20240902 NSW Walgett

20240902 We camped at the free camp just before you enter Walgett where they now have hot showers for who ever passes by. We only intended to stay the night until the wind picked up so it looks like we’re here for one more night. The campground is full but most tend to leave early in the morning for a new town making room for the next traveller to pull in and take a shower and rest until they hit the road for their next adventure.

Check out this little beauty, how cool, I googled it and found it was imported in 1947 by Pioneer Tours, part of the R.M. Ansett organisation who imported their first Flxible Clipper from the Company in USA. After evaluation by Pioneer, Melbourne company Ansair, also part of Ansett, obtained a licence from the Flxible Company to build the Clipper in Australia. Ansair built 131 between 1950 and 1960,  The imported prototype, powered by a straight 8 cylinder Buick engine, was converted to right-hand drive by Ansair and began tour operations in January 1949.

The free camp has a nice lake for you to sit around and watch the ducks waddle around its peaceful surrounds

These pair a free to roam the ground and maybe get a treat from the camper who pass through.

Facts I never knew until now, in the camp grounds are boards with information about the Freedom Ride to Walgett so I took the time to read it which I found quite interesting.

It all began in 1964 with the arrest of two 9 year old Aboriginal boys for petty theft which captured the attention of the public to extreme racism and segregation of the aboriginal people. The Australia-Aboriginal Fellowship, has since 1950s been keeping on eye on the town and on visiting Walgett lobbied to return the children to their families. Then in 1965 as ‘the high water mark of racism, students stood challenged and abused by local whites while demonstrating, local Murri women spoke up to witness the RSL preventing Aboriginal people from entering, they were also only allowed to sit in the front row of the theatre on “the two-bob seats”. 

Wow! that is so incredible and so unfair.

With a beer in had we wondered across the road to check out the old grave sites and this looked kind of creepy, just like something out of a horror movie.

20240904 Time to leave but first I wanted to call into town to see if there’s been any changes since the last time we were here in 2012, but it’s still the same drab boring town it was back then, there is absolutely no appeal or anything to entice the traveler’s to stay here, apart from the free camp with hot showers, it seems not much has changed but they do have a great new cafe otherwise, drive in, drive out.

The Stones Throw cafe in the Main Street is definitely worth a visit and they have great coffee.

Another of John Murray’s murals.

We left Walgett and headed to the small aboriginal town of Collarenebri about 100kms up the road.

I never seen a street sign like this before, interesting, I especially like the part at the bottom.

Is Your Belt On?

One of the many wheat fields along the way.

The End