Trevenna

Today was open day for the gardens at Trevenna, home of the University of New England's Vice Chancellor. Trevenna is apparently Cornish for farm on a hillside, which probably describes accurately the situation when the house was completed in 1892. Horbury Hunt, the architect, one of the most prominent of his era in Australia and, born in Canada, his  design for Trevenna mixed American Shingle with Queen Anne styles.

The home came into the University's possession in 1962 and was subsequently occupied by no less than 13 Vice-Chancellors during the last 53 years, each living there for about 4 years on average - not a long tenure. The gardens have recently been upgraded and are very pleasant as these pictures show. Large numbers of Armidalians attended and were greeted with tea and coffee and scones. We also met many colleagues and friends who were enthralled with the gardens.

Border with rhododendrons.

View across the university's playing fields with hills beyond.

Lake Zot at the edge of the playing fields. This lake stores water for irrigating those fields. The origin of the name Zot is lost in time and I'd appreciate knowing its origin.

Dot walks through a newly planted orchard of fruit trees. I wonder if our current VC did this herself!

Sundials are not much use on a dull day!

More rhododendrons.

Sipping coffee or tee in the northern gardens

AS

Alice Springs Telegraph Station

On the most crucial infrastructure works in 19th century Australia was the overland telegraph line connecting Darwin with Port Augusta and Adelaide. This connected with telegraph lines coming in from south-east Asia and enabled fast communication with Europe and especially Britain. It began around 1870 and was a major feat considering the horrendous terrain it had to cross and logistics of supply the equipment and constructing the line. It was at this point that Afghan camels and their cameleers were imported for the task, giving rise ultimately to large feral herds of camels in the centre once they were released from their construction work and proceeded to do what camels do. Afghans also stayed on and eventually gave their name to the train that now travels from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs - the Ghan.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Overland_Telegraph_Line.

Construction of the line was allocated to people like Stuart and Todd both of whom are now commemorated by features such as the Stuart Highway and the Todd River in the Alice and, of course, the original name for Alice Springs - Stuart!

The Alice Springs telegraph station is now a museum commemorating the heroic construction task and ultimately the operation of the line. I'm glad I wasn't around then! The conditions would have been highly challenging cut off from anything resembling civilisation and in a dessert climate where summer temperatures nudge 40 C every day.

Bits and pieces of the technology.

The room showing the history of the construction.

Kitchen and class-room serving what was quite a large compound.

Bec and Max experimenting with the facilities.

A lovely ghost gum.

Yes, the signal went down the line with aid of en elementary form of electricity.

I'd never seen a camel saddle before this.

This looks slightly more luxurious, but a suspect that the camels would have given a more gentle ride over the very rough local roads.

AS

Palm Valley and Cycad Gorge

After leaving Hermansburg, our minibus took off for Palm Valley, which contains an unusual collection of palm trees a long way from where one would expect palms - and in effect a remnant vegetation from a much wetter era. And alongside the palms are huge numbers of Cycads, another remnant vegetation, this time from the age of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic. Accompanying these vegetative attractions was the journal itself.  Our vehicle was 4WD and had to be given the long distance we had to travel on dirt roads to start with and then almost completely unformed roads including a stretch called the 'staircase' where our bus literally traversed a steeply tiered stretched of road on what was effectively bed-rock.

Once again have a look at the wonderful and unusual scenery. The creeks we crossed and re-crossed sometimes held a little water, but other spots were fairly dry, though there must be some fairly good sub-soil moisture to keep the plants growing. One again I should emphasise that the hard rock channels moisture into the gorges and there the shadows of cliffs reduce evaporation. I think the images are largely self-explanatory.

AS

Hermannsburg

The next day after our epic trip to Glen Helen and Mount Sonder Dot and I purchased seats on an expedition to Hermannsburg and Palm Valley, two more stunning locations in Central Australia.

Hermannsburg had an interesting gestation which can be read up on the internet. Basically it was a Christian mission set up amidst traditional Aboriginal peoples by the Lutheran church. Perhaps the name is a give-away and perhaps the arrival of German settlers and their religion in Central Australia is not so outlandish when we recall that many German settlers reached South Australia and founded such settlements as Hahndorf in the Barrossa Valley north of Adelaide. German settlers bid for pastoral rights in the Northern Territory which was then controlled from Adelaide.

The construction of the Lutheran mission was a fraught process, hampered by poor weather, remoteness, dreadful communications and so on. Building materials, equipment and so on had to be dragged vast distances. Today, the historic compound is now a museum to life in the last half of the 19th century in remote location - and surrounded by a relatively modern Aboriginal township, though there doesn't seem much for the locals to do on their land.

Have a look at the historic bit, and remember how unbelievably remote this location is.

The most famous resident was the Aboriginal artist, Namatjira. But remember too the harsh regime that saw him imprisoned for supplying alcohol to Aborigines leading to his early death. He deserved much better.

You can learn to count in Arrernte, the local language.

Much of the historic settlement appears quaint and in need of some maintenance.

AS