Australian Workers Heritage Centre

This is our last day in Barcaldine so I headed to the Australian Workers Heritage Centre. This venue covers almost two blocks with several historic buildings dedicated to specific displays about the labour movement.

The history of working women is the largest display here, located in the old Barcaldine State School. 

Louisa Lawson and her son Charles are to the left of this photograph. They are standing with Louisa's sister outside Phoebe's dressmaking shop near Gulgong in the 1870s. The buildings are essentially timber humpys with bark roofs. Louisa fought for women's rights and was a writer and publisher, and the mother of Henry Lawson.

The Torrens Creek State School was renovated by the Department of Education and donated to the Centre in recognition of the dedicated workers educating Queensland children. It opened in 1891 and was closed in 1991. The tiny town of Torrens Creek is 337kms north of Barcaldine. The population of the locality has shrunk to less than 70, with just one pub and fuel stop. Children now attend the Prairie School 44kms to the west along the Flinders Hwy. The renovation of the desks and furniture is very high quality - no initials have been carved into these desks.

This Centre is well laid out with a variety of exhibits including the Kunwarara Railway Station relocated from near Rockhampton, with displays showing the difficult life of railway workers in the 1800s and early 1900s.

The largest structure is a 600 seat Bicentennial tent theatre which is seven storeys high at the top of the flagpole.

Many Roadies are already set up at our first stop for our next Aussie Road Crew tour. We will head there tomorrow. Bluey is better today but still not 100%. I have an appointment for him at the Longreach vet for Monday morning.


Popular posts from this blog

Mclaren Vale

Image
This morning we spent time signing up online for the Winton Way Out West Fest in April 2021 - of course Beccy is performing. We drove to Mclaren Vale to walk along the main street and have coffee. Lunch was at the Vasarelli Italian restaurant - crab pasta and pear, rocket and walnut salad. I spotted this sign but can't see Blue liking this style - imagine keeping him clean. This large cat wanders around the caravan park. His name is Charlie. He came right up to Blue but I didn't trust Charlie not to attack so pulled Blue away. Tilly still hasn't seen Charlie and I think I will keep it that way. Anita and friends wanted to visit a winery so I dropped them at Coriole, while I drove to Supercheap Auto for some heavy duty wheel chocks which happened to be on sale. I wasn't surprised to see a couple of cartons of wine being carried out when I collected the wine tasters. The views over the vineyard were impressive and the wine must be too.
Read more

Aussie Road Crew - Finished

Image
After our final dinner and concert some Roadies were continuing their celebrations near our Bushtracker. We could hear the noise even though all windows were shut and the van is normally soundproof. As it was after 10pm I ventured out to negotiate with them. While one person accused me of being the fun police, other Roadies supported my suggestion they turn off the amplified music and keep the noise down. The general expectation in caravan parks is noise stops after 10pm. There were non Roadies trying to sleep in tents, and I suggested their activities would reflect badly on Aussie Road Crew and Beccy who might not be able to return to this park on future tours. Fortunately there was very little noise after my visit. We drove out of the Crows Nest Tourist Park just after 7am looking for a MacDonald's in Toowoomba for coffee and brekkie. Instead we spotted Valetta Cafe in time to park the van across the road. I bought a take away brioche egg and bacon roll and coffees. The cafe is i
Read more

Adelaide - Day With Friends

Image
I took Blue for a walk in search of coffee, for me not him. The first two cafes were closed as it is a public holiday. I kept walking until two people coming from the opposite direction told me nothing was open. We turned back and I remembered another cafe near the vehicle entrance to the caravan park. I phoned and was assured the Orange Cafe was open so that's where we went. A friend from the Gold Coast is in town for a couple of nights to see Robyn Archer's caberet show. We explored the showground buildings near the caravan park. Six of us went to the Goodwood Hotel for lunch. Hardly any venues were open in the city so this was our best option. While the others each had a main meal, my lunch choice was the rhubarb and apple crumble - it was good. After lunch I took Bluey to chase balls. He is not good at catching so I videoed his efforts. He surprised me by catching the first ball. Anita didn&
Read more