IMPRESSIVE ANGLICAN CHURCH at CUNNAMULLA

This very modern Church building impressed me mightily in the middle 1960’s.  As mentioned previously, Duncan, Diane and I had driven to Western Australia and came back to Port Pirie on the Trans Continental train, and were driving back to Victoria when we got this good idea to drive up to Bourke along the Darling River, eventually ending up back in Kingaroy, where our Young Farmers Club from Lilydale, Vic. had visited earlier in the year.

From Wentworth we headed north to Broken Hill, then at Wilcannia we followed the Darling to Tilpa, crossed over and up to Louth.  We were convinced it was going to rain. Just then, the transmission tunnel parted company with the differential, or something like that, and the car ground to a halt. We sent Duncan walking back to get help at Louth. In the meantime, the captain of the Louth cricket team, who’d been playing in Bourke that day, drove along and seeing two young stranded females on the road, said he’d wait with us till the help arrived. [He might have been concerned about the rest of his team whom he’d left drinking in the pub in Bourke, and who came along later.]

Eventually the local mechanic arrived in his jeep, with Duncan in tow. Apparently it was an easy fix, and after talking to these helpful men, all sitting on boxes in the middle of the road, we said we thought we better get going to Bourke, as it looked like it was going to rain. It doesn’t rain here, they said. You can hit your head on the black clouds, but it won’t rain!

That night in Bourke it rained heavily. In the morning we got some supplies at the Bakery and headed for Cunnamulla. That’s when I first saw this impressive ‘star-shaped’ Anglican Church. But after having lunch by the river, we headed off towards Bollon and St. George. The roads were not paved all the way then, and the thick mud was splashing everywhere as we slipped and slid our way along. It turned dark and eventually Duncan said, I can’t see well enough to drive. I’ll have to adjust the angle of the lights to light the road better. He was an engineer and could do that sort of thing, and liked the opportunity to be dramatic and show-off his skills. Diane and I spat on some toilet paper and merely rubbed the mud off the headlights, which had a better effect.

Getting close to St. George, where the bitumen commenced, a truck was stopped on the side of the road. It was the local council workers with some ‘Road Closed’ barriers. We heard yous were comin’, they said with good humour. We’re gunna close the road now! We knew nothing about the wet season/dry season scenario in the north of Australia. I’m still amazed we didn't get stuck in the mud ... perhaps Duncan had more driving skills than we thought!

We journeyed on, and slept in the car outside the Moonie power station, now de-commissioned.

Back at Kingaroy we caught up with our new Rural Youth friends, even helping one out by singing in a concert at Nanango. A better version of Edelweiss you never heard! Our pic even featured in the local paper!

We left Kingaroy next morning and gradually we wended our way back to Victoria, arriving in time for Christmas. 

In 1997, John and I, and cousin Helen from U.K., drove down the road beside the Darling River and we camped at Louth. Over at the pub were photographs of various Louth cricket teams ... and I was able to identify the captain who’d stayed on the road with Dianne and I some thirty years previously.