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COACH TOUR TO COOPER'S CREEK An Historic Trip At the annual meeting of the Society on 28 September, Mr. Keith ThaUon, who organised the highly successful coach tour to Cooper's Creek, gave an interesting account of the trip from by coach. The tour began on 26 August and concluded back in Bris­ bane on 2 September. Mr. ThaUon said the party left on time a few minutes past 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, 26 August. We reached MitcheU early that evening. We had made stops at Toowoomba to pick up Miss Ann Finlay, and at Dalby to pick up three more passengers. Jack Walker, Miss Kath Walker, from Warialda, New South Wales, and John Armstrong, of "Oakwood," BeU. The party stopped for lunch at Condamine. Mr. Thallon motored by private car to Miles, and joined the bus there. The party reached Roma in the late afternoon, where a stop for 20 minutes enabled refreshments. At MitcheU, some passengers stayed at the hotel and some at the motel. The party left on Sunday morning for an easy run to Quilpie. A half-hour stop was made at Charle­ viUe, and after a drive round the town, the party headed west for QuUpie. PICNIC LUNCH A pleasant picnic lunch was held at a spot beside the Ward River, 30 miles out of Charleville. Quilpie was reached in mid-afternoon, and the party settled in at Mrs. Corones' Imperial Hotel. On Monday, the party got away to a good start, and headed for the backblocks. An inspection was made of the historic and colourful Thylungra homestead. Here the party picked up Us final two passengers, Mrs. W. I. Hamon and daughter Madeline. Mr. ThaUon was chief gate-opener and had considerable exercise in this respect. Thylungra is a complex of yards, sheds and buildings, and the party got "bushed" both coming in and going out. They arrived at after crossing Cooper's Creek about midday. The inn and shop were patronised by the party. There is a good bUumen road from Quilpie, but the outback roads start from Windorah. The party had a road- 398 side luncheon a few miles west of Windorah. They drove on for the rest of the day in typical outback country. "The sandhills got bigger and redder," said Mr. ThaUon. "The party stopped several times for photographs of these fascinating formations. Wild flowers were in abundance, and there were the usual mirages typical of this country, which has many interesting hill formations of old worn-down residuals." The party arrived at the ruins of the old J.C. Hotel, Can­ terbury, and inspected the old cemetery nearby. There were some interesting old headstones and some sad inscrip­ tions over the graves of chUdren. The method of construc­ tion (mud and straw pise) of the old hotel intrigued mem­ bers of the party. Pressing on towards Innamincka, the party left the Birds­ ville road just before Mooney Plains homestead. There were interesting hill formations here, notably the Three Sisters. The party travelled south through the Cuddapan hold­ ing, and on to the Planet homestead, bypassing it on the east and avoiding the turn off right to Betoota. They were now on the road through the 2,000 square mile Arrabury station.

COPRACUNDA WELL In the late afternoon they arrived at Copracunda Well- windmiU, tank, and trough. The party camped for the night here. It was a good site, but the ground was covered with burrs and bindi-eyes. It was the party's first night under the stars and the weather was excellent. The night was cool, but it soon warmed up when the sun got going. Some mem­ bers of the party spent most of the night trying to get used to camping — with varying degrees of success. Food and equipment were well up to expectations, and there were few growls and grizzles. Mr. Thallon erected and used the tent on this occasion, but did not bother again, as he did not feel the need for it in this delightful inland climate. The party made a fairly early start next day (Tuesday). Passengers divided themselves into groups of six for cooking and eating purposes. The providore (Roy Haines) helped by driver BUI Clayfield and certain unattached male mem­ bers of the party handled the distribution of food and camp­ ing gear in efficient fashion. On Tuesday — the fourth day out — their objective was Cooper's Creek before dark. "It was," said Mr. Thallon, "Innamincka or bust, and as early as possible." The party had lunch on the way after 399 leaving Arrabury homestead and crossing into South Aus­ tralia. A pleasant halt was made at Arrabury Station home­ stead, one of the most remote in . The party was hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs. Ross Debney, the manager and his wife. The bus was refuelled here, and all took advantage to inspect, inside and out, this good example of a high class outback homestead, almost on the South Aus­ tralian border. The party stopped at Arrabury airstrip to inspect the tablet erected by Alfred Towner in memory of Burke and WiUs. THE RUN TO INNAMINCKA It was a good run over patchy roads south into Innamincka run, 6,000 sq. mUes. The party caught up with two road trains which were moving cattle to another part of this huge station. The party was sandwiched in between the two road trains on a dusty road, but at the first gate they stopped and let the party through. The party passed Patche- warra Bore, the deepest in the outback, and covered the 100 miles from Arrabury to Innamincka homestead in good time. They passed beside the Innamincka airstrip and got a sight of the line of timber marking the course of Cooper's Creek. The party caUed at the homestead, where the coach was refuelled. The manager and his wife were away at muster­ ing camp. Members of the party spoke to the station book­ keeper, who began grizzling about the number of tourists they had had around the homestead lately. A bus-load of travellers had called in only two days previously. The party left the homestead and drove down the river to the crossing and ruins of the old township. Water was running over the crossing, but it was not deep. They travel­ led back along the road on the south side of the Cooper and got to a spot nearly opposite the homestead. They went off the road to a good camping place on the banks of the Cooper, not far from Burke's grave. "I went up the creek," said Mr. ThaUon, "and found the tree and a small cairn marking Burke's deathbed. Next morning I guided the party to this place. The party en­ joyed walking beside the large wide stretches of water in the main channel of the Cooper."

NARDOO SAMPLES Next day (Wednesday) the party drove back to Inna­ mincka township site and inspected the area. The old hostel ruins are stiU substantial, and the party was interested in the famous bottle heap and the cemented causeway at Cooper 400

crossing. Nardoo samples were collected, which was grow­ ing roundabout. The junction of the Cooper with Strzelecki Creek was also inspected. The party proceeded over a road with stones and wash­ outs north-east to the Queensland border and Nappamerrie. WUd flowers were in profusion, there being extensive areas of various colours — white, yellow and purple. They arrived at the Cooper crossing near Nappamerrie in the late afternoon. Water was running over the crossing, about 18 inches deep. Mr. Thallon walked into the water and guided the coach across, making sure it did not get off the raised stony track into the deeper water on either side. The party went on to the "DIG" tree and made camp there, weU before dark. Mr. ThaUon put up the sign stating that the Society had been made trustee of the Reserve. A party of 30 Boy Scouts from Victoria were camped in the area. After the evening meal, the party went over and joined them at campfire sing song. SIGN UNVEILED Next day (Thursday) Major Turner unveUed the sign and declared the Reserve open to the public. The party left the Dig Tree reserve on Thursday morning and went on to Nappamerrie homestead, four miles away. They had a look around and went to the airstrip, seven miles away, where the TAA service plane had just landed. They then set off for Thargomindah through Nappamerrie towards Karmona and Durham Downs. They got sand- bogged in a wide sandy channel and took nearly six hours to dig the coach out and get going again. Everybody helped. The party made Durham Downs that night about 8 o'clock and decided to camp on the Cooper near the homestead. They should have been at Thargomindah Hotel that night, but it was still nearly 200 miles away. The party made a fairly comfortable camp on stony ground, and early next morning (Friday) broke camp and made for Thargomindah. They saw the at its best after the very good winter rains. Thargomindah was reached in the early afternoon and the party lunched beside the BuUoo River. They reached Cun­ namuUa at dark, after stopping at Eulo. The proprietor and his wife at the Eulo Queen Hotel were very hospitable and showed the party opals from Yowlah field nearby. They are anxious to get tourists out there. At CunnamuUa the party had an evening meal at a cafe and met members of the Warrego Far South West Historical Society. A church fete was being held and there was much social activity. 401

AT MOONIE OILFIELD The party drove at night the 180 miles to St. George and got there at 11.45 p.m. They spent a comfortable night at a good motel and made a leisurely start on the last day (Saturday) back to Brisbane. On the way the party in­ spected the Moonie Oilfield, saw the drilling rig working and had a quick look at the pumping station installation in pass­ ing, also several producing weUs nearby. They had lunch at Moonie township beside the local school. A strong wind was blowing; this was the only occasion when the weather was other than 100 per cent, pleasant. A fast uneventful run to Brisbane was enjoyed via Dalby and Toowoomba. Passengers were dropped at Moonie (J. and K. Walker met by relatives from Tara), at Dalby (J. Armstrong), and at Toowoomba (Ann FiiUay). The base at North Quay was reached about 6.30 p.m. Saturday. It was a unique and memorable experience for most of the party. Everyone seemed to enjoy the tour.