IN THE HUB OF THE BARCOO SHIRE - JUNDAH - PART 2 (THE TOWN) ( 8 JUNE 2019)

The Jundah area was first settled by the pastoralists Patrick Durak and his brother-in-law John Costello (we have already read a bit about them....incredible folk) and the town, the name of which means 'woman' in the local aboriginal language, came into being in the late 1800's.

Obviously cattle and sheep grazing were the economic drivers, but opals were discovered just west of the Thomson River in the 1880's and for about twenty years this field produced some of the world's most spectacular opals. 

A lack of water eventually brought this industry to its knees, but recent discoveries have sparked renewed interest (although there is a current two year wait to have the appropriate licences issued by the Queensland Government....the miners are not a happy bunch of blokes!)

With a population of just over 100 folk (2016 census) Jundah is far from a metropolis, but it is home to the Barcoo Shire offices, and there seems to be plenty going on around its wide thoroughfares.

Like Windorah, Jundah, which lies just east of the Thomson River crossing, is set out on an orderly grid of streets (Google Earth' to the rescue yet again). And also like Windorah, the surrounds of the town are a combination of red earth and the starkly contrasting dark clay of the floodplains.

I've circled our caravan park in red, indicated the location of the town pub with the blue arrow, whilst the yellow circle shows the surprisingly green and leafy area which houses the town park, swimming pool and so on. And, as you can probably guess from looking at this, it does not take long to hoof it around Jundah.

We set off from the park down Dickson Street where the first building of interest we came to was the old Jundah Post Office and store, the facade of which models the stylised town welcome signs, one of which we had seen on the way into town.

I must say that I think a bit of artistic licence has been brought to bear, but the shape is recognisable and the signs and the information they carry are a great advertisement for the town.  Jundah is not big on the presentation of public art, but as I gazed across the road at this old building, I did spy something colourful behind the hessian screen.

Now why the old post boxes were partially covered by this completely unrelated scene of dogs playing cards remains a complete mystery, but there you are......just something for the record.

And whilst on this subject I might as well pop in the other odd piece we found later (and I cannot now remember exactly where) but here it is for what it is worth. We couldn't argue with the inscription that 'you are here' nor that Jundah is 'downunder'!  Not riveting stuff, but decidedly true! 

From here we wandered on down Dickson Street  where one of the formidably large fuel road trains seemed far less threatening in this situation than if we had encountered it hurtling towards us at 100 kph on a narrow outback road!

Our jaunt along the still quite wet streets first brought us to the junction of Dickson Street (the town's main street and home to most of the local services and 'shops') and the road heading east (and then south) to Quilpie, imaginatively named the Jundah-Quilpie Road!  The bitumen out of town here does not last long before travellers are bashing southwards on dirt.

Standing at this spot we could see the Post Office and Information Centre right on the corner, with the tall palms of the town park to the right of that, and the Jundah museum building off to the left on the J-Q road.

We were to return to that street later, but for now we plodded on south down Dickson Street past the Post Office building where we were already seeing the efforts being taken to beautify the street with trees and shrubs.

As I highlighted on the aerial view of the town, this part of the main street is a real green oasis, the centre of which

is the well laid out and maintained Barcoo Shire War Memorial Park.

At one end of the park a large bottle tree graces the sweeping lawns. This came as no real surprise in this environment, but the row of heavily budding roses along the fence line certainly did.

The other end of the park area is taken up with a public toilet block and a building which houses the town childrens' playgroup (more of that in a second).

A central walkway through the park, bordered by yet more roses (what a display these would make when in full bloom),

leads directly out to the town swimming pool complex (which I photographed from the back street).

Now I mentioned that I would be returning to the playgroup building....for the very good reason that as we were walking past this area we saw something that was a real first for us, despite everything we have seen and done all around the country.

Being a Saturday, a group of whom we assumed to be parents, was busy unloading trestle tables and other kit onto trolleys which were being taken into the playgroup building. 

Nothing unusual about that, I agree, but take another look. Now I ask you, how often have you come across a goat surveying all that was going on? This little kid behaved just like a pet dog.....not attempting to stray and obviously completely fascinated by the activity. 

As the gear was carted into the hall, off it trotted in close company. "Heel, goat!"

We couldn't believe our eyes, or stop laughing. I did ask the good folk if a few photos would cause offence.....the response was good natured and immediate..."go for it".  I did. This must surely be another for the 'Only in Australia' file!

Sharing a common boundary with the park, the local Police Station

is one of the most appealing looking outback homes to law and order we had seen. Surrounded by manicured grass with an array of different coloured bougainvillea along the front fence, this was a picture,

one complemented by the nearby large overhanging tree and street plantings. I have no idea how good the local lad in blue (tut, tut...I am not making an assumption...I did later discover the copper here is a bloke!) is at his real day job, but he certainly gets full marks for the presentation of his station and its surrounds. 

Opposite the park another huge street tree 

and a plant lined disabled access ramp framed the Jundah Community hall,

right next to which we came to the town store, one which has clearly seen better days.

It could hardly be described as a country emporium, but it did stock the essentials, and as so often the case with these tiny outback towns, the locals here tend to sortie off to Longreach every so often for 'the big shop'. But the shopping life in Jundah was about to change....more shortly.

The old fuel bowser at the front was obviously a relic of days gone by, but I can report that a working version nearby did dispense the appropriate propellant for those who needed their tanks refilled.  We were nevertheless a tad relieved that we had had the foresight to leave Windorah with diesel slopping to the top of our tank, enough to make it to Longreach. Quaint as it may have been, this fuel advertisement did little to encourage confidence in the product.

Liquid replenishment of a different kind is also available on this side of Dickson Street behind the doors of this modest building

with its adjoining, equally unpretentious motel units.....the Jundah Hotel. 

We did breast the bar later in the day expecting to find a few of the locals with whom to share a yarn or two (after all it was Saturday afternoon), but disappointingly, apart from the barman, we were it.

As we perused the selection of meals on offer, whilst quaffing a quiet ale, we soon came to learn that we were more than pleased we had not come here for our evening meal.

The food here has a good reputation for quality and quantity, but today the menu was strictly limited.

The most affable bloke behind the bar as very quick to tell us that the 'real publicans' had been called away (family business or something of that ilk). He was the daughter's boyfriend, and had found himself in no position to refuse the request that he look after the pub in the interim.

He admitted that he was more than competent behind the bar, something the standard of the beers he pulled confirmed, but his skills in the kitchen were severely limited. So, if we were here for an evening meal, he hoped against hope that we would be happy to settle for a hamburger and chips......these he could manage! 

One of the motel residents who happened to sidle in during this conversation did attest to our man's 'short order' cooking abilities, but we were quick make it clear that our dinner was already waiting for us back at our van. He did seem relieved, and I hoped for his sake that he was not inundated later by any of those wretched travellers who expect silver service no matter that they are in the middle of the wilderness. Out here you take what you can get, when you can get it!

Just beyond the pub we came to the corner where the Thomson Development Road morphed temporally into Dickson Street and here we found a serious project was underway. What was this all about we wondered?

A nearby sign soon answered our question, and now you will understand my earlier comment about the fact that the lives of those in Jundah who are responsible for the family shopping are about to be significantly improved. This was a large and impressive looking complex in the making.

At this end of town, opposite the new store and roadhouse development, the sign above the door of this (comparatively) large building proclaimed it to be the home of the Barcoo Shire Works and Services.

Looking beyond the administration building, the sheds, vehicles and equipment certainly left no doubt that this was indeed the administrative hub of the Shire.






Again, as we had seen at the park, those responsible for the upkeep of this building had chosen to beautify the front approaches with roses, and here they were in bloom. We both knew from our own gardening experience that despite the delicate nature and appearance of their flowers, roses are as tough as nuts. What we saw here in Jundah did make us wonder why more outback towns did not embrace them. 

Once we had completed this main street ramble, which, apart from its sightseeing aspect, was also planned as a much needed exercise session, we both agreed it had been far too short. 






Off to the back streets we went, beginning with a jaunt down the Jundah-Quilpie Road which took us past the museum building (which was unfortunately closed at the time).








The shed on the other side of the road was of little interest, but we were keen to check out the town recreation centre, the large building at the end of the road. The small white building between the two was initially a puzzle, 










until we saw the cross on the gable and the notice at the front. 

This was the Jundah Anglican Church building, complete with its quaint bell 'tower' and a name we instantly recognised. You may recall that we first came across Hulton Sams in Thargomindah (where a street is named after him). He was one of the Bush Brothers, the group of outback parsons who did much to bring religion to the outback at the turn of last century.

If you refer back to the aerial shot of the town, you will see that the recreation centre building is the last to be found here

before the road narrows and takes travellers off to Quilpie. 

At one end of the building the open air town tennis courts stood ready for any who wished to use them, whilst on the other side a cleared area or red dirt serves as the town oval.

As we had seen in Windorah, the playing surface under the sensible roof caters for different sports, 

including, of all things, hopscotch! From this and what we had seen at the Jellybean Playgroup centre, it was clear to us that here in Jundah there must be a fair population of kids, and they obviously matter.

From the Rec centre we made our way down along the wide expanses of Garrick Street where we came across another piece of evidence of the number youngsters who live in this town.....

......the large Jundah State School, shaded by large trees and again compete with a covered play area, another reminder of the fact that today we were seeing this town during one of  its coolest periods.

Let me bring our brief Jundah stop-over to an end with one last snippet of what we saw here, a shot of one of the Garrick Street home yards. What's surprising about finding saddles and a horse rug on the fence in an outback town, I hear you ask. Nothing at all, but if you look beyond these to the far back corner of the yard, 

this is what we saw there....an airboat no less! 

Also commonly known as a swamp boat or a bayou boat, these flat bottomed, fan driven craft are used extensively to navigate around shallow, swampy areas such as the Louisiana bayou country. 

When you compare swamp lands with the countryside surrounding Jundah I find it hard to think of anything more completely different. 

It would be an understatement of classic proportions to note that finding this craft here came as a shock! Obviously the nearby Thomson River is a playground for more than those merely fishing (and I have to admit this would be the ideal craft in which to negotiate the floodpains when they were inundated).

Whilst some of the homes here in Jundah are certainly showing their age, 

we did see signs (apart from the new store and roadhouse under construction) that this Channel Country town is not only surviving, but thriving. The development of even small new housing areas is always an indication of confidence in a town's future.

  

Many of those to whom we spoke in the caravan park spend several months here during the winter (when it is not usually as cold and dreary as it was at the time of our visit). They are drawn by the attraction of the bounty of the Thomson River where fish and yabbies are there for the taking, the beauty of the red sandhill, spinifex country of the nearby Welford National Park, the views from the Swanvale Lookout (we were soon to drive over it) or just the pleasure of relaxing around the pool in the delightful surrounds of the town memorial park.

We had no difficulty understanding this. This was definitely not to the be last we would see of the Channel Country.

And before we leave the Barcoo Shire, I must share a tale which belongs very much in the 'truth is stranger than fiction' file. 

If I told you there is a direct connection between the settlement of the Barcoo Shire in the late 1800's, a famous Sydney suburb and two winners of the Melbourne Cup you would probably suggest that I give up strong drink. That would be a harsh and unwarranted judgement.

This tale relates to a bloke named William Forrester, a name which I am sure will mean very little to most of you. Until we visited Jundah, I would have happily placed myself firmly amongst your number. But no more.

The redoubtable Bill established what is now known as Retreat Station in 1869-70. A clever but immoral chap, it was Forrester who masterminded the famous Harry Redford cattle theft from nearby Bowen Downs. In fact these purloined beasts were actually housed on Retreat Station until Redford took them on to Adelaide (but you already know that story).

I have no idea what Forrester's cut of the proceeds may have been, but in 1876 he sold Retreat Station and moved on......east to the coast. In 1881 he bought what was then Warwick Park on the outskirts of Sydney. That name should ring something of a bell....it is now Warwick Farm, home to one of Sydney's well known racecourses.

It was Forrester who first established a racecourse here as well as a horse stud, one which was spectacularly successful. He went on to own and train Gaulus and The Grafter, the Melbourne Cup winners in 1897 and 1898.

Who said crime doesn't pay??

Tomorrow we were off to listen to more tales of the outback, but this time it was to be courtesy of the outback troubadour Graham Roger who would  be entertaing us in Longreach.