, the next thing to be done is to find out how this all worked.
So, turning an historical 'blind eye' to the entrance sign,
we made our way into the quite large car park and wandered over to the bore site and the building which housed the generating infrastructure.
This is what now remains of the first town bore. Water still trickles to the surface, but the main town water supply is now extracted elsewhere, and the power generation system has been long shut down.
The interior of the plant is a little 'agricultural' as far as historical displays go, but at least the old generator remains (Liz took this shot during the guided town tour she did).
The walls are dotted with old photos
and rather quaint 'information strips' (I'll bet the townsfolk were less than impressed on these occasions!). This particular snippet indicates that the hydro scheme had been superseded, and indeed it had,
as one this told us.
Frankly it was only the hydro generation which interested me, and this is another instance of Aussie ingenuity at its best.
A bloke named Edward Barton, one of Queensland's earliest electrical lighting pioneers, was responsible. Born in Melbourne in 1858, he later worked and trained in the UK, Europe and the USA before returning to Australia in 1884. Whilst in England he had completed the installation of an electric plant driven by a water wheel, and I suspect this was the genesis of the Thargomindah scheme.
In this case the power of the gushing water was harnessed by a device known as a Pelton Wheel.
These are some of the diagrams from his notebook, circa 1897. Remarkably, the system he devised for Thargomindah was more advanced than that powering the State's capital city, Brisbane at the same time.
As we have seen, the lights of Thargomindah were water powered until the installation of the diesel generators in 1951. Finally, in 1988, the town 'came onto the grid'.
What an utterly fascinating story to discover in such a remote outback town. Only in Australia!
As we made our way back to the Cruiser to continue today's adventure, the proximity of the town all weather airport was highlighted by a landing commuter aircraft taxiing towards the quite large terminal building,
whilst between the airport and the car park, another strip of the ubiquitous Thargomindah cement walking paths
snaked its way over the red earth back towards the CBD.
I subsequently discovered that this town actually has its own cement plant, and I can attest to the fact that its product is being widely used. In fact, one of the things we did note about Thargo was the level of local enterprise. This appeared to be very much a town on the move with increased tourism one of its goals.
With the original bore now defunct, the town water supply has been guaranteed by the sinking of the second 'town bore'
not too far from the first.
Like its predecessor, this bore delivers water at high temperatures, not quite enough to boil and egg, but hot enough to cause serious discomfort.
The solution? A large cooling pond across the road.
This end of town is the industrial hub, one well used feature of which is the huge truck (and other vehicles) wash down bay.
This is where the serious cattle road trains pull in to rid themselves of either mud (rare) or, much more commonly, dirt and dust which may contain noxious weed seeds.
The old Thargo hospital was the next item on our agenda, and to get there we drove back into the northern end of the housing area, and past one of the two town service stations which also doubles as the only local roadhouse.
And here, as we drove by, we almost missed the attractions of this otherwise ordinary looking home.
But then we spotted the roos and the goat,
followed by a real 'Cooktown' dog
and not too far away a few chooks, scratching their way around the front yard. All seemed quite at home with each other in what must be the Thargo zoo!
But now on to the old Thargomindah hospital, which lies at the far north-eastern corner of the town, a rather grand looking building, comparatively speaking, made of somewhat striking red bricks (a story in itself...shortly!)
Here more information plaques inside the building told of its history.
The rear of the hospital
looks out over the several outbuildings which remain today (and yet another walking path!).
To the east of the main building, the 'new' doctors' residence sprawls
whilst in the front yard this rather primitive but effective shelter, complete with a white cross, provided shade for outdoor gatherings in the days of old.
Posters and a couple of the old beds adorn the original eight bed ward
whilst a few bits and pieces of old equipment can be found in the surgery room.
As this plaque detailed, life was not easy for those responsible for maintaining a service for
the care of the sick and injured of the district in the early days. I was particularly interested to note that this facility began its existence as genuine 'community hospital' in what I would consider to be yet another example of the folk of the bush looking after themselves because they had to!
But even this remote medical centre was not without some degree of Royal patronage.
Having been a very young boy when Queen Lizzy visited Port Lincoln back in the early 50's, and remembering the fever pitch of excitement this generated (together with standing around for interminable hours waiting to dutifully wave a flag and shout hooray!), I could well imagine the stir this visit by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester would have created in Thargomindah in 1946.
I also had some fun trying to contemplate just what His and Her Nibs must of thought of the Aussie outback....but I am pleased to see that they did not dress down for the occasion!
And finally, the bricks. I did search in vain for the animal footprints described here, but at least
I think I did find the old mould used to make them. It did strike me that this example of the enterprise and fortitude (the hospital and its surrounds) of those who pioneered this area could have been just a bit more carefully presented, but then I suspect Thargomindah is really just realising the economic benefit tourism can bring to towns such as this.
And indeed there is much to see and learn here. In my next we shall meet two most remarkable locals, make a connection with the king of the cattle, Kidman, and take a general wander down the main street where we had the privilege(?) of meeting and chatting to 'Surly Shirley'.
What an interesting read. Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now going to look for your next blog.
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