Beresford Siding on the Old Ghan Railway, along the Oodnadatta Tk. SA
Beresford Siding on the Old Ghan Railway.
old ghan train
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Curdimurka Siding on the Old Ghan line along the Oodnadatta Tk.
Water tank and desalination tank were used to supply water to the steam locos used on the Old Ghan.
The Old Ghan Train
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Algebuckina Bridge
Old Ghan railway crossing of the Neales River on Allendale Station..
Algebuckina Bridge
The Algebuckina Bridge of the Old Ghan Railway over the Neales River on Oodnadatta Track in SA. Built in the 1880s this spectacular wrought iron bridge carried the former Alice Springs narrow gauge railway across the flood plain of the River Neales. After a severe flood in 1974, which almost reached the bridge decks, the line was closed in 1981 and a new route built 100 miles further west.
Marree. The platform of the disused railway station. Station building on the left. This was used by the old Ghan train service to Alice Springs from 1929 to 1980.
Marree/Herrgott Springs.
These semi desert Aboriginal lands were first sighted by white men in 1840 when Edward John Eyre and his exploration party reached Lake Eyre. For some time people thought Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre was one big inland sea but explorations by Surveyor General George Goyder in 1860 proved that the lakes were separate. At that time Governor MacDonnell named the lake after Eyre (now Kati Thanda). It is about 90 kms from Marree. This area of SA is underpinned by deep artesian waters contained under great pressure and in some places they bubble to the surface forming springs. Salts and other minerals from the saline waters eventually create calcium walls around the springs as the water evaporates hence the term mound springs. When Sir Charles Todd was heading the construction of the Overland Telegraph in 1870- 1872 from Port Augusta to Darwin a camp was located at Herrgott Springs which was the first European name for the site of Marree. It was named after explorer John McDougall Stuart‘s botanist Joseph Herrgott who discovered a mound spring in 1859. There are over 5,000 mound springs in SA and they were vital to the construction of the Overland Telegraph.
The town emerged when the Great Northern Railway reached Herrgott Springs in 1884. Before the survey a hotel and a general store opened in 1882.From the beginning the locals and towns people called the place Marree but the government railway station was Herrgott Springs. The Police Station and Post Office opened in 1883 and the school in 1884. During World War One this German name was changed to Marree in line with previous local usage. By 1885 the town had the two storey Great Northern Hotel, two general stores, two butchers, three saddlers and an iron Wesleyan Methodist church and it had 600 residents. This church was used as the government school which was only built in 1908. The Post Office began in a tent until a building was erected in 1886 and it doubled as a repeater station for the Overland Telegraph. The Marree hospital opened in 1912. The railway was the focus of the early town and in 1891 there was a government survey to see if a railway line from Marree up the Birdsville was viable. Another survey was undertaken in 1916 but nothing eventuated. Supples went up and down to Birdsville by camel trains
Many Afghan cameleers were based at the springs as this was the starting point for camel trains to Birdsville, Oodnadatta and elsewhere. Around 1900 about 1,500 camels were based in Marree with 800 owned by just one Afghan. Although motor transport developed in the 1920s the Birdsville track cameleers were in Marree until 1949. Recently a replica Muslim mosque has been erected in the town to commemorate the role the Afghans played in servicing the Birdsville track. The first Mosque open by 1884 and was replaced twice before it closed. Its prayer rugs were sent to the Gilbert St. Mosque in Adelaide. Afghan names in Marree included Dervish, Moosha, Khan, Balook, Wahub, Dadih, Goolamdeen etc. Tom Kruse ran a truck mail service to Birdsville from 1936 to 1963 although the service continued until 1975 when an air service took over. 300 or so date palms were planted in Marree as a trial in 1884 but they did not thrive after about 30 years. The new standard gauge railway to Marree opened in 1957 employing about 85 men as the Ghan to Alice Springs changed gauge here from standard to the narrow 3’6” gauge. This railway closed in 1980 and the town has declined but tourism keeps it alive. Marree has a population of about 100 of which 60 % are men so it is a great place for women to find a partner! Marree Aboriginal School has two primary and one secondary class and six part time teachers. The town also has a Royal Flying Doctor service office, old Commonwealth Railway deserted train engines, and one of the trucks used by Tom Kruse from 1936.
Marree railway station yards with a couple of old Commonwealth Railways engines form the old Ghan service.
Marree/Herrgott Springs.
These semi desert Aboriginal lands were first sighted by white men in 1840 when Edward John Eyre and his exploration party reached Lake Eyre. For some time people thought Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre was one big inland sea but explorations by Surveyor General George Goyder in 1860 proved that the lakes were separate. At that time Governor MacDonnell named the lake after Eyre (now Kati Thanda). It is about 90 kms from Marree. This area of SA is underpinned by deep artesian waters contained under great pressure and in some places they bubble to the surface forming springs. Salts and other minerals from the saline waters eventually create calcium walls around the springs as the water evaporates hence the term mound springs. When Sir Charles Todd was heading the construction of the Overland Telegraph in 1870- 1872 from Port Augusta to Darwin a camp was located at Herrgott Springs which was the first European name for the site of Marree. It was named after explorer John McDougall Stuart‘s botanist Joseph Herrgott who discovered a mound spring in 1859. There are over 5,000 mound springs in SA and they were vital to the construction of the Overland Telegraph.
The town emerged when the Great Northern Railway reached Herrgott Springs in 1884. Before the survey a hotel and a general store opened in 1882.From the beginning the locals and towns people called the place Marree but the government railway station was Herrgott Springs. The Police Station and Post Office opened in 1883 and the school in 1884. During World War One this German name was changed to Marree in line with previous local usage. By 1885 the town had the two storey Great Northern Hotel, two general stores, two butchers, three saddlers and an iron Wesleyan Methodist church and it had 600 residents. This church was used as the government school which was only built in 1908. The Post Office began in a tent until a building was erected in 1886 and it doubled as a repeater station for the Overland Telegraph. The Marree hospital opened in 1912. The railway was the focus of the early town and in 1891 there was a government survey to see if a railway line from Marree up the Birdsville was viable. Another survey was undertaken in 1916 but nothing eventuated. Supples went up and down to Birdsville by camel trains
Many Afghan cameleers were based at the springs as this was the starting point for camel trains to Birdsville, Oodnadatta and elsewhere. Around 1900 about 1,500 camels were based in Marree with 800 owned by just one Afghan. Although motor transport developed in the 1920s the Birdsville track cameleers were in Marree until 1949. Recently a replica Muslim mosque has been erected in the town to commemorate the role the Afghans played in servicing the Birdsville track. The first Mosque open by 1884 and was replaced twice before it closed. Its prayer rugs were sent to the Gilbert St. Mosque in Adelaide. Afghan names in Marree included Dervish, Moosha, Khan, Balook, Wahub, Dadih, Goolamdeen etc. Tom Kruse ran a truck mail service to Birdsville from 1936 to 1963 although the service continued until 1975 when an air service took over. 300 or so date palms were planted in Marree as a trial in 1884 but they did not thrive after about 30 years. The new standard gauge railway to Marree opened in 1957 employing about 85 men as the Ghan to Alice Springs changed gauge here from standard to the narrow 3’6” gauge. This railway closed in 1980 and the town has declined but tourism keeps it alive. Marree has a population of about 100 of which 60 % are men so it is a great place for women to find a partner! Marree Aboriginal School has two primary and one secondary class and six part time teachers. The town also has a Royal Flying Doctor service office, old Commonwealth Railway deserted train engines, and one of the trucks used by Tom Kruse from 1936.
Marree. The Commonwealth Railways railway station where the old Ghan began to Alice Springs.
Marree/Herrgott Springs. Population 65. These semi desert Aboriginal lands were first sighted by white men in 1840 when Edward John Eyre and his exploration party reached Lake Eyre. For some time people thought Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre was one big inland sea but explorations by Surveyor General George Goyder in 1860 proved that the lakes were separate. At that time Governor MacDonnell named the lake after explorer Eyre (now Kati Thanda). It is about 90 kms from Marree. This area of SA is underpinned by deep artesian waters contained under great pressure and in some places they bubble to the surface forming springs. Salts and other minerals from the saline waters eventually create calcium walls around the springs as the water evaporates hence the term mound springs. When Sir Charles Todd was heading the construction of the Overland Telegraph in 1870- 1872 from Port Augusta to Darwin a camp was located at Herrgott Springs which was the first European name for the site of Marree. It was named after explorer John McDougall Stuart‘s botanist Joseph Herrgott who discovered a mound spring in 1859. There are over 5,000 mound springs in SA and they were vital to the construction of the Overland Telegraph.
The town emerged when the Great Northern Railway reached Herrgott Springs in 1884. Before the survey a hotel and a general store opened in 1882.From the beginning the locals and towns people called the place Marree but the government railway station was Herrgott Springs. The Police Station and Post Office opened in 1883 and the school in 1884. During World War One this German name was changed to Marree in line with previous local usage. By 1885 the town had the two storey Great Northern Hotel, two general stores, two butchers, three saddlers and an iron Wesleyan Methodist church and it had 600 residents. This church was used as the government school which was only built in 1908. The Post Office began in a tent until a building was erected in 1886 and it doubled as a repeater station for the Overland Telegraph. The Marree hospital opened in 1912. The railway was the focus of the early town and in 1891 there was a government survey to see if a railway line from Marree up the Birdsville was viable. Another survey was undertaken in 1916 but nothing eventuated. Supplies went up and down to Birdsville by camel trains
Many Afghan cameleers were based at the springs as this was the starting point for camel trains to Birdsville, Oodnadatta and elsewhere. Around 1900 about 1,500 camels were based in Marree with 800 owned by just one Afghan. Although motor transport developed in the 1920s the Birdsville track cameleers were in Marree until 1949. Recently a replica Muslim mosque has been erected in the town to commemorate the role the Afghans played in servicing the Birdsville track. The first Mosque open by 1884 and was replaced twice before it closed. Its prayer rugs were sent to the Gilbert St. Mosque in Adelaide. Afghan names in Marree included Dervish, Moosha, Khan, Balook, Wahub, Dadih, Goolamdeen etc. Tom Kruse ran a truck mail service to Birdsville from 1936 to 1963 although the service continued until 1975 when an air service took over. 300 or so date palms were planted in Marree as a trial in 1884 but they did not thrive after about 30 years. The new standard gauge railway to Marree opened in 1957 employing about 85 men as the Ghan to Alice Springs changed gauge here from standard to the narrow 3’6” gauge. This railway closed in 1980 and the town has declined but tourism keeps it alive. Marree has a population of about 100 of which 60 % are men so it is a great place for women to find a partner! Marree Aboriginal School has two primary and one secondary class and six part time teachers. The town also has a Royal Flying Doctor service office, old Commonwealth Railway deserted train engines, and one of the trucks used by Tom Kruse from 1936. When the railway reached Marree in 1884 the town grew and by around the turn of the century the railway divided the town racially with the Europeans on the side with the hotel, the school, the Police Station and the Afghan cameleers and the Djeri Aboriginals on the other side. This is no longer the case as the Afghan cameleers are gone and few Europeans live in Maree these days.
Marree. The disused railway station. The Old Ghan train to Alce Springs left from here. Grazing horse.
Marree/Herrgott Springs. Population 65. These semi desert Aboriginal lands were first sighted by white men in 1840 when Edward John Eyre and his exploration party reached Lake Eyre. For some time people thought Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre was one big inland sea but explorations by Surveyor General George Goyder in 1860 proved that the lakes were separate. At that time Governor MacDonnell named the lake after explorer Eyre (now Kati Thanda). It is about 90 kms from Marree. This area of SA is underpinned by deep artesian waters contained under great pressure and in some places they bubble to the surface forming springs. Salts and other minerals from the saline waters eventually create calcium walls around the springs as the water evaporates hence the term mound springs. When Sir Charles Todd was heading the construction of the Overland Telegraph in 1870- 1872 from Port Augusta to Darwin a camp was located at Herrgott Springs which was the first European name for the site of Marree. It was named after explorer John McDougall Stuart‘s botanist Joseph Herrgott who discovered a mound spring in 1859. There are over 5,000 mound springs in SA and they were vital to the construction of the Overland Telegraph.
The town emerged when the Great Northern Railway reached Herrgott Springs in 1884. Before the survey a hotel and a general store opened in 1882.From the beginning the locals and towns people called the place Marree but the government railway station was Herrgott Springs. The Police Station and Post Office opened in 1883 and the school in 1884. During World War One this German name was changed to Marree in line with previous local usage. By 1885 the town had the two storey Great Northern Hotel, two general stores, two butchers, three saddlers and an iron Wesleyan Methodist church and it had 600 residents. This church was used as the government school which was only built in 1908. The Post Office began in a tent until a building was erected in 1886 and it doubled as a repeater station for the Overland Telegraph. The Marree hospital opened in 1912. The railway was the focus of the early town and in 1891 there was a government survey to see if a railway line from Marree up the Birdsville was viable. Another survey was undertaken in 1916 but nothing eventuated. Supplies went up and down to Birdsville by camel trains
Many Afghan cameleers were based at the springs as this was the starting point for camel trains to Birdsville, Oodnadatta and elsewhere. Around 1900 about 1,500 camels were based in Marree with 800 owned by just one Afghan. Although motor transport developed in the 1920s the Birdsville track cameleers were in Marree until 1949. Recently a replica Muslim mosque has been erected in the town to commemorate the role the Afghans played in servicing the Birdsville track. The first Mosque open by 1884 and was replaced twice before it closed. Its prayer rugs were sent to the Gilbert St. Mosque in Adelaide. Afghan names in Marree included Dervish, Moosha, Khan, Balook, Wahub, Dadih, Goolamdeen etc. Tom Kruse ran a truck mail service to Birdsville from 1936 to 1963 although the service continued until 1975 when an air service took over. 300 or so date palms were planted in Marree as a trial in 1884 but they did not thrive after about 30 years. The new standard gauge railway to Marree opened in 1957 employing about 85 men as the Ghan to Alice Springs changed gauge here from standard to the narrow 3’6” gauge. This railway closed in 1980 and the town has declined but tourism keeps it alive. Marree has a population of about 100 of which 60 % are men so it is a great place for women to find a partner! Marree Aboriginal School has two primary and one secondary class and six part time teachers. The town also has a Royal Flying Doctor service office, old Commonwealth Railway deserted train engines, and one of the trucks used by Tom Kruse from 1936. When the railway reached Marree in 1884 the town grew and by around the turn of the century the railway divided the town racially with the Europeans on the side with the hotel, the school, the Police Station and the Afghan cameleers and the Djeri Aboriginals on the other side. This is no longer the case as the Afghan cameleers are gone and few Europeans live in Maree these days.
Evening collection on a fence. The old C3040Z still takes nice images.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA still a good camera!
Exposure Time: 1/320
F-stop: f/1.8 It has a fast lens!
ISO Speed: 100
Focal Length: 8.40
Exposure Bias: 7/10
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
Metering Mode: Spot
Flash:
Flash Fired: False
Flash Function: False
Flash Mode: 0
Flash Red Eye Mode: False
Flash Return: 0
Light Source: Unknown
Marree, Old Ghan Engine
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The largrest Old Ghan Rail Bridge
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27-old ghan train station
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Marree, Old Ghan Station
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Old Ghan tanks from the road
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28-old ghan train station
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Algebuckina Bridge
Algebuckina Bridge is probably THE outback railway bridge. Located close to the Oodnadatta track it is a remainder of the Old Ghan railway and with 578m the longest span bridge on the Old Ghan.
The largrest Old Ghan Rail Bridge
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29-old ghan train station
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Oodnadatta Track
Old Ghan railway line
Oodnadatta Track
Old Ghan ralway line
Oodnadatta Track
Old Ghan railway line
Parachilna. The 1956 built railway station used by the Old Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs.
Parachilna. Population 15.Surprisingly the town, of just 24 blocks, was surveyed in 1863 near a waterhole before there was even widespread pastoral lease holders in the Flinders Ranges but it was an important stopping point on the route from Port Augusta to the Blinman copper mines. The government well was there to provide water for pastoralists and stock drovers wanting to get to the Northern Flinders or Gammon. But more significant was the fact that the town provided access to the copper mines at Blinman which were discovered in 1859. Parachilna Gorge provided a shorter route through fewer hills to get to Blinman than other routes. More survey work was done around Parachilna in 1873 and small leaseholds were offered for sale. The Hundred of Nilpena was declared in 1877 yet no development occurred. Things changed when the great northern railway came here in 1882 on its route to Farina. The line was built a few kilometres to the west and so the government settlement of Parachilna followed market forces and moved west as well. The Parachilna siding was built in 1881 in anticipation of the railway. The Prairie Hotel moved near the siding around 1882 and the current stone hotel was built in 1905. A Post Office followed and in 1890 the government surveyed a second town of Parachilna. It never grew and the main building left today is the Parachilna Prairie Hotel known for its Flinders feral food menu (camel, goat, kangaroo and emu), its Aboriginal art gallery, Flinders foods and coffee in the hotel bar. The hotel also has some Ediacaran fossils displays of early jellyfish like organisms which emerged about 540 to 555 million years ago. These Nilpena fossils are the first known multi-organisms on earth and are of international importance and significance. The publicans own and run Nilpena Station to the west of the settlement. Near the hotel are the heritage listed Parachilna fettlers cottages and the sculpture garden of some Ediacaran fossils. At one time the town had a general store and a school from the early 20th century. It closed a few years ago.
Up in the Flinders Ranges behind the hotel is Edeowie Gorge with its Edeowie natural glass. This slag-like opaque rock or lechatelierite is found in clay baked layers which have been subjected to mineralization and oxidation. In Parachilna Gorge east of the town some land was donated to the Soldiers’ T.B. Aid Society to establish a tuberculosis sanatorium in the pristine air there. Partly due to the efforts of Ella Cleggett the Angorichina hostel opened in 1927 and treated patients until 1973. It is now a hostel for travellers. Also east of Parachilna in the Brachina Gorge is where the Ediacaran fossils were found in quartzite rocks. These marine animals occurred within the strata and are the oldest evidence of living organisms on earth. Stromatolites made up of mats of algae are the oldest forms of life but they had no bone structure or sexual reproduction. But it was these marine organisms that led to the formation of the Ediacara fauna or fossil animals which are the oldest creatures on earth. They emerged about 600 million years ago. Once stranded in pools they were fossilised into the rocks. These organisms include jellyfish, worms and other soft bodied marine creatures that differ from the algae in stromatolites because they have soft bone like structures which give them a defined shape. These multicellular organisms were the first on earth to have sexual reproduction. The rocks in which the fossils were preserved are about 600 million years old. SA declared the Ediacara Conservation Park in 2007 although the fossils were discovered decades before by Reg Sprigg and documented in 1946. Also in 2007 the fossil site was added to the Australian National Heritage List. Many specimens of these world important fossils are held in the SA Museum collections. There are other sites around the world with Ediacara fossils, using this same name, from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. These fossils had to be protected because there is an international market for the sale of these rare fossils and many were stolen from this region for commercial profit before 2007.
Parachilna Railway Station. On the Old Ghan railway line to Oodnadatta and Alice Springs.
Parachilna. Population 15.Surprisingly the town, of just 24 blocks, was surveyed in 1863 near a waterhole before there was even widespread pastoral lease holders in the Flinders Ranges but it was an important stopping point on the route from Port Augusta to the Blinman copper mines. The government well was there to provide water for pastoralists and stock drovers wanting to get to the Northern Flinders or Gammon. But more significant was the fact that the town provided access to the copper mines at Blinman which were discovered in 1859. Parachilna Gorge provided a shorter route through fewer hills to get to Blinman than other routes. More survey work was done around Parachilna in 1873 and small leaseholds were offered for sale. The Hundred of Nilpena was declared in 1877 yet no development occurred. Things changed when the great northern railway came here in 1882 on its route to Farina. The line was built a few kilometres to the west and so the government settlement of Parachilna followed market forces and moved west as well. The Parachilna siding was built in 1881 in anticipation of the railway. The Prairie Hotel moved near the siding around 1882 and the current stone hotel was built in 1905. A Post Office followed and in 1890 the government surveyed a second town of Parachilna. It never grew and the main building left today is the Parachilna Prairie Hotel known for its Flinders feral food menu (camel, goat, kangaroo and emu), its Aboriginal art gallery, Flinders foods and coffee in the hotel bar. The hotel also has some Ediacaran fossils displays of early jellyfish like organisms which emerged about 540 to 555 million years ago. These Nilpena fossils are the first known multi-organisms on earth and are of international importance and significance. The publicans own and run Nilpena Station to the west of the settlement. Near the hotel are the heritage listed Parachilna fettlers cottages and the sculpture garden of some Ediacaran fossils. At one time the town had a general store and a school from the early 20th century. It closed a few years ago.
Up in the Flinders Ranges behind the hotel is Edeowie Gorge with its Edeowie natural glass. This slag-like opaque rock or lechatelierite is found in clay baked layers which have been subjected to mineralization and oxidation. In Parachilna Gorge east of the town some land was donated to the Soldiers’ T.B. Aid Society to establish a tuberculosis sanatorium in the pristine air there. Partly due to the efforts of Ella Cleggett the Angorichina hostel opened in 1927 and treated patients until 1973. It is now a hostel for travellers. Also east of Parachilna in the Brachina Gorge is where the Ediacaran fossils were found in quartzite rocks. These marine animals occurred within the strata and are the oldest evidence of living organisms on earth. Stromatolites made up of mats of algae are the oldest forms of life but they had no bone structure or sexual reproduction. But it was these marine organisms that led to the formation of the Ediacara fauna or fossil animals which are the oldest creatures on earth. They emerged about 600 million years ago. Once stranded in pools they were fossilised into the rocks. These organisms include jellyfish, worms and other soft bodied marine creatures that differ from the algae in stromatolites because they have soft bone like structures which give them a defined shape. These multicellular organisms were the first on earth to have sexual reproduction. The rocks in which the fossils were preserved are about 600 million years old. SA declared the Ediacara Conservation Park in 2007 although the fossils were discovered decades before by Reg Sprigg and documented in 1946. Also in 2007 the fossil site was added to the Australian National Heritage List. Many specimens of these world important fossils are held in the SA Museum collections. There are other sites around the world with Ediacara fossils, using this same name, from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. These fossils had to be protected because there is an international market for the sale of these rare fossils and many were stolen from this region for commercial profit before 2007.
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