December 1966 School Magazine

December, 1966

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

December, 1966

We then met back at the bus where lots of the girls received letters from home, Lorraine Dunstan setting . the record with six . Our next destination was Lake Moondarra, the man-made dam which supplies Mt. Isa's water . On the way up to the lookout we came across an eight foot long brown snake which Ray ( our driver) succeeded in killing after he had pinned it under the wheel of the bus . This type is one of the most venomous. The lookout, when we reached it, provided us with a breathtaking view of the Lake with its few ducks and pelicans on one hand, and on the other with wooded plains stretching away to a range of mountains. Tea was a barbecue at the edge of the lake after we had played "Two's and Three's" with a group of children who were having a birthday party there . We then returned to the town- ship, to the Motel where we learned we would be able to use the partially constructed Motel Units. Fortunately, before we had made a start with the pitching of our tents ( as it was just beginning to rain ) we received the good news . Owing to Ray's shall we say "charm", or was it good old use of psychology, we were going to be allowed to spend the night in the dancing hall of the Motel on the condition that we were out by 6.15 next morning. After having showers, everyone, I think, finally settled into bed feeling a lot cleaner than they had for days." . We left Mt. Isa the next day after a most informative con- ducted tour of the surface plant of the Mines , and headed for Katherine Gorge, in the Northern Territory. After a two-hour boat trip on the river flowing through the awe-inspiring gorge, we went on to Darwin. We spent a very pleasant day in this colourful, easy-going city, and, sorry to leave, but anxious to press on, headed south. The next few days were spent driving through strikingly colourful country made famous by Albert Namatjira. The thousand mile trip from Darwin to Alice Springs revealed many things of interest such as the Elsey Cemetry, where the graves of the characters from Mrs. Aeneas Gunn's "We of the Never Never" are found, the "Devil's Marbles", a fitting name for the large, rounded granite boulders, and Central Mt . Stuart . We spent a wonderful two days at "the Alice" , sightseeing, shopping, bartering with aborigines, and touring the magnifi\ent nearby beauty spots . We left Alice early one morning, passed through three hundred miles of glorious wild flower country, and then, as recorded in our journal .. .. "In a well advanced dusk, we sighted the focal point of our trip and this time there was no mistake . Before us was the unique Ayer's Rock, dwarfing all surroundings. After a heated discussion to determine whether it was blue-blue or purple-blue in the descending darkness, we found ourselves at the Redline 57

CENTRAL AUSTRALIA TRIP, '66 At 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, 14th August, there'- was much ex- citement and bustle outside the Redline Bus Terminal in Roma Street . Thirty enthusiastic Grammar girls, accompanied by Miss Neil, Miss Tuckett , and Miss Daphne Tuckett were about to depart on a safari trip that was to take us six and a half thousand miles around Australia! On the first stage of our journey, we travelled through Queensland in a north-westerly direction passing through typical western towns such as Augathella, Blackall, Longreach, Winton and Cloncurry. We drove through much open sheep country and found many things to interest us in these outback towns . Durj..p.g these first few days we thoroughly enjoyed what was, for most of us, our first taste of camp-fire cooking, and spent our nights snug in our sleeping bags. By the time we reached Mary Kathleen; we had survived a two hour tramp through almost knee deep mud in the dead of night, followed by a clean-up the next morn- ing in Winton's scorching hot artesian water! An extract from our diary, dated Wednesday, 17th August , reads . ... "Having spent the night in sheds and some of us on what might be rightly termed 'park benches' we awoke to find our- selves in one of the prettiest spots we had been in. After break- fast we started off again towards Mary Kathleen . This town, officially opened by Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies in 1958 can really be termed a well-kept ghost town, and the total population consists of eighteen families who remain there to maintain it . Surrounded by bare hills, it was rather like an oasis in a wilder- ness , with its wide bitumen streets, towering gum trees and colourful bougainvillea. Perhaps the only objectionable feature was that most of the houses were of similar architectural design, but with a golf course, swimming pool and drive-in picture theatre, it seemed as though it could have been a pleasant enough town. After we left Mary ' Kathleen, it was not long before rwe came in sight of Mt . Isa, the most outstanding object being the red and white striped stack of the mines . Having had lunch at the B.P. fuel depot , we went back to the town where we had some free time to look around and do some shopping. Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this rather prosperous-looking tq_wn was the great number and variety in the makes of the cars. We later learned that the ratio is something like one car to every one and three-quarter people. 56