Sep 1 (Day 214) - Karumba to Normanton

After packing up the site we drove to the foreshore to take a proper look at the Gulf of Carpentaria. Of course we'd been here a couple of days ago when we had dinner there but it was after sunset time so we couldn't see a lot.

The water looks lovely and aqua in the photos, but in reality it's a bit on the murky side, probably for the same reasons I mentioned a couple of days ago on Dixie Road, being the fine silt which is easily stirred up. The silt being very light in colour, it tints the otherwise blue water with a lighter, greener hue. It's also a bit swampy - you can see the mangroves to the left of frame in the photo below.

The Gulf of Carpentaria, Karumba

The five of us at the beach in Karumba

We went for a short walk along the beach to see if we could find any crocodiles but none were out.

Karumba is famous as one of only two places in the world where they get 'Morning Glory' cloud formations. We didn't see any while we were there but they look pretty spectacular in photos! Here's a quick video (not ours) we found on these clouds:



We drove from Karumba to Normanton which took about an hour. Along the way we saw some trees which looks like they had pears on them, but they looked more like some odd types of pomegranates when we checked them out.

Normanton is a little inland from Karumba, but it's on a river which in years past allowed it to trade by ship. The town itself is a main street with other streets that stretch a few blocks back either side. There are a couple of small supermarkets and three small petrol stations (basically just a fuel pump or two out the front of some shops). So while it's small it's not just a one-street town.

Normanton main street

Our first stop was the Visitor Centre which was housed inside the old Burns, Philp and Co. Ltd building.

Normanton Visitor and Information Centre and Library

As you can see there are three sections to this building. The left section contains the library, an information centre and some displays about the history of the Aboriginal people in the area.

The Aboriginal museum displays in the Normanton Visitor Centre

The middle and right sections these days are mainly unused and hold some old artifacts from its original usage. Burns Philp and Co was a trading company and this building was used to receive and warehouse goods until they were sold - almost like an 1800's Amazon.com!



The right part of the building was the loading dock, while the middle part shown below was full of shelving which is where the goods were stored. 

The central part of the old Burns, Philp and Co. building.
At the far end you can see some of the original shelving units.

Who remembers these old Eveready batteries?

 As you can see it's pretty empty, but there were some old things they'd dug up over the years which some may recognise!

An old 10 Fl.Oz Coke bottle found near Normanton

I have no recollection of seeing these Eveready 'Transistor Batteries'!
But being 9V, I presume this is a superseded shape to our current rectangular 9V batteries.

One of the reasons for visiting Normanton was to collect some library books the kids were after. Two  were part of a series called "The Rosewood Chronicles", of which they'd read the first instalment and had arranged for the second and third books to be transferred. While we'd been at the library in Weipa we'd arranged for these to be transferred to Normanton, and while we hadn't heard if they had arrived we took a chance. Fortunately one of the two books had arrived, and while I did some work for a few hours Bek churned through it and finished it (typical) and Jude made a start on it.

There were two books still on their way though, with only one chance to pick them up if they happen to come in tomorrow's mail. So we'll check back and see then.

My office for the day.

The kids in another world!

Our chat with Jason

We had a very interesting conversation with 'Jason', an Aboriginal man who was on the desk at the Information Centre. His tribe was native to Mappoon which is north of Weipa with his mother (or grandmother) coming from the Solomon Islands, and he had a very interesting perspective on the European occupation of Australia.

He said that there were obviously bad things done back then, but some of the Aboriginals were actually quite progressive with their thinking. Some took the view that, clearly these people were here to stay and had more firepower, so their best chance of survival and of keeping their tribal history and culture alive was not to try to fight, but to work with the white people. Many of those in this area did, and they worked alongside white people on the stations, originally just for food but after a while they were paid in money too. They grew to respect what each other had to offer. The Aboriginals felt that if they tried to fight, as some did, they would just be outfought and they would lose everything, as sadly some did. Many of those who worked with the Europeans survived and were able to keep their culture and tribal stories alive. Those with this mindset realised that the old way of life they had was not going to come back, so they may as well accept this new reality and make the best of it rather than burying their heads in the sand and just hoping. I say this with no disrespect, but it was remarkable for me to hear that perceived tribal and uneducated Aboriginals had the presence of mind to realise what was coming and make the best of it.

He also said that while it was sad to lose what they had, back in those days nations did still just take over other nations, it's how it worked back then. And on reflection, the Aboriginals realised that their lot was much better having been 'taken over' by the Europeans with their 'enlightened thinking' thanks to the Renaissance (and I would add, a Christian background generally), than if some other nations had gotten to Australia first and brought with them a much crueler way of thinking. So it wasn't perfect, but he said they knew it was much better than some of the alternatives.

It really was a most stimulating conversation, told from the point of view of someone who had been on the receiving end of European settlement. So often these days the well-publicised negatives of European settlement in Australia are shouted from the rooftops, but clearly there is another perspective which isn't heard as often. I felt a real kindred spirit with Jason, despite our incredibly different backgrounds. I just wish I had taken a photo of him.


We headed down to the Normanton Bakery for lunch, and... oh what pies! Honestly these are probably the best pies I have ever tasted, and given the number of bakeries we've passed through that's a fair achievement! The pastry was soft with just a slight crust, they were nice and meaty, and the temperature was spot on - hot enough, but cool enough that you could take a full mouthful without burning your mouth.

We headed to the Normanton Caravan Park for the night and enjoyed an afternoon swim. The weather has been mid 30's most days so a pool is always very welcome!

Decent sized pool in Normanton; though not quite as cool as we'd hoped for a hot day!

Something interesting about this area is the presence of 'Singapore Ants'. Apparently these little critters arrived in the 1920's but have an appetite for anything! And apparently they've crawled up tyres of cars and caravans and eaten through wiring and hoses! So they recommend you spray insect surface spray across your tyres and anything which connects your vehicles to the ground. Which we did! Didn't fancy an army of ants munching through our wiring overnight!

Our van fridge had a minor problem where the sparker to light the gas heater wasn't working. I pulled it out and it just turned out to be the wire to the sparker had come off from the back of the fridge. In hindsight I didn't need to pull the whole fridge forward, I could have just reached in and plugged it back in! The benefits of hindsight!


-- Greg