Travelog for: Toothy Walrus

Well, we're finally here... this is Canowindra (Ka-noun-dra), a small town with only 1,200 people. Very small, but yet, quite a well known little town and you'll find out why a little later...

...as you can see the main street looks very old, again with the very old buildings. These are quite common for all over Australia, even in the cities like Sydney you'll find areas that look very similar to this... although usually not as small as some of the towns you find in this area...

First things first, Sara had to get one of the mystery shops done, they went to Westpac (one of the banks) and rated the service and deposited some money into an account which she will get back... now that that's done it's time to do a bit of roaming around this little town...

First thing we came to this information sign... because the writing is so small Sara will just type it out in case you want to read a bit about what Canowindra is all about....


Canowindra is in Wiradjuri country and Canowindra and Belubula are Wiradjuri words. The fertile lands of the Belubula River increasingly attracted European pastoralists after the foundation of Bathurst in 1815. To stem the tide of settlement, Nineteen Counties were proclaimed in 1829 and the Belubula River, after survey in 1834, became the boundary of the County of Bathurst with no settlement permitted north of the river.

In 1829, the first land grant, Canowindra was a 640 acre block promised to James Collits. This block later passed to Thomas Icely and a site for a village was reserved adjoining the 640 acres where traffic forded the river at the site of the present Swinging Bridge. In the expansion of settlement westward, Canowindra became the next frontier town after Bathurst and Carcoar, serving traffic to the Lower Lachlan. In 1844, a public pound was proclaimed on the village reserve and in 1846 Thomas Icely had a mud hotel, the Travellers Rest, and a store built on his land, well sited to serve traffic routes converging at the ford.

In November 1846, Governor FitzRoy crossed the flooded Belubula on his tour of the 'unsettled districts' where disputes had arisen over land occupancy. After FitzRoy's tour, land regulations were altered to allow more permanent settlement beyond the boundaries of the Nineteen Counties. In 1847, the first Canowindra Post Office opened in the store next to the inn. In 1852, William Robinson bought from Icely the 640 acres and became licensee of the inn.

Events of the 1860's changed the fortunes of Canowindra, bypassed by traffic routes to the new gold rush town of Forbes. In 1860, the village reserve was surveyed into building blocks but few sold as the township was growing on private land north of the river. In 1860, William Robinson died suddenly and his son, William II, leased the south-side inn and by 1862 had moved over the river to be licensee of the north-side Canowindra Inn, where he was mine host in the eventful year of 1863 when the hotel was held up three times by bushrangers, Benn Hall and gang. As hotels were often referred to by the name of the licensee, it is easy to understand the confusion that arose over the site of Robinson's Inn of 1863 bushranger fame, which was not the old mud Travellers Rest south of the Belubula but the Canowindra Inn on the north-side near the site of the present Royal Hotel.

The development of the Canowindra township was further interrupted by a minor gold rush, beginning in 1868, at nearby Belmore (Moorbel), when businesses moved or opened there, threatening to overshadow Canowindra as the commercial centre. The government reserved a strip of north-side land with access to the river, bounded by present Tilga and Rodd Streets, known as the 'government town'. The first bridge over the Belubula was built in 1874 on its western boundary and the Church of England and government services, school, police and court house, were granted land there.

Canowindra Goldfield, proclaimed in 1879, included a square mile reserve centered on Belmore's Blue Jacket Hill which excluded the 'private town' of Canowindra but included South Canowindra. Modest homes, built there for miners, later became the homes of Lucerne workers as lucerne became the district's 'green gold'. The elevated building sites in the old Canowindra Village Reserve are now highly sought.

Now moving on, we came upon a small museum that looked to be closed... it had a lot of older farming equipment outside but the gate was padlocked so we couldn't have a look at all... oh well maybe next time... :-)


...although right outside the museum was a lot of these plaques....

...Sara wasn't quite sure what they were, but figured they were put there to commemorate the original settlers to this area, the main families that lived here as it went over who the people were, their names, where they lived, how many kids they had... quite interesting to read some of them. One of them said this guy had 14 kids with one wife, and 7 kids with another! Wow, that's a lot of children!...

Right near the museum was another information sign, again it's going to be small so if your interested feel free to read below... Sara will type it out... it's about Canowindra's Railway History...


Need for railway: Agitation for a railway to Canowindra began in the 1880's. The district proved ideal for primary production as land was cleared for agriculture and closer settlement. Access to markets was crucial. Rail had reached Cowra via the Great Southern Line in 1885. Completion of the railway bridge over the Lachlan River and the Blayney to Cowra line in 1887 made the Great Western Line a reality. Cross country link lines were always the vision of the Railway Engineer-in-Chief of New South Wales, John Whitton, but routes proposed were controversial. The line from Orange to Forbes, completed in 1893, offered hope for a link from Cowra through Canowindra.

Canowindra Line Approved: The Cowra to Canowindra Railway Act was passed on 15 December 1908 and land resumptions began for construction which quickly followed the turning of the first sod at Cowra West on 11 January 1909. A parcel of land in Canowindra from Blatchford to Clyburn Streets was resumed for railway use and site layout plans were prepared by Assistant Engineer, John J C Bradfield, who went on to design the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Extention to Eugowra: The long-promised 26 mile line extention to Eugowra opened on 11 December 1922. Although the Canowindra to Gregra Railway Act was passed in May 1924 to link with the Parkes-Forbes line, it was never built (Grega was a siding near Manildra).

Grand Opening and Growth of Town: On 4 July 1910, the 23 mile branch line was opened with a great ceremony. The official party arrived with 800 people on a thirteen carriage train from Cowra. Two WELCOME arches were erected with pylons of lucerne bales and bags of wheat.

The railway terminus was a tremendous boost to the town. Prior to 1900, Canowindra's population hovered around 400. By 1911, it had risen to 1,500 and continued to rise until slowed by World War 1. The railway brought businesses to the western side of town and new commercial buildings were erected in the dog-leg main street. Mill Street was surveyed for two flour mills.

In 1927 a rail motor service replaced steam-hauled passenger trains. The 'Tin Hare', as the rail motor was affectionately known, proved a return service on wee days from Cowra to Eugowra for over thirty years. Pupils from Billimari could travel daily to school in Canowindra and the driver would stop to pick them up at unscheduled stops near their homes. Families with small dairies loaded their cream cans on the motor train for delivery to the Butter Factory in Canowindra. By 1970 diesel-electric locomotives had replaced steam on goods trains.

Decline of Rail Services and Site use: Land between Blatchford Street and the stationmaster's house was early given over for a town park and the Historical Society opened a museum in the park in 1970. Rail services to Canowindra gradually dwindled as better roads and motor transport reduced demand. The passenger station was closed on 10 August 1974 but goods trains continued until 10 October 1991 when the last government train hauled wheat from the silo. The Lachlan Valley Railway Society leased the line for limited passenger and grain services until 1995.

Meanwhile, the station house was brought, restored and opened in 1988 as part of the Historical Society Museum complex. From 1993 Canowindra Lions Club leased land near the passenger builing as a park. Part of this lease was acquired in 1996 to build the Age of Fishes Museum. Floods in 2001 damaged the Cucumber Creek Bridge rendering the line impassable and future use uncertain.

Now they mentioned something at the end there which caught Sara's eye as they were driving more down the main street... the Age of Fishes Museum...


...now Sara's a bit of a sucker for fossils and ancient stuff so of course we made a stop at this museum in question and had a bit of a look around...


...first thing we did after paying the admissions to enter is we watched a short little video it talked about the major fish fossils that have been found in this area, some that are extremely old dating back before the dinosaurs even, and some fish getting as big as 5 metres long in length. Canowindra is huge for this fossils of these ancient fish, the video mainly talked about a time when there must have been a huge rainfall so the river broke and made huge billabong's. Then over a few days the billabong dried up and all the fish died as they were stuck... this is where all these fish fossils are mainly found... here's a bit of information more on these ancient fish before we move onto the fossils...


What Would Canowindra Have Looked Like?
360 million years ago, the area around Canowindra would have looked very different from today. The map above shows some of the main features of the Canowindra area back then -
-a coastline that is near where the town of Muswellbrook is now.
-a large river basin, with highlands on either side
-lots of green vegetation along the river system, with the rest of the land like a desert.
Over time, the Canowindra highlands were eroded away by wind and rain, creating sediments that washed down into the river basin. When compacted together, these sediments made the fine, hard sandstone and shales which are now found in the Canowindra area.


What Was The Earth Like Back Then?
For most of the Earth's early history, it's land has been like a desert with hardly any vegetation. During the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago), the rocks and sand were stained red by oxidised iron (rust). Early plants grew on the land, such as mosses and fersns, and some even grew up to 30m tall. But, because they needed water for their spores to germinate, plants only grew close to water. This made the rivers, lakes and billabongs rich, green places in stark contrast to the dry, desert-like land.

The main animals living on the dry land were invertebrate, such as insects, centipedes, millipedes, spiders and scorpions while they rivers, lakes and billabongs and seas were filled with fishes.

The Devonian Period is often called the "Age of the Fishes" because it was a time when the fishes spread all over the Earth and lived in every kind of aquatic environment. All the major groups of fishes were living during the Devonian Period, but the most common were the placoderms and sarcopterygians.


Was Canowindra Always On Dry Land?
500 million years ago, the area that was to become Canowindra was deep below the ocean. By 400 million years ago, it was under shallow water and by 360 million years ago, the time that the Canowindra fishes lived and died it had become dry land.

Throughout time, the coastline of eastern Australia has always been changing. Tectonic activity (movement of the rocky plates of the Earth's surface) created volcanic activity on the edge of the continent. This in turn created more rock, adding to the existing land area and making the seas off the coast of Eastern Australia shallower. The tectonic activity also lifted parts of the sea floor so high that they became dry land.

Over time, rivers flowing towards the east carried large amounts of sediment which settled in the shallow seas, filling them up and creating even more land. And so, over millions of years, the land area grew and the coastline moved further and further to the East.


How Big Was The Billabong?
The billabong in which the Canowindra fishes lived was quite big. A billabong is a semi-permanent waterhole that is linked to a river. This billabong was part of a huge river system that flowed through the Canowindra area during the Devonian Period. The site containing the fossils is about 10m across, but the original billabong would have been much bigger to support more than 3,500 fishes (the approximate number of fossil fishes found) plus other animals and plants.

Also, there are no fossils of plants or invertebrates with the fossil fishes, so this suggests that the fishes died in the central and deepest part of the billabong away from the edges where plants grew. So the original billabong may have been 100m or more in width.

...so were almost ready to move onto see the fossils, first we got to learn how the fossils were discovered and a bit of history about that...

How Were the Fossils Discovered?
First... In 1955, a slab of rock with hundreds of strange shapes on it was dug up by a bulldozer driver working on a road about 10kms away from Canowindra. Because it was unusual, the driver placed the slab at the side of the road where it was seen by a local beekeeper, Mr. Bill Simpson, in 1956 and reported to the Australian Museum in Sydney.

The slab was covered with fossils of ancient fishes from the Devonian Period (410-354 million years ago). Harold Fletcher, a palaeontologist (a scientist who discovers fossils) at the Australian Museum, was so impressed with these fossils that he arranged for the slab to be taken to the Australian Museum in 1956 to be studied and put on display.

The large scaly fish at the centre of the slab was found to be a completely new species never seen before. It was named Canowindra Grossi. Many of the other fossils were of small armored fishes which had already been found in other parts of the world, but the Canowindra fossils were some of the best fossils of these ever found.


Then... Dr Alex Ritchie, the Museum's new palaeontologist, identified some broken fossils of another species of fish called Groenlandaspis on the slab. Dr Ritchie was interested in studying more fossils of Groenlandaspis so he visited the road near Canowindra (where the slab was found) six times between 1973 and 1990 to search for more fossils of Groenlandaspis.

But without earth-moving equipment Dr Ritchie did not find any more fossils. In 1993, after hearing a talk about the fossil fishes by Dr Ritchie, the Canowindra Rotary Club arranged for Cabonne Shire Council to provide earth-moving equipment for a few days to search for more fossils under the road.

Within three hours, dozens of slabs of rock had been uncovered with hundreds of fossil fishes on them, including an example of a very large ancient fish later named Mandageria. A larger excavation was carried out in July 1993with the help of many local volunteers. More than 3,500 fossils were found.


The Future... before the excavation was due to finish in 1993 and the road put back in place, Dr Ritchie uncovered one huge slab of rock with six perfectly preserved fossils of large fishes lying side by side. Dr. Ritchie was able to make a latex peel of one of the fossils before the road had to be put back in place on top of them. The six fossils and many others are still waiting underground for the time when there are enough funds to reposition the road and reopen the excavation site.

...before we visited the fossils we had a look at some of the cool fishes they had on show, although the first two aren't alive they're still pretty cool.... the first is called a silver perch and the second is a small shark called a Port Jackson shark. :-)



...and there was two alive fish there too... one was hiding so we couldn't see it but the other was a fish that lives now that very much resembles one of the ancient fishes called the Saratoga...


Saratoga look similar to the fossil fish Gooloogongia. Saratoga live in tropical rivers in Australia and have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw. They feed on insects that fall onto water's surface and hunt for small fishes and invertebrates underwater. The fossil fish Gooloogongia also have thin, needle-like teeth and a strongly upturned jaw, so perhaps they caught food in similar ways to saratoga.

Not all sarcopterygians had needle-like teeth. Others, like Cabonnichthys and Mandageria, had strong, cone-shaped sharp teeth like modern salt-water crocodiles. They could have used their strong teeth and jaws to attack other large fishes and perhaps to crush the armored plates of placoderms.

Now that we know all about why Canowindra was put on the map so to speak, it's time to visit the fossils we've read so much about...

...as you can see there are quite a few in a very small area, and this is only a section of the fossils that have been found. You can't really tell but there were some HUGE fish among those fossils...



You can read a little bit about those tiny little fish found in the fossils, they were kind of cute weren't they? They were pretty dang small as compared to some of the other fish seen in these fossils. It's amazing to think about what lived in that time so long ago... this visit was so much fun, I learned a lot about Australia's history and the history of what lived here way before the dinosaurs, who knew today would be that fascinating... I hope you found it as fascinating as me... now it's about time to move on... time to get ready and go home...

On the way home, we passed by a huge field of purple flowers... they seem quite pretty don't they?

Sadly this flower is called Pattersons Curse it's one of the big reasons that Australia has such strict laws about what is brought in and out of the country... Australia is the world's largest island (continent) and therefore when things come in, they stay in... a long time ago this lady brought in what's known today as Patterson's Curse because she wanted it in her garden. Now, every Spring it pops up, it's a weed that kills a lot of stuff and causes massive hay fever for a lot of people this time of year. It's found in a lot of paddocks and you can find it anywhere and every where. Thankfully Sara doesn't have the hay fever that most people suffer from when they're around the plant but she knows how bad it can get... pretty nasty...

...almost out of the area now, and we drove by some bright yellow flowers... instead these aren't so bad...

...these are the Australian canola fields, as you can see there's quite a bit there... it's a very pretty site actually with the mountains the background and everything... :-)

Well, that was a big BIG day... time for a rest, rain is forecast this weekend... yay! It was getting quite hot already I'm ready for a bit of a cool down... I'll write again soon!

As you may or may not have known Sara took us all to Dubbo today for a whole bunch of jobs she had to complete. She did it today instead of Friday, in which it was originally planned for... they decided after they got the jobs done to go to the Old Dubbo Gaol which she had never been to before... so this was totally new to her... it's quite a historic little piece of work right in the middle of town... so it's time to go and find out what this little (or not so little) museum is all about...



After Sara paid for our admittance into the museum (thankfully it didn't cost anything for all of us to come along - although we stayed in the bag most of the time... Sara will show you what we saw along the way... here I am with the map of the gaol and the self guided tour information was on the back... I'll read it out to you as we go through the gaol...


Once we entered the main gate we turned around and got a photo, it's called the "West Main Gate", this is what the self guided tour map and information told us about it...

This section was completed in 1887. The main timber gates are the original gates and many of the wooden pavers are original. Note the small gate within the iron gate. This is where prisoners and visitors would have entered the Gaol until 1929 when it was replaced by the Eastern entrance.

...The guy in the office told us to first go to what was called the "Infirmary" or the hospital of the old gaol, when we walked in we heard this voice... it was an old goast of the gaol he told us about the gaol and what we can find there... it was really interesting to learn about it... kind of freaky too..


When we turned we saw there were some paint scrapings... so what is the significance of that you may wonder? Well, they scraped away the paint to show the original paint, which was the orange/red colored paint, then through the years they painted it the other different colors than you can see... this is what that sign says next to it...

Paint Scrapings were carried out to identify previous colour schemeds used in the Gaol. Peeling back the paint has revealed the following sequence of colours and possible dates.
1970's Pale Green
1940/50's Pink
1930's Emerald green above and below a cream line
1880's Red and Orange with a stone color above a black line

Next stop off was the Vegetable and Food store, which was right next to the infirmary...

In 1885 the prison diet consisted of wheat bread, an overcooked mixture of maize meal, vegetables and meat juices, known as hominy. As a minor gaol, prisoners at Dubbo were allocated a different diet to those of the larger labour prisons with less meat (1/4lb on Wednesdays and Sundays served with rice). Prisoners also received a ration of salt, sugar and soap. Bread and water was considered a low diet and issued for punishment or when ill. From the late 1890's the produce from the vegetable garden was storedhere for use in the kitchen next door.


This area originally housed the Gaol's kitchen. There were two prisoners who worked as "Cooks Assistants" under lock and key. All meals were prepared here and then issued to prisoners in their cells.

Finally out of the first area of the gaol, it's time to move onto the more interesting areas of the gaol... we got to see the original gaol bell, which is located on the northern end of the building. When the gaol was closed in 1966 the bell was used at Newnes Prison Farm. It was returned in 1974, restored and re-erected in it's original place...


Next stop is the prisons well, this was used by on average 2-4 prisoners at a time that were responsible for pumping and distributing water throughout the gaol... this is what the plaque said right above the well...

In 1865, when the gaol was a 'holding lockup', consisting of a construction of some eight cells, the prisoners had no water supply in the existing gaol and were obligated to borrow water from a property close to Dubbo, hauling the barrels by bullock dray. However, due to severe drought, the property owner objected to supplying water as there was insufficent quantities for his own use. The then Member for Dubbo, Mr. George W. Lord, wrote to the Minister for Public Works, requesting a well be sunk in the gaol yard.

Now the next stop on the self guided tour was something that was originally not part of the Dubbo Gaol, but something that was used during the time that the Gaol was opened, and it is dated back to the early 1900's it's the portable cell...

Originally from the Pilliga region, this is a typical example of the portable cells that were commonly used across the state, particularly in the far western areas. This size is also similar to the original first lock up in Dubbo in 1848.

Right next to the portable cell was a washtub and a vegetable garden...

Prison reforms in the late 1890's resulted in the development of prison vegetable gardens and farms at most NSW prisons. They were part of an agriculture training program designed to give prisoners a specialised skill for later employment. This garden is a reconstruction of where it is believed once stood the original vegetable garden. There is also a suggestion that area outside of the walls was also converted for vegetable production.

A formal garden also existed outside the hospital block. Both were maintained by prisoners as part of their daily work.

Next were ready to get into the more interesting areas of the gaol, the actual cells and dark rooms, and all that interesting stuff... welcome to the male division...

The entrance of the cellblock is the oldest portion of the gaol. It was built in 1871 and initially housed the warden, his family and four cells. The building now comprises 14 cells of differing sizes and two dark cells, used for solitary confinement.

Next stop were the dark cells, or also known as the solitary confinement cells... they were totally black, even the walls were painted in black and there was a sound of some chains dragging along the ground when you walked in there... really quite eerie when you think about it... this is what it looked like by using the flash... Sara read a plaque that said that prisoners that were put in solitary confinement for as much as 21 days let out once a week for a nice meal before being put back into the dark cells. It also said that prisoners would tear off a button and throw it against a wall, and then search around in the pitch black cells to find it, and then throw it again as a game to keep themselves from going crazy...


The use of the solitary confinement in dark cells was officially discontinued in 1896. However, there is evidence that it, and the use of the mouth gag, was still practiced in 1900 in Goulburn Gaol despite being considered inhumane.

As you enter the long hallway with all the cells, the first cell on the right side was known as the Condemned cell...

In this cell there was an animatronic character that was called Thomas Moore, who was one of the prisoners that were convicted and put to death at this gaol. His death was actually one of the deaths that was quite memorable for the people witnessing, he was 67 when he was executed and it was said his head was "removed" from his body when he fell through the trap door of the gallows. Quite shocking.

There were three cells that showed normal prisoner conditions during the times that the gaol was opened, there were times that the gaol was so full that they had three or more prisoners in each cell...

...in this picture you only see one prisoner, but there were two others in the corner and three beds side by side. The beds were literally just wooden planks, and quite uncomfortable I'm sure...

In the next cell was something they commonly used as a punishment (one of the many forms) used mainly during the 1880's... the whipping stool... there was even a painting above it representing the times it was used...


The whipping stool was used in both regional and city gaols throughout the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries. The prisoner lay across the stool and his wrists and ankles were manacled to the device. This prevented the prisoner from moving or resisting the punishment. Prisoners were then flogged using a leather tawse. Flogging could occur as part of the punishment issued by the courts or be inflicted for misbehaviour once inside the gaol.

The next cell over was the one padded cell in the whole gaol, at least that's still as it was when the gaol was opened...

The padded cell was added in 1886 and was used to house violent and mentally ill inmates, known as lunatics. Records indicate that a 68-year-old labourer was imprisoned at Dubbo Gaol for over a year suffering from melancholia, an illness currently known as depression. By 1904 official documents noted that the "system of dealing with lunatics in goals was (still) unsatisfactory.

As were leaving the male division of the gaol you could almost miss the next exhibit, it was known as a watchman's telltale...

The small green metal Watchman's Telltale, located on the outside wall of the male cell block, was used as a security device. Wardens inserted a key into the aperture and wound up the spring within. If this procedure was not repeated on the hour, the spring unwound and set off an alarm bell, alarming the watch officer that either the warden had come to harm, or that he was not doing his duty. These were also located at the western end of the block, and the remand yards and outside the former library.

Throughout the museum if you look along the edges of the gaol, you can see statues of prisoners trying to escape over the walls of the prison...


...although that wasn't the best place to escape, as right near it was the Watchtower...

The watchtower dominates the north eastern corner of the Gaol. Wardens entered this tower from a flight of fifteen wooden steps outside the Gaol wall. Use of the tower was discontinued in the early part of the 20th century. Another watchtower existed in the southeast corner of the Gaol in the 1890's but all traces of this bulding have vanished.

...next stop is the much smaller female division...

The small female area comprised of an exercise yard, covered shelter, clothing store, ablution block (bathroom), kitchen and two cells. The display shows the maximum capactiy of the female prisoners.

Within the female division was an area where you heard about the hangman, who had no nose, and the 8 men that were condemned to death at the Dubbo gaol, it was quite intereseting to listen to... next were going into what is known as the gallery of the condemned. This is where they have information about the men that had died, age, date of death, date condemned to death and the date they were executed with information about their crime...



...and there was information about the gallows that were used...

Eight men were hanged for murder in Dubbo Gaol between 1977 and 1904. One or two appear to have been ruthless and calculating murders. Others claimed to have killed in self-defence or in passion. But under the law at that time, no mitigating circumstances were recognised; the penalty for murder was death.

But was the penalty applied equality to all? All the hanged men were poor and uneducated; most beloged to minority groups, and prehaps it is no coincidence that they were often those most generally disliked at the time - Irish Catholics, Aboriginal people and the Chinese. They struggled to survive on the harsh margins of an alien society, with no influential friends, no money and no resources. Some may have been mentally ill.

Would they be convicted of murder today? The evidence against many of these men was only circumstantial - one was found with a dead man's possessions, another was the last man to be seen with the victim. There were rarely any witnesses, and community feeling ran high against them. In one case the policeman chose to pursue the offender rather than seek medical assistance for the victim. As a consequence the victim died adn the offender was charged with murder. Interestingly, in at least two cases, the community at the time thought that the punishment was unfair, and sought to save the condemned man. Today men and women are still found on Death Row all over the world. Do you think their deaths serve a worthwhile purpose?

Going back outside again, we got to see the exercise yards that were mentioned earlier in the self guided tour...

Male prisoners only used these yards. They were rquired to complete 1 hour of exercise per day and were separated by classification of crime and sentence. From 1934 prisoners were required to do their own laundry in exercise yard 1.

Another part of the museum that was hard to see unless you were really looking, the roll call lines...

The two red lines painted onto the cement near the south eatern end of the male cellblock were used as the assembly point for the daily roll call of prisoners.

Now something a bit more eerie, but quite interesting to actually see... the Dubbo Gaol Gallows...

These were erected for each execution. When not in use they were stored under the courthouse. Like the hangman's kit, the gallows are unique to Old Dubbo Gaol. It is not known when the gallows were first erected or when they were dismantled, but they were in use over a period of more than 30 years - from the 1870's to the early part of this century. The gallows are approxmiately 16 feet high, with a base of 12 feet by 9 feet. The top bar is 10 feet wide and there are 13 steps up the platform from which the felons "took the drop".

Here's a plaque showing the names and dates of the men condemned to death, and the date they were executed...


Nearing the end of our tour, was some original artifacts from this time, from this gaol and from other gaols in the area at the time. This is known as the "hangman's kit"...


The hangman's kit displays the ropes, nooses, and other tools of the trade used by the State Executioner to preform his macabre duties. The items in this display are all original artefacts that were used by the hangman and his assistant.

Right near the area with the hangman kit was a covered area that was known as the prisoners labour area of the gaol...

Male prisoners were kept occupied with labour such as woodcutting, gardening, book binding, and tailoring. These tasks were also designed to retrain inmates with a more useful trade to take up upon their release.

Last thing to see as your ready to exit the gaol and onto your way was the pillory...

The item was donated to the Gaol many years ago. Although this form of punishment was not standard practice for prisons, it makes for a great photo opportunity!

Well, we just had a really long day and we got to see and learn a lot of things about Australian prisons, especially back in the day, which was really interesting especially since that is what Australia is known for, when England sent their prisoners to Australia as a form of punishment... very interesting... I hope you enjoyed that mom! I'll write again soon, Monday were off to Sydney...

Today we were taking another trip, this time to Sydney... we stopped off quite a bit to get some nice photos of whatever we could along the way... Sara decided first stop would be Bathurst, we would see if we could spot some kangaroos... and we did... sadly when I tried to get in front of the camera the kangaroos bounced off... they didn't seem to want any of that...




...as you can see they saw Sara get close with us, and got a bit spooked so moved on back... we'll try again on Wednesday when we're going to Bathurst for a longer trip... we'll see if we can get in the photo this time! :-) There is more to come... just hang tight! :-)

Next stop was Lithgow, which was about an hours drive from Bathurst... honestly, there's not too much there, but Sara decided to show us something she's always liked for part of Lithgow, which is the Lithgow's Miner's Lamp... here I am in front of it...

...since this is the backside of it you can't see it all that well... it doesn't look much different, although this is what it looks like from the front...

...not much different as you can see... but you can see the windows at the bottom... there's a little bit of cloth thats is lit by an orange lamp and a little fan to make it look like a flame... kinda cool... :-) Otherwise Lithgow there isn't much to see... we're only at the half way point of Sydney now... watch for more updates. :-)

Next stop was in Sydney's Blue Mountains... they're in the outskirts of Sydney, a lot of people don't really think much about the outskirts, let alone thinking there is a huge mountain range that goes through before you get to Orange, Bathurst and even Lithgow... well, welcome to the Blue Mountains... it was time to visit one of the big tourist spots for people visiting the Blue Mountains and Sydney... the Three Sisters... a huge rock formation...


...can you see it? It's behind some trees, but Sara had to take photos in an odd spot as it was quite full near the view point so she didn't want to loose any of us... so she then walked over and got a proper photo of it... isn't it pretty? Also you can tell in the distance why they call it the Blue Mountains... :-)


The Three Sisters comes with an old aboriginal legend... this is what it is:

Long ago in the Blue Mountains there lived three little Aboriginal sisters. They were Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, whose Witch Doctor father was called Tyawan.

Only one creature was feared by all – the Bunyip who lived in a deep hole. When Tyawan had to pass the hole, he would leave his daughters safely on the cliff behind a rocky wall. One day, waving goodbye to his daughters, he descended the cliff steps. On top of the cliff a big centipede suddenly appeared and frightened Meehni, who threw a stone at it. The stone rolled over the cliff and crashed into the valley.

Birds, animals and fairies stopped till as the rocks behind the three sisters split open, leaving them on a thin ledge.

The angry Bunyip emerged to see the terrified sisters. In the valley, Tyawan saw the Bunyip close to his daughters, so he pointed his magic bone at the girls and turned them to stone. The Bunyip then chased Tyawan, who found himself trapped, so he changed himself into a Lyre Bird. Everyone was safe, but Tyawan had dropped his magic bone. After the Bunyip had gone, Tyawan searched and searched for his bone – and he is still searching.

The Three Sisters stand silently watching him from their ledge, hoping he will find the bone to turn them back to Aboriginal girls.

As you look at the Three Sisters, you can hear Tyawan – the Lyre Bird – calling his daughters as his search for the lost bone continues.

Here are some of the views around the Three Sisters... it's quite beautiful isn't it?




Well... were almost in Sydney now... just a bit longer... sadly we weren't able to see any of the big famous things like the Harbor Bridge or the Opera House but you can see what Sydney looks like at least... :-) Write again soon!

Well... we were finally there... well no, not really Sydney is a HUGE city full of smaller suburbs, the actually city of Sydney is pretty small which is just the CBD, which is what everyone sees, the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, all that fun stuff... lots of huge buildings and very expensive shops... :-) Kind of like Rodeo Drive in Hollywood... lots and lots of expensive shops and tourists...


Sadly, we weren't able to visit that - Sara and Daniel had an appointment at a dietician and allergist for their son Andrew at the now famous hospital RPA (Royal Price Alfred Hospital) - why is it famous you might ask? Because it's got a TV show on every Thursday... Sara enjoys watching it... it's got some pretty crazy stuff from what I've seen of it... lol...


...that's mainly what a lot of Sydney looks like, very similar to Orange actually... very old looking buildings... Sydney is a mix of old and new buildings... as you can see...


...we were also very very close to the Sydney CBD, we got to see the Sydney skyline while we were driving but it was quite hectic driving around Sydney, especially this close to the CBD, you take one wrong turn and your in a different suburb and lost...



...now, you might wonder what that strange looking tower is in between the bigger buildings... it's called the AMP Tower, also known as the Centerpoint Tower, it's right in the middle of Sydney... you wouldn't have any idea, but people walk along the top of it, it's called the Sydney Skywalk... Sara honestly thinks people are crazy, there's a part with a walkway that's clear so you can look straight under you... so creepy! Then again, Sara's not fond of heights...

...but as you can probably imagine, Sara had a good time navigating their way to Camperdown, without one wrong turn (without using the map even)... then when we got there... we couldn't merge... so we drove into another suburb and got lost... so there was a lot of this:

If that doesn't look scary, I can guarantee you it is... haha... well, I'm back in Orange now, safe and sound it was quite a long day... we're going to Bathurst on Wednesday though for some mystery shopping, and some more kangaroo searching... and maybe a bit more, we shall see won't we? :-) I hope you enjoyed my trip to Sydney! :-)

Today we took a very unexpected trip... Sara had to plan quickly as they only realized they were going yesterday... but we had a lot to see this time... I won't tell you where were heading as it was a big trip but our first stop was Bathurst... this time Sara actually saw some kangaroos...







...the kangaroos were a LOT farther than normal this time... the first photo the photo was taken with a 12x zoom, the other photos it was 48x zoom... if that also would explain why I'm not in the photo... I would say I'll never get enough of seeing these little (or not so little) guys. :-)

More to come...

Maybe you have an idea of where were going now? You look at the map and you probably already know... but next stop was Lithgow, we stopped to see the huge mining lantern again while we got our bearings before moving back onto the road... here I am in front of the mining lantern... if you can see where there used to be a "flame" is now a Christmas tree... :-)


We had to go to the bank as well to pull out a bit of money so we had to go and search for the bank down the main street of Lithgow, this is what the rest of the town looks like...


...looks not much different from Orange and Bathurst... nor does the middle of Sydney - lots of older buildings... with Lithgow, even though it's much closer to Sydney than Orange and Bathurst a lot of the business have gone out of business... it's very empty... kind of strange isn't it? Hold tight there's still way more to come! :-)

Welcome to Sydney! We're here... well... not quite yet... were currently in the outskirts of Sydney in the towns of Penrith and Paramatta... pretty large cities though... here are some of the photos from Paramatta as we were going through... sorry were not in them it's hard to take photos so quickly as your going through the towns...


...you wouldn't know from these photos but navigating through even the outskirts of Sydney is very hard sometimes - one wrong turn and your in another suburb and totally lost... lol there's another little while before were there - but first we have a stop off to make...

We were going to Sydney to look at a car - our current car needs a lot of fixing up so were getting another one that uses LPG (propane) for fuel, so fuel is half the price... so were going to see a 2000 Ford AU Falcon, the newest car we've ever had... where we were seeing the car was in Riverside but we decided to check out a bay called Tambourine Bay right down the street... it was quite beautiful! :-)

Here are some trees around the bay, these ones are interesting looking aren't they?

...but what's cool are these trees...

...these are called Morton Bay Fig Trees... they're native only to Sydney and one of the original trees that Sydney was full of before it became really civilized.. aren't they cool looking?

As we were going a small walk down to the bay here's what we saw above the trees...


and of course here I am in front of the bay... isn't it pretty? the water was also very very warm... it's amazing to think the ocean could be so warm...

This wasn't just our first time going through Sydney like this - this was also Sara's... we had just gotten our GPS navigator so Sara and Daniel cruised through Sydney and were able to see somethings they never thought they see - and places they never thought existed... so next stop was Cockatoo Island... when they were driving through they realized one thing... it's a very rich area, there were HUGE houses and they all looked very expensive... Sara made her way down the hill with us and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw what was there...


...Sara hasn't ever had a chance to show some toyvoyagers the Sydney Harbor Bridge like this, and it was a beautiful view point of the bridge - it would be an awesome place to sit if you were going to see the fireworks on New Years Eve...

The other photo is of the AMP tower and the Sydney skyline... sadly you can't see the opera house from here... but there's more to see... how exciting is that? After we went to Cockatoo Island and saw the awesome harbor bridge and the AMP tower we went to a point called Onion Point... there wasn't much to see - we had to walk along a dock to see anything and this was the view...


As we were heading back to the car we saw these really strange flowers? Aren't they pretty though?


...there's more coming... :-) Write again soon!

We just happened to be going right through the central business district of Sydney... which is to put it lightly very scary to go through... lots of traffic, lots of people, lots of roads... people don't usually like to drive through it... you walk or you taxi or bus it since it's so confusing... but the GPS put us directly in the centre of the CBD of Sydney so Sara got a few shots before going back out of the CBD heading towards our next stop... here are some of the shots in the middle of the city...



...we were getting a bit lost and we only had a little bit longer to spend at our next stop... plus we kind of got lost... but there's more to come! :-)

Well next stop was Balls Head... sounds like a funny name... really quite actually but Sara was amazed by the sights she saw when we were up at the "peak"... there was a lot of steep hills around where we were driving and then bang! We were there... these are some of the things we saw...



...here's the Anzac Bridge... Sara's never been on it but it's one of the other more famous bridges in Sydney....


...we also got to see a much closer shot of the AMP tower...


...as you can see there is a lot of cargo ships going in and out of the harbor as well, here's one of them...


It was a really clear and hot day despite the darkness of the photos (we were in a lot of trees) as you can see there were a lot of people on boats and at the beaches today...


...and as we were driving back down... we saw something that made us pull over... I only had a very short time to take photos or I would have gotten all of us out of the car for a photo but this shows how close we were to the harbor bridge and the opera house...


Isn't that just gorgeous? Too bad we couldn't see the whole opera house as was planned for today... but this isn't it? Sara took us to see something a bit more exciting (she thought anyways)... back on the road...

Last stop today was Manly Beach, one of the most popular Sydney beaches... it was very beautiful... one of Sydney's most famous beaches is called Bondi beach, but it's usually so packed that we don't even bother... there was sadly not much to do for us little toyvoyagers so we got a photo and then we went back to the car so we weren't taken or hurt by being left on the beach... here I am in front of the beach... isn't it gorgeous?


...before we went back to the safety of the car one of the seagulls decided to come and check us out - I think he thought we were food...


...here are some other shots of the beach... isn't the water so pretty? It was also very very warm as well... sadly Sara and everyone wasn't ready for the beach so they couldn't go very deep in the water... but Sara enjoyed taking photos...










...and just as we were about to leave a whole bunch of people came in from what seemed like out of no where... there was maybe 20-30 kayakers... some professional, some more or less beginner but it was quite fun to see them coming in and out. Sara thinks they were practicing for a triathlon... they had a lot of fun playing in the waves...




We had spent over an hour at the beach, it was time to head home... it was going on 7pm and it was a 3 and a bit hour drive home... it's been a long LONG day I hope you enjoyed seeing Sydney through my eyes... we hope to go back again next month! If I'm still here I'll get to see a bit more of the Sydney beaches! Write again soon mom, we have another big trip coming up at the end of this month! Miss you!

It's just before Christmas and it's time to take a trip... me and my toyvoyager friends are unsure about where were are going but Sara insists we are going to have a lot of fun... here I am as we are driving through Molong.

...as you can tell it's very dark and rainy... but through these photos I insist you'll see how random the weather can be in this part of Australia...