Innamincka and the Strezlecki (19_RG1)

The red and the green 2019-1 We headed west from Toowoomba on Australia’s eastern seaboard to explore more of the Australian outback, travelling to places steeped in Australian folklore including Copper Creek in north-eastern South Australia, where in 1861, the explorers Burke and Wills died while returning from their south-north crossing of Australia (19_RG1). Also, the fabled Strzelecki Track famous for the legendary exploits of the cattle rustler, Harry Readford who stole 1000 head of cattle in western Queensland and walked them 1500 km south, including through the Strzelecki desert, to market in South Australia. A feat considered so incredible that a jury of his peers later refused to find him guilty of the rustling. The Strzelecki is now a good gravel road that services the pastoral and mining industries. It leads to the iconic Flinders Ranges and eventually the southern greenery of the cropping and viticulture districts of South Australia, and if you travel far enough, to the Coorong where the mighty Murray River meets the Southern Ocean, the end of its personal journey of 2500km from its headwaters in the Australian Alps. This only part of the story though with rivers in the Murray/Darling Basin draining 15% of the continents land mass and supporting around 2 million inhabitants (19_RG2). Heading east into Victoria and the Grampians (19_RG3) provided opportunities for some good walking before heading north to the Murray at Mildura (19_RG4) and further north following the Darling River to Mungo National Park, the site of ancient aboriginal burial grounds and on to Menindee and Wilcannia (19_RG5). A night in the opal town of White Cliffs and then a bone-jarring few hundred kilometres to the one-horse town of Hungerford put us back in Queensland and a couple of days from home (19_RG6). 6200 km and close to 3 weeks of travel.

East of Thargomindah, Queensland. Windmills have always been the main means of lifting water to the surface from the Great Artesian Basin (GAB). Water from the GAB is critical to the Australian pastoral industry. The basin covers and area of 1,700,000 square kilometres with water being as deep as 3000 m.

Water is provided to the cattle and sheep by troughs. The wildlife (both birds and animals) also benefit from the system.

Water is stored in a surface tank and then distributed to the cattle and sheep. Windmills are now being replaced by solar powered pumps.

Beautiful eucalypts, Cullyamurra water hole, Cooper Creek near Innamincka, South Australia.

Camping on the Cooper, Town Common, Innamincka

Cooper Creek supports a menagerie of bird species and animals

Robert O'Hara Burke was the leader of the 1860 expedition which aimed to cross the continent from south to north. He died of exhaustion and starvation on Cooper Creek in 1861 during the return journey to Melbourne from the Gulf of Carpentaria. It seems that he was an inexperienced bushman and had little time for learning outback survival techniques from the local indigenous tribes. This was probably his downfall. While there is a cairn commemorating Burke's death at this location, this memorial was actually carved by a local stockman some years later. The bodies of Burke and Wills, who also died on the Cooper, were later moved to Melbourne.

On the Dig Tree Circuit out from Innamincka. The circuit straddles the Queensland/South Australia border, it is around 170 km long and provides some beautiful rangeland landscapes.

Not exactly a high security barrier between Queensland and South Australia

Gas facilities at Moomba on the Strzelecki Track about 130 km south of Innamincka

Road trains are a common sight on the Strzelecki (JC photo)

Typical of the Strzelecki Track, 475 km of dirt stretching from Innamincka in the north to Lyndhurst in the south, where the track meets the north-south Outback Highway. Moves are currently underway to tar the track, something likely to be welcomed by the ever-suffering locals but not so much by the tourists looking for some 4WD adventure (JC photo).

Montecollina Bore, Strzelecki Track, a great camping site

The wind was blowing a gale at Montecollina Bore, even the Little Corellas were grounded

Happy travellers, Montecollina Bore, Strzelecki Track

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