The Australian Overland Telegraph Line

 I haven't done a "normal" post for so long... I thought I'd try one!!!

The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a 3200 km telegraph line that connected Darwin with Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872 the Overland Telegraph Line allowed fast communication between Australia and the rest of the world. An additional section was added in 1877 with the completion of the Western Australian section of the line. It was one of the great engineering feats of 19th century Australia^[1] and probably the most significant milestone in Australia's telegraphic history.^[2]

 

 The Overland Telegraph Station at Alice Springs NT, this is very close to the centre of Australia so it was a very important link when it came to connecting Australia to the rest of the world.

 The Eucla Telegraph Station in WA has not fared well, it is being engulfed by the sand dunes and will in time probably be buried completely

The (subsequent) Adelaide-Darwin railway follows the route of the Telegraph Line, using the easternmost (yellow) path. The railway was finished as far as Alice Springs on 6 August 1929, and as far as Darwin in 2003.

There endeth the Australian History lesson for today.

Traveston (Tragedy) Dam.

It is an oft stated and well recognized fact that Australia is amongst the driest continents on earth, sure in the far northern area there is a WET season that sees torrential rains each summer, but the fact remains that well over 75% of our land is very DRY.

What has tempted me to repeat this theme is yesterdays rejection of the proposed Traveston Dam by our Federal Governments Minister for the Environment, Mr Peter Garrett (who until recently was known only as the raucous lead singer for the rock group Midnight Oil) the decision was based on the possible danger to the habitat of a little know fish and turtle that currently make their home in the section of the Mary River which was to be dammed (BTW, nobody I have spoken to has ever seen the "lungfish" which is threatened).

I wonder which Peter Garrett made the decision?


Now I am a nature lover and as anyone who has read this blog for any length of time will know, I am very enamored with all things Australian whether they be animal, vegetable or mineral, this includes people and brings me to the point of this post.

The Mary River has historically flooded every 2 or 3 years causing a lot of very expensive damage to the town of Gympie where I live, this flooding has caused the "Mary Valley" to become a quite fertile area, home to many farmers who have already had their land resumed by the Queensland Government in preparation to building the dam.

This process has been going on for almost three years now and what with the cost of land resumptions, environment studies, engineering work to establish the viability of the project has already cost the government (read taxpayers) many millions of dollars, and has caused hardship for a lot of people who have been subjected to a need to relocate.

This post is not so much about whether the dam was good or bad, there is a line of thought that it was to be too shallow over much of its area thus allowing excessive evaporation in our hot climate, as a balance to that theory the beauty and recreational value would have been considerable, but the real issue here is the need for more water storage for the Sunshine coast and Brisbane areas, both of which struggle to maintain adequate water supply in the not infrequent dry years we have here.

This struggle is with the current population level of some 4 million people and it is one of the fastest growing population areas in the country so when we project forward just a few short years to a population of over 5 million the existing water storage will not cope, more water is needed!!!


The decision to ban the dam has met with delight from the many opponents the proposed dam had attracted, now I'm not going to pretend that had I been directly affected by the dam I wouldn't have been opposed to it too, but surely the greater good for the greater number should be what we look at.

The first reaction from the Queensland Government (lets hope its not just a knee-jerk reaction) was to announce another desalination plant on the Sunshine coast, these plants are expensive to build and to maintain, as opposed to a dam, where after the initial cost there is minimal cost for maintenance, the fact remains that we have a desperate need for more water in most cities and towns throughout Australia and it is the responsibility of this generation to provide the facilities needed for the future.

End of Rant???

More on Australia's climate

For reasons best known by my computer the colour graph did not print
but the blue represents temperatures of -10 while the red tones
represent +10 temperatures and white represents normal.

For those who track their local temperatures using the Celsius scale, 40 degrees is a daunting number. In early February 2009, residents of southeastern Australia were cringing at their weather forecasts, as predictions of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) meant that a blistering heat wave was continuing.

This map of Australia shows how the land surface temperature from January 25 to February 1 compared to the average mid-summer temperatures the continent experienced between 2000-2008. Places where temperatures were warmer than average are red, places experiencing near-normal temperatures are white, and places where temperatures were cooler than average are blue. The data were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. While southern Australia was scorching, a similarly large area of northern and central Australia was several degrees cooler than it was in the previous nine years. The cool anomaly across that region is probably linked to the above-average rainfall the area has received during this year’s wet season.

Land surface temperature is how hot the surface of the Earth would feel to the touch in a particular location. From a satellite’s point of view, the “surface” is whatever it sees when it looks through the atmosphere to the ground. That could be the sand on a beach, the grass on a lawn, the roof of a building, or a paved road. Thus, daytime land surface temperature is often much higher than the air temperature that is included in the daily weather report—a fact that anyone who has walked barefoot across a parking lot on a summer afternoon could verify.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) called this heat wave “exceptional,” not only for the high temperatures but for their duration. One-day records were broken in multiple cities, with temperatures in the mid-40s. In Kyancutta, South Australia, (this is about 15 miles from Wudinna where Vicki and Rex live) the temperature reached 48.2 degrees Celsius (118.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Many places also set records for the number of consecutive days with record-breaking heat.

Nighttime temperatures broke records, too. In their special statement on the heat wave, the BOM wrote, “On the morning of 29 January, an exceptional event also occurred in the northern suburbs of Adelaide around 3 a.m., when strong north-westerly winds mixed hot air aloft to the surface. At RAAF Edinburgh [a regional airport], the temperature rose to 41.7°C at 3:04 a.m. Such an event appears to be without known precedent in southern Australia.”

The Undara Lava Tubes

One of the wonders of Australia, the Undara Lava Tubes are reputedly the largest lava tubes in the world. Located in bushland south-west of Cairns, they can be inspected only by taking conducted tours which are organised by an eco-tourism organisation known as the Undara Experience.The tour offers a unique insight into the flora and fauna of the Australian tropics as well as allowing visitors to enter the Lava Tubes.

The tubes were formed about 190 000 years ago when 23 cubic kilometres of lava from a volcano spilled out over the land and travelled along a river bed. It is estimated that the whole process took between 2-3 weeks with the lava flowing at a rate of around 500 metres per hour. The water in the river ensured that the lava formed a vast cylindrical tunnel. It is believed that 'The Wall', the name of a section of the lava tube near Mount Surprise, is similar to the lunar ridges on the moon.

There are two branches to the Undara Lava Tubes - one runs for 16 km and the other for possibly as much as 28 km. At various points the tubes have collapsed and these can be seen from the air as dark depressions which have become heavily vegetated.

The caves are vast with maximum widths of 21.2 metres and heights of up to 10 metres. They tend to be relatively straight and only terminate where the roof has caved in.

There is a unique visitors centre consisting of a restaurant and cabins made from old Queensland Railways rolling stock in the middle of the bush, making this a spectacular spot to enjoy your visit from.

Please click on photos to enbiggen

The main reception area which has been built to compliment the rail cars that form the bulk of the complex.


The rail cars on the left are luxurious sleeping accommodation while on the right is the restaurant.


The restaurant interior is very well set out and both the service and meals are excellent.



The kitchen area is surrounded by an outdoor eating area which lends itself beautifully to the traditional Aussie Barbecue.

All paths lead to the complex through natural bushland making Undara a very special destination.

Outback Australia

There is a lonely stretch of Australia known as Cameron Corner where
3 States meet.

You could write your own story about how this old double decker bus came to
be located out here, it probably would make as much sense as the real story.

Outback Australia.

Cameron’s Corner is located at the point where 3 states, Qld, NSW, and SA, meet, this is

one of the most remote areas in Australia, the only building or sign of population is a small

pub, motel, restaurant called “The Corner Store”

This is located in Queensland and a favourite pastime of the owner is to hand visitors a golf club

so they can whack golf ball from SA through NSW into Qld. where it will land softly in the bright

red sandy soil that covers central Australia.

Camerons Corner at the intersection of New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

The Dingo fence seen here was originally constructed to keep rabbits out, however it was later

used to keep dingoes out of sheep farming areas. The fence stretches some 5,500 kilometres

and is the longest fence in the world.

Holtieshouse from space

I found myself sitting in front of the computer today with no particular plan in mind.... a state of mind I often inhabit, and I chanced to open Google Earth.
As usual if you click on the images they will enbiggen and improve immensely.



With a few deft clicks I located holtieshouse and so...
a post was born.

If you haven't installed or had a play with Google Earth yet, I would recommend it to you, as you can see you can put names on things and save them to your files, as I have done here.
The "Cooloola Country Bed & Breakfast" pin was installed already and should rightly be moved up about half an inch.
This is obviously an old map, although it has been taken since I extended the length of my carport some years back, but the Service Station shown to the right of my house has been gone for a bit over 1 year now, the site is still vacant awaiting a commercial development.
On a brighter note the Jacaranda tree I have posted about is shown just to the left of my boundary and the tree in the right back corner of my yard is also a Jacaranda, what a shame the image wasn't taken in Spring, Gympie would have been lovely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This image shows the location of Gympie in relation to some other places of interest, at the top of the picture is Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island is a Queensland National Park and one of the loveliest spots on earth.


The bay between Fraser and the mainland is Hervey Bay which is a favourite winter home for Humpback Whales before they return to the Antarctic waters in summer.
If you continue down the mainland coast you will find the lovely little fishing village of Tin Can Bay, I lived here for 3 years when I first gained my "single" status about 14 years ago.
Inland some 45 Km is Gympie where I have lived for the last 11 years.
Back on the coast yo will see Noosa Heads, this is one of Australia's favourite holiday destinations and home to some our wealthy folk who have decided to call Noosa home.
A little further on you will find Caloundra, not marked here but only a few Kms inland is the site of Australia Zoo, made famous worldwide by its founder the late Steve Irwin, I stronly recommend a visit here if you get the opportunity.
Brisbane, Queensland's capital city, snuggles in between Redcliffe and Beenleigh on the map and again I recommend a visit if you are able, you won't be disappointed.
Inland of Brisbane is Ipswich, my Dad bred thoroughbred horses near here for about 20 years before retiring to Tweed Heads, which is located near the bottom of the map, for the last 4 years of his life.
The beach strip for about 30 Kms above Tweed Heads is the "Gold Coast" made famous by Surfers Paradise.



This map shows the city of Gympie with the Mary river cutting it into two pieces, the yellow marker pin still shows the location of holtieshouse.
Following the course of the river fairly closely is the Bruce Highway, it continues out through Two Mile then, this is the main highway through to Cairns and is part of the "Highway 1" that circles Australia











This Map shows in the top right corner the Gympie Hospital complex, that familiar yellow marker, and in the bottom left corner the Nestles factory where they produce Nescafe instant coffee.
Regular reasers will recall that I have posted about my home being invaded by the aroma of coffee when this plant is doing certain proccesses and the breeze is coming from the right direction, well this shows where the offenders live.
(I'm joking, the aroma is wonderful... I'm glad its not there all the time though.)

A little more geography

The Australian continent is mainly pretty flat, our major mountain range runs North and South
for a tad more than 2,500 Km following the line of semi arid land shown just inland from
our East coast on the map below.


The highest peak is Mt. Kosciuszko (kozzy-OS-co) at 2228 meters (7310 Feet) it was named by
the Polish explorer Strezlecki who discovered it in 1840, this peak is located in a section of the
Great Dividing Range known as the Snowy Mountains, these cover a vast area with many peaks of
1800 / 2000 meters.

Seen here in Summer time the peaks just roll on forever, or so it seems.
Please click to enbiggen.



They are the home of our snow fields in Australia where each winter we have more snow than
falls in Switzerland, it has been estimated that had the upheaval that formed this range been a
bit more severe and put another 200/300 feet on the peaks we would have had year round snow
on them, as it is though the melting snow each Spring feeds the only major river system in the
country which flows inland... away from the ocean.
Known as the Murray/Darling River system it is actually 2 rivers that join together to travel
2310 miles and drain vast areas of flat terrain in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland
to the Southern Ocean.
At some stages the Great Dividing Range is little more than a series of rolling hills before it
rears up again into another mountain admittedly they are not huge by world standards but they
do run for a long way.

The lowest point in Australia is Lake Eyre, located in South Australia this normally dry lake is
15 meters below sea level and covers an area of 8,340 square Kms, when there are severe floods
in Queensland during the tropical wet season (usually after a tropical cyclone) there are 5 rivers
that carry the excess water into SA where after about 3 months traveling ever so slowly they
congregate at Cooper Creek which in turn after bringing life giving moisture to a huge semi-desert
area gradually begins to fill Lake Eyre, this process takes another 2 months and might only happen
3 or 4 times over 100 years rather than each year.

This is Lake Eyre in normal times, the edges of the lake are not as well defined as this in lots of its shoreline, underneath the salt bed there are often soft spots where unwary travelers can quickly come to grief.



Of course in the very hot summers of this area evaporation dries the lake up again over the
following year and things settle down to wait the next big wet, this river system is different to
the Murray/Darling system in that its only after big floods that the water accumulates in
sufficient quantity to reach the Cooper Creek and Lake Eyre.
Meanwhile the great majority of our rainfall reaches rivers that run only for short distances
before emptying their precious bounty into the ocean, this is particularly so in the North of the
country during the wet season.

Footnote.
In July 1964 Englishman, Malcolm Campbell, set a land speed record of 493.10 MPH on a specially
prepared track on the salt bed of Lake Eyre in his car "Bluebird"

Uluru (Ayers Rock)

***** Update for the previous post!!!!!

Uluru (Ayers Rock) rises abruptly out of the flat desert country that surrounds it.


Uluru is a giant sandstone rock formation which is recognized as the largest monolith in the world, it
is located near the geographical center of Australia in the Northern Territory.
The rock stands 342 meters, covers an area of 3.3 square Km and has a circumference of 9.4 Km
and rises majestically from the flat red desert sands that surround it, the monolith has been tilted
to 85 degrees by some giant upheaval in the past.
The rock was first sighted by a white man in 1873, surveyor William Gosse discovered it and named
it Ayers Rock after the then surveyor general, it is estimated that it has been known and respected
by the Pitjantjatjara people for 10,000 years.
Ayers Rock and the nearby Olgas was declared a National Park in 1958 having become a tourist
destination back in 1936 (this was the year of my birth and also the time that the first white woman
climbed to the top of Ayers Rock)
In 1985 the Australian Government returned ownership of the rock and the Olgas to the traditional
owners the Pitjantjatjara aborigines, they in turn leased it back to the National Parks & Wildlife
Service for a 99 year term to be run under joint management and given the joint name of
Uluru/Ayers Rock.
A new tourist resort was established 21 Km from the base of Uluru, this has been named Yalara and
has a population of 300, these people cater for the needs of tourists who stay at one of the 5 hotel/
motels and the large Campground.



The Olgas are a group of 36 domed rock formations which cover an area of 21.7 square Km, they
are located 25 Km from Uluru, the largest of these is Mt. Olga which stands 546 meters high, this
part of the National Park was also returned to the traditional owners and is now known as
Kata Tjuta.
Along with a few other changes since we first visited Ayers Rock in 1979, there is no longer the
freedom to camp virtually at the rock base, get permission to "bush camp" in the desert near the
Olgas, and now-a-days climbing of the rock while not prohibited is discouraged.
I had looked forward to visiting/climbing Ayers Rock since childhood and (although for a while
during the climb when I thought it might kill me) I would have been bitterly disappointed had I
not been to the top.

This tiny tent was home for our 5 day stop at Ayers Rock in 1979, we were less than 1 Km from the rock.

This photo shows "the climb" and the chain support which finishes about half way up, to discourage those who are not confident from continuing.

Looking down from about that halfway point shows how steep it is.

From the top wherever you look you can see the horizon clearly, I have photos that include the Olgas but couldn't locate them.

Hope you all enjoyed the look around Uluru, and especially Judy as it was she who requested it.
So don't forget if there is something you would like to know about Australia, just ask!

Australia the Island Continent

Let me bid you a very warm welcome to HoltiesHouse Mk 2, I will endeavor on this blog site to uncover lots of interesting facts and trivia about anything and everything Australian, readers from my previous life may come across things they have read before, please excuse these duplications, they will be kept to a minimum.
The first thing we need to do is establish some perspective, Australia is an island, as it is completely surrounded by water but the land mass is so large that it has been declared a continent, I will use a map with Australia superimposed over the United States of America (less Hawaii and Alaska) and another with Europe (excluding Russia) superimposed over Australia to illustrate the comparable land areas.
Click on maps to enbiggen.


Australia and the USA are of a similar size but are vastly different in terms of population (Australia about 20 million, USA about 300 million) and also in usable land, as shown on the map I'm using as my blog header the center of Australia is either Arid or Semi Arid with only the fringe around two thirds of our coastline being good arable farmland with a "usually" reliable rainfall, there are a few green spots within the Semi Arid areas just as there are a few Arid spots in the fringe area. Conversely the center of America is rich and fertile.

This map shows clearly that Australia is nearly twice the size of the European countries shown here. It is more difficult to compare population figures in the European countries shown here but an estimate of 450 million should be reasonably accurate.

For those who have been impressed by the size of Texas (in the tales Texans tell anyway) just have
a look at the size of Western Australia!!!! Texas is approx 678,000 square Km while there is approx
2.5 million square Km in WA, 1.7 in Qld, ranging down to 230,000 square Km in Vic, 68,000 in Tas.
and a mere 2,500 square Km in the Australian Capital Territory which is home to our capital city,
Canberra.


I hope at least some of you find this of interest and will come back for more.