Woomera (continued)
A regular adventure that we all faced
was a trip to Port Augusta before the sealed road came into being.
Corrugations
so
big that a bottle could be stood up in them and not show its neck at
the top. The many rail crossings were that eroded that they
stood clear of the surrounding ground and had to be negotiated one
rail at a time on a very acute angle. It did pay to stop and
look, then possibly place some stone or sand to allow your vehicle to
safely negotiate the crossing. Normal family travel time to
the Port was at least 4-5 hrs. Warappa hill was an impossibility if
damp, no one owned 4x4,s so it was a matter of sitting and
waiting for it to dry.
Commonwealth truck drivers accomplished heroic feats a lot of the time, but Warappa was a knockout. The functioning of Woomera became much easier when this piece of the highway became the first sealed.
The Circus came to Woomera by train
in the early days and played Pimba. Circus riff raff could never be
tolerated
in
the village area, so the whole town made the five mile journey out to
the
Big Top. One year there was a tremendous thunder storm
dumping inches of rain. The commonwealth buses toured the village
picking
up all who were going and we set off in a
controlled downhill slide from the Pimba security gate house. When
we arrived at the bottom of the slope forward travel
ceased, all the males got out and pushed those buses to Pimba loaded
with women and children. It was a wild and frustrating
journey but everyone made it, the show was delayed in starting, and
it was played on a dry ring that had to be watered to keep
down the dust. All males became overnight heroes to all Woomera
children
that night. The trip home may have been nearly as
traumatic but all us kids were asleep, we just don’t know.
A day at school could sometimes be interrupted by such things a Camel Caravan, 30-strong, approaching the Ponds from over the horizon loaded with goods going out to a remote location. The thing to do was put up your hand and ask the teacher to allow you to go to the toilet, then bolt, don’t worry about what if. Fascinating was watching, but never bold enough to really approach close up, never really understanding the handlers. Strange men with stranger behaviour but never threatening, always smiling in a gentile way, devout and precise. They were indeed like an apparition moving slowly and magically over the landscape until disappearing into a mirage’s of heat and dust, and clouds of flies.
Very different were the cattle drives
which also came across the horizon to the Ponds, but there was always
warning
from the great dust cloud that spiralled above them. However,
when they were able to be seen, that was the signal to escape
from school and race across the gibbers for a better view. We must
have made it hard for the Drovers to control the herd of
maybe a few thousand head or more. These men, a lot of them Aboriginal,
had succeeded in holding together the mob thru all
sorts of difficulty, only to be attacked by a dozen or so Woomera kids.
Although we didn’t realise it, we must have been in
great danger. The skills of the stockmen were very obvious, and the
true enjoyment of their work, readable in heir faces.
A thing that hit Woomera people very hard was the Sundown Station murders where a family was murdered while travelling down toward Mt Ebba. The people were not able to be located for a couple of days and search aircraft were dispatched from Woomera finally locating the car hidden off the road with its gruesome telltale cargo. This was one of the first really unbelievable events ever in outback Australia.
The Duke of Wherever visited Woomera
and, beside other things, planted a tree at the school. I was lucky
enough
to
plant right beside him. I am very happy to say that my tree grew
beautifully
into a grand shade tree that I have witnessed on
trips back during the 70's and 80's while driving coach tours around
Australia. I will argue with anyone that the surviving tree is
mine. Also, The Queen's visit to Whyalla, to which all the school was
transported by commonwealth buses - another memorable
event, entrenching royalty into our lives.
Other memorable outings to which we
were transported as a school were the live rocket firings at
Koolymilka.
You
may get there and sit around in the sun for a few hours, then be
marshalled
back onto the buses and back to school only to
repeat the same tomorrow. But, eventually the countdown would proceed
with the launch of a small weather probe rocket.
Then came the big one, I think possibly a Skylark or similar type.
The really big ones were watched from your own backyard usually from
the car shed roof. When the first satellites were in orbit
, Woomera West picture theatre was easily interrupted by
sightings and pointing. We had a dog called Sputnik who to us kids
could jump as high as the Moon.
Exploring was a great pastime, one great
place was the rubbish dump where there could be found something
intriguing,
cast off from a government department with which you could fantasize
away a few hours, or scavenge for bits to repair
something. Another place of interest was the Ponds area, where many
Aboriginal scrapings and rock artefacts could be found,
along with old buildings to explore and water to swim and play in.
Still another was the Donga which held many secrets
needing to be discovered, particularly after rain when rock holes
would be full of live squirming things. Then the pig farm with
the largest pigs I have ever seen - had to be a little wary here. And
the rock crusher and aggregate yard, watching trucks come
with cherries and trucks depart with aggregate for some job.And when
they were building the Lake Hart launchers it wasn’t
to hard to have a trip out and back with a contractor, even if you
yabbered ninety to the dozen. It was usually hot and noisy.
Many rock outcrops had hidden caves from small to large and contained rock art from probably hundreds of years ago. Although we never knew who the artist may have been, we did our drawings on some rock surface close by complementing what was already there. To us kids, it was just another surface to draw on. It wouldn’t be that way today.
Another pastime was the building of kites of the brown paper variety and flying these as high as we could find the string for. I think that maybe there was that much string out that the kites were weighted down considerably. Some of the men in single quarters built very large gliders and used to fly them from the clay pans. They were a great attraction to kids, and to help track and retrieve could keep one enthralled for hours . Some of these magnificent aircraft were last seen as a dot in the sky before disappearing forever. Occasionally we observed attacks upon them by Wedge Tailed Eagles. A successful flight and retrieval meant as much elation as the return to ground of a Jindivick.
The Scramble track of the motorcycle club was of great interest to us young boys. The motorcycle club putting on some special bike events with a little prize money, this was keenly contested, and kept us out of trouble for many hours.
There is much to Woomera that I can reflect on , that helped to develop myself and many similar kids. Everyone on the range knew Joe, but never my true name. I wasn’t the best little catholic altar boy that was ever reared. I was a bit of a handful at times. I grew up fiercely independent and a thinker outside the square. I survived, in all a ten year posting to Woomera leaving around Xmas 1958. There has been many occasions during my working life that I considered applying for range work, however something in the back of my mind said that it could never be as good as it was as a child, even down to the Saturday morning Red Shield Hut short back and sides haircuts. I have had a very interesting life in which Woomera played a big part by moulding myself and my beliefs and setting me up for my life’s experiences
Thank You Woomera and all the people
I shared it with pre 1958-59.
I don’t mind contact.
Joe Murray
E-mail: walkaboutjoe@hotmail.com
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Memories of Woomera |
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