Apr 19, Burra, Sevenhills, Clare

It was really, really windy last night. The wind rocked the camper and woke us up several times. And it got pretty cold, about 50. It is autumn here, so we're prepared.

We were up and out early seeing historical sights in Burra. There was an old gaol (jail), that held prisoners in the early days of the mining town and later it became a girls reformatory. The girls seem to have been quite a problem. One account of 3 girls who were on the roof of the building, said they were "dancing, singing low songs and swearing down right insolence, destroying government property and undressing and exposing themselves to all passersby in only their flannels and bloomers."

We went into the Market Square Museum and Lolly Shop. (Lollies refers to all sweets). The guide had some interesting stories about the exhibits and times. In the 1800's wedding dresses were not white. (Earlier, at the time of the song "Greensleeves", they were green. I didn't know the song was about being left at the altar.) Anyway, there was a black Lutheran wedding dress. Lutherans were very austere, but this had maroon ribbons on the sleeves as decoration. There was a lavender dress worn by the daughter of the Tetley tea founder. She brought Tetley tea to Australia.

Next was a tour of the mine's engine house. The engine was used to pump water out of the underground mine. The building was beautiful with 5ft thick walls and recently restored with 24" x 15" beams. We learned that this was the first metal mine in Australia and the ore was sent to Wales to be smelted because there were no facilities here. Oxen pulled wagons filled with ore to Port Adelaide, 100 miles away, taking 2 weeks for the trip. At any one time there were 5000 oxen on the road. Lots of facts to stress that this was the largest mine in the world at the time and the richest. It saved South Australia from bankruptcy.

We drove from Burra to Sevenhill, but went the long way around since I misread the map and GPS directions. Sevenhill is a winery established by Jesuits in 1851. There was a beautiful church there and a school also.

At Spring Gully Conservation Park and took a walk to the cascades. No water, but we did see a rare tree, the red stringybark gum. If we had been there in the spring we might have seen Australian orchids in bloom.

In Clare we drove up to Billy Goat Hill, a lookout over the town, then west to Blythe, where we took another walk. This one went beside a golf course, a very dry golf course. The greens were sandy and had rakes next to them, like our sand traps.
A kangaroo watched our progress and gulahs flew overhead, very nice walk.

Now we're in the small town of Lochiel. At the edge of town was a truck train staging area. They call trucks pulling more than one trailer "trains" and in the outback they can pull up to four. We've seen many with 2, but will be meeting the longer ones later.

Pictures - Miners Cottages in Burra, Samson at Burra RR Station, St Aloysius Church at Sevenhill, 5th hole on golf course, Gulahs