The birth of..the Australian Labor Party

We packed up at our sweet little overnight stop in Willows next to the railway museum. Of course we were the last of the four caravans to leave! Before leaving Gadi wanted to try to weigh our caravan on a straight stretch of road using his new (and expensive) weighing instrument, but it proved to be difficult to get a consistent or accurate reading of both the car and the caravan.

We stopped to refuel in Alpha and chatted to another couple of travellers heading to the Gemfields. They kindly gave us some fresh fruit and vegetables just given to them by a local policeman as they had too much - leftovers from a fundraiser event, including cherry tomatoes, strawberries, a whole pumpkin and some sweet potatoes.

We continued on through Jericho (on the bank of the Jordan Creek) and on to Barcaldine. Home of the Tree of Knowledge - now a replica since the original was poisoned in 2006 - and a huge artwork canopy forming a tribute to what is now known as the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party.

Barcaldine is the headquarters of the 1891 Shearers Strike and the 1892 reading of the Labor Party manifesto. The workers of the Shearers Strike reportedly met under the branches of the big ghost gum, located in front of the Barcaldine Station. After taking lots of photos and reading all the information boards, we headed to the Australian Workers Heritage Centre to learn about the history of service workers in Australia. Displays covered railway, Australia Post, health & medical, emergency services, police, electrical and women. We were the only people at the Centre, giving us uninterrupted time to explore and read the information and interact with some of the displays. Nice they let us bring Cadbury with us as we wandered around and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade next to a man made bore watering hole.

After a quick supermarket stop, we continued to the local free camp after the worst of the heat of the day had disappeared. The caravan was still hot inside so we sat outside for a while and I chatted to some other travellers while Gadi set up the satellite dish.

We ate dinner (steak pan cooked inside tonight) and settled in for the evening. We watched ABC’s Four Corners’ shocking investigation into aged care with growing disgust and anger to this vastly unregulated privatized industry.

G’night from Labor’s birthplace in central Queensland xxRead more