It began as a deep distant rumbling, like the stirring of some gargantuan subterranean beast.
It was unsettling at first, ominous, something you felt in your guts more than you heard with your ears, an eerie subsonic vibration that seemed to rise from the bowels of Hades.
As the she-devil crept closer, the wailing began.
The year Santa never made it to Darwin Read More »
It all started in November 1883. Payable gold was found on a high ridge separating the magical Linda Valley from the Queen River valley, some 18 kilometres inland from the isolated west coast Tasmanian town of Strahan. This discovery led to mining leases that supported rich copper mines. These mines eventually merged in 1903 to form Mount Lyell’s, and indeed the world’s, largest copper mining operations.
A wooden pipeline that carries more than water – it carries a lot of history Read More »
In the heart of the Bellinger Valley, the Glennifer-Promised Land area is framed by a dramatic escarpment. This formidable landscape is defined by ancient, erosion-resistant rocks exposed from the Moonbil sedimentary beds, consisting of fine-grained siltstones, slate and chert. The escarpment forms a natural boundary, with the land dropping a staggering 970 metres from the plateau to the valley floor.
Logging on the edge Read More »
To generate hydropower you needs lots of water and steep hills – both things Tasmania has in abundance.
In the heart of Tasmania’s rugged southwest, a region once almost uninhabited since settlement and defined by its natural lakes, impenetrable forests, and fierce winds, a remarkable story of human ingenuity unfolded. This remote area, receiving four meters of rainfall annually, seemed an unlikely place for grand engineering feats.
50 years of hydroelectric power Read More »
Eugowra station was established in 1834, and the town took its name from the station when a village popped up in the 1860s on the station about 35 kilometres east of Forbes.
The town is most famous for a gold robbery in 1862 when Frank Gardiner and his gang of bushrangers pulled off the biggest gold robbery at Escort Rock just outside of town.
Another flood, another poor response Read More »
Since European settlement, Sydney has faced frequent water crises due to unreliable water supplies.
The first water supply for Sydney was Tank Stream, named for the “tanks” or reservoirs cut into its sides to save water. The stream, which wound through the early settlement, eventually degenerated into an open sewer and was abandoned in 1826.
More than a mountain of concrete – building Warragamba Dam Read More »
At the start of WWII, Australia was unprepared for a prolonged conflict, processing just enough petrol reserves for three months and limited storage capacity.
Though fuel rationing wasn’t immediately imposed, the government urged citizens to conserve petrol, hoping to avoid drastic measures.
While the motor industry strongly petitioned against any fuel rationing, by 1 October 1940, however, fuel rationing became a necessity.
The unsung timber product during war time Read More »
The Queensland government funded Beerburrum Soldier Settlement Scheme was a disaster. The aim was to provide repatriated servicemen from World War I with farms where “swords could be transformed into ploughshares” for a tranquil existence in a rural climate.
The high enlistment numbers and enormous physical and mental casualties from the war, forced Australian authorities to develop a repatriation policy.
“Bellingen continues to attract younger people with what they perceive as Bellingen’s ‘hippy’ and ‘alternative’ reputation, with love and peace in their hearts and wellness and wokeness in their souls. Paul Hemphill
The Bellinger Valley has a long history of dairy farming and timber harvesting.
The devastating floods of the 1950s played a major role in the eventual decline of the dairy industry.
Reflections on working in a hippy valley Read More »
I have spent decades in our wonderful forests, witnessing their cycles of destruction and regeneration, and in all that time, I’ve seen one constant: public perception remains stubbornly fixed on a false image of forestry. Headlines scream of devastation. Activists show photos of freshly logged areas, convincing the public that this is a permanent state.
The joy of being a tour guide Read More »
