27 May 2014
Yesterday was our last day in Echuca, a blend of the modern with the historical. I spent some time looking around the old jetty that has been restored. A great idea they used was to identify each new timber log with a date stamp. You walk underneath the jetty and see when a timber log was replaced. This log was replace September 2011.
I saw a lot of paddle steamers tied up to the wharf including the P.S. Adelaide. P.S. Adelaide is the oldest wooden hulled paddle steamer still operating anywhere in the world. She was built at Echuca in 1866 for J.C. Grassey and Partners.
A lot of little boats made from tin were used to ferry goods to and fro also.
Today we left Echuca to drive The Long Paddock touring Route.
The modern Cobb Highway follows part of the great network of stock routes that became known as “The Long Paddock” – a historic web of tracks and trails linking stock-breeding areas of inland NSW and Queensland with emerging markets in Victoria.
It also provided an escape route from drought when the seasons failed. The Long Paddock is still a working stock route as we saw today. There was a mob of cattle being moved along the Long Paddock. In the distance we saw the drovers getting their horses ready and came across the cattle. As cattle have the right of way in the Long Paddock, we had to slow down so as not to hit one.
We have been stopping at all the information panels and photographing the 11 Sculptures that tell the story of the region.
We saw our first sculpture of the Long Paddock at Moama with Greg Hockings sculpture of The Barge.
The next town we came to was a small town called Mathoura that has a rich history from the local timber industry. Mathoura is known as the gateway to one of the largest Red Gum Forests in the world. Greg Hocking pays tribute with his sculpture, “The Woodcutters”
Also at the visitors centre was the other sculpture by Corey Thomas, “The Drover and Horse”. This sculpture depicts the often tragic river crossings by drover and horse. It is a stunning piece of work.
We arrived at the large town of Deniliquin, where Sunwhite Rice is grown. They have a huge rice milling plant. We were told that to plant the rice crops, the rice is placed in water for 24 hours then loaded on to planes which fly over the paddock spraying the rice. Sure beats getting on hands and knees planting seedlings.
We continued to see two more of the Long Paddock sculptures, both by Jonathan Leahy. The first is “Shod” which depicts one half of a bullock shoe.
Teamsters were the men who brought the wool to market. Heavy rain meant the men had to make camp until the weather improved and make sure the wool was well covered to keep it dry.
In 1859 Deniliquin Pastoral times recorded the first sawmill in the Mathoura district. As the railway line began construction in the 1870’s created a growing market for Red Gum. Thankfully in 1875 the NSW Government created Red Gum Reserves and appointed the first forest ranger.
“Cut” by Jonathon Leahey depicts a giant cross saw gliding through a length of red gum.
Deniliquin is also know for its Ute Muster. This started in 1999 and has become a full fledged festival event. An amazing 2839 drivers took part in the muster in 2013, establishing Deniliquin as the ute capital of the world and wrote itself into history claiming the Guinness Book of Records title for the largest parade of legally registered utes in the World.
Let us hope there is not so much rain tomorrow. We would like to bush camp but it is not wise to do so with so much rain around at the moment. Also the leak is still there in the caravan. We have not been able to find the source of it yet.
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