Monday 13th February White Cliffs

Had a nice sleep in and woke to a very hot day... reached in the mid 30's today...

We didn't have any bread left so John went down to local shop and came back with yummy egg and bacon rolls and a loaf of frozen bread ... that's how you buy fresh bread out here..

I got some washing done which dried instantly and John washed the red dust off the trailer..

Now about the Outback.....

The region known as Outback New South Wales, is a dry, dusty, arid and unforgiving part of Australia-bordering on Queensland and South Australia and over 1000 square km’s in landmass. The region  looks baron and un-inviting at first glance, but beneath the surface is an interesting experiences.

White Cliffs is Australia's oldest Opal field (seam Opal) and developed from a chance finding of Opal in the 1880's by a group of kangaroo shooters, tracking down a wounded kangaroo. Its population peaked in the late 1890's at around 5,000 and started to decline after WW1 and now boasts a population of around only 100.

The early days were harsh; outback heat, water shortages and lack of building materials sent the population underground. Today, the underground town works very well for locals  and scarcity of water that the early settlers experienced is solved nowadays with extensive use of rainwater tanks.

 Plus a classic Outback Pub means they don't go thirsty.

This is the first view you get when you drive into White Cliffs

There are more than 50,000 abandoned diggings, creating a lunar-like landscape across the land.

White Cliffs  is the site of Australia's first solar power station

I was thinking yesterday while we drove around what an unruly town this was.. It is quite apparent that there has been absolutely no town planning, as the town spreads aimlessly from the hotel and general store, heading in all directions along dusty, unsealed roads. All you see is mounds of dirt ... as all the houses here are "digouts" its like a desert town..No gardens no flowers...every where is so untidy...the roads are just red rubble dust...except for a couple of roads right in the middle of town that are tarred...it is an extraordinary place that is hard to comprehend at first glance.

But today.. when we went out, I saw it in a different light... we first went for a drive to try and find a lake one of the locals had told John about.. we travelled out of town on the dirt road travelled about 10km but saw nothing except 2 emus... ( who stayed well clear of us )  and lots of eagles in the sky..
There is just nothing out past the town !!

 

Then we returned back to town to go check out some of the opal shops. Many of the residents live underground to avoid the intense outside heat. The daytime temperature at White Cliffs rises to 50 degrees during the summer, and the evening temperature can fall to below zero in winter. Underground temperature is a constant 22 degrees all year round.

A view of the digouts from the ground level..they just look like a junk yard

A number of the residents  open up their houses to visitor, giving them an opportunity to explore this unique form of living... they have a display of their opals in a front section of the house (digout)... immediately you walk in the digout you feel the difference in the temperature... beautifully !! the residents.. who are also miners,  have their own mines which they go to every day looking for opal..they are VERY friendly and are great at telling stories of the outback and the opal mines...The first one we went in , informed us he has 15 rooms...rooms are actually digouts the miners years ago dug out looking for opals, and these people come and buy them and change them into homes..

There are little digouts everywhere , where the first pioneers dug for opals..

This shaft is in the middle of the shop... its the original shaft that the diggers came down in search of opals..

Then we went to his neighbour next door to look at his shop.. and he was very informative... he was also the local Ambulance driver, they do shifts.. one week on call one week off... don't think they get too many call outs in this place..If they are really ill the Flying Doctor is called in...

The place is so laid back even the dog "Jess" barked as we entered the home... but didn't bother to get up off her bed ..

They have a school here .. it has 9 children in attendance..:)The primary school opened in 1895, and has operated continuously since then. It educates the children to grade 6 then they leave for boarding school.

Also a Church built out of rocks, the priest comes every month for a service.

 

We also paid a visit to the Cemetery which has a plaque saying

1788-1988 – Pioneer & General Cemetery

From the few known records of the period 1892-99 over 500 children

& innumerable adults lie in unmarked graves. The ravages of typhoid,

diphtheria & dysentery decimated the children of this mining community.

To the memory of our pioneer men women & children,

whatever their origins & beliefs & to those who came later

who lie here in graves known & unknown graves this plaque is dedicated.

And this was obvious when we walked around, graves most of which are children who died from typhoid and other diseases which prospered in the mining community because of the difficulties of maintaining proper sanitary standards. There is also the grave of a man who died from thirst. The graves of the children are believed to be those of the Richardson family. Alfred Richardson was a member of the kangaroo shooting party which discovered opals at White Cliffs.Some were lucky they got head stones..

It was very sad to see just mounds of dirt and that's it for graves with many of the family buried on top of each other ( so the locals say) and sooooo many childrens graves ...what a tough time it must have been, living in those high temperatures living in tents .. its just hard to imagine.. as we sit here with the a/c on in the trailer trying to keep cool, with all the comforts of home.

 Just mounds of dirt nothing to show they were buried there

It was a truly eye opening experience today....