The Year of the Outback Special
The Australian Outback - one of the true great wonders of the world. There's nowhere else on earth quite like it.
It's a vastness of great extremes. And that's certainly the case in the Flinders Ranges - the place often regarded as South Australia's gateway to the Outback.
We began our look around some of these ancient and legendary ridges in a very pretty part of the outback in the Flinders Ranges - the Aroona Valley which is flanked by the Heysen and ABC Ranges.
A young Englishman, Frederick Haywood, first stocked it with 4 thousand sheep in 1851. His 86 square mile run was the most northerly run in SA.
Today, a stone cellar and some of the willows and mulberry trees he planted are all that remain of the pine homestead Haywood built near a valuable water spring at the head of the valley. They called it the "Garden of the North."
The house had verandas on 3 sides to frame the stunning views.
But the Aroona Valley is probably best known for the inspiration it gave painter, Sir Hans Heysen.
He was introduced to the Aroona Valley by Eddie Pumpa. Eddie and his wife Rose lived at Aroona in a house they built in 1925.
Their pug and pine house has been faithfully restored so we too can appreciate the beauty they enjoyed.
The Pumpa's said the years spent there were the happiest years of their lives - and looking at the beauty of the Aroona Valley it's easy to see why.
Heysen was a regular guest of the Pumpas. Things couldn't be better - Eddie knew the valley like the back of his hand; he owned a 1922 model Ford; his wife loved the company and was a great cook; and the house was smack bang in the middle of an endless array of subject matter. He said it was the 'bones of nature laid bare'.
Eddie and Heysen enjoyed many camping trips in the Flinders. In a way, we have Eddie and Rose Pumpa to thank for the legacy Sir Hans Heysen has left.
Today, the link with Hans Heysen continues. You can hike through the country that inspired him by way of the Heysen Trail.
It covers 2000 kilometres beginning on the Fleurieu Peninsula - going through the Mount Lofty Ranges, Barossa Valley - all the way to the Flinders.
It was the search for grazing land that opened up the outback. The cattle industry in particular boomed. Countless fortunes have been won and lost on the changing seasons.
These days it's big business - big is better with the outback having some of the biggest cattle properties in the world. It's changed a lot too - planes are now used to spot stray stock from the air.
But for some, the smells of the saddle leather, the crack of the stock-whip and the sheer resilience of the stock horse are too strong. That's certainly the case for those taking part in the Great Outback Cattle Drive.
South Australia's hallmark Year of the Outback event, the Great Australian Cattle Drive begins in Birdsville. City slickers from around the world will join a genuine Australian droving team as they steer 600 cattle through the heart of the Outback. The six-week cattle drive begins in the southern Queensland town of Birdsville and ends 514 kilometres down the old Birdsville stock route in Marree.
When you look at the ridges in the Flinders ranges you are taking in some of the most ancient landscape in the world. And the geological drama is right up there for you to see. But in other parts of the outback, it's a little more mysterious.
Take Coober Pedy...
It's a surreal, out of this world landscape which, at times, has given up and probably still holds incredible fortunes. That fortune? Opals.
These days the opal fields are vast with hundreds of men and women spending their days and nights below ground. In fact, half of the township is underground.
30 minutes north of the town another of the Outback's natural wonders - the Breakaways. The richly colored weather beaten formations offer the ideal place to watch a unique sunrise or sunset.
The Dreamtime stories go some way in explaining the stunning scenery:
There is a yellow and white pair of hills - they are two dogs lying together. And there's an emu father tending his chicks in front of him.
Another story tells of the Kingfisher who flew through the area - this is where she laid her rainbow eggs - opals.
Coober Pedy is slowly giving up at least some of its secrets in the form of its ancient opals. In the Flinders Ranges its geological secrets are sliced through by the Brachina Gorge…
The Gorge is the Flinders Ranges at its toughest. Quartzite provides the highest peaks. It starts out as sediment at the bottom of an inland sea and gets tilted upwards. Then comes half a billion years of erosion - so today, we what we see are just the stumps of what must have been a massive mountain range.
Take your water and pour it on the some of the rocks to see the skeletal remains of a range of primitive forms of life.
They are one of the things that fascinated one of Australia's best-known explorers, Sir Douglas Mawson. We know him for his work in Antarctica but his passion began in the Flinders.
He used to take his students to the Flinders because he regarded it as a giant open-air classroom. It's fitting that there is now a Mawson bike trail that starts in Adelaide, goes up through the Mt Lofty Ranges, through the Flinders and ends up at Blinman.
What's the image of the outback? Certainly a river red-gum lined creek qualifies and these days we tend to think of great vistas like we see on the tourism commercials.
But back in 1937, a photo of one gum tree became an international image of the outback. A photo of a giant red-gum tree with Wilpena Pound in the background helped put the Flinders Ranges on the international tourist trail.
It was taken by internationally renowned photographer, Harold Cazneaux. He regarded it as his "most Australian picture." Others did too - Cazneaux's only son, Harold, was killed at Tobruk, and a small print of the tree was found in his kit bag.
A plaque on the spot where he took the photo says Cazneaux felt a spiritual link with the gum tree. He said it passed on to him an understanding and friendliness expressing the spirit of Australia. The plaque was put there by his grandson, Dick Smith.
2002 is the Year of the Outback incorporating a range of activities. For further information call 1300 366 770
Thanks to book entitled "Hawker - Hub of the Flinders" by Hans Mincham
In this the Year of the Outback, Keith and the team visited some of South Australia's Outback and here are the details of the places they visited.
Host Keith Conlon catches up with an old mate - Keith Rasheed - from Wilpena Pound Resort who takes Keith on a tour of the pound and explains its early pastoral history.
Lisa McAskill heads down the spectacular Cooper Creek from Innamincka re-living the story of Burke and Wills and the old Dig Tree.
The Postcards team head out on an outback cattle drive to re-live the old cattle droving days when stockmen took cattle down the Birdsville Track from Birdsville to Marree.
We tour the old Ghan line in the state's far north, one of the marvels of 19th century engineering.
Ghan line Tour
Coober Pedy Mailrun
The Ghan RailwayLisa visits the Flinders Ranges to catch up with local aboriginal people who interpret some of the dreaming story of the Adnymathanha.
Sacred Canyon Rock EngravingsAnd we head to Blinman in the northern Flinders Ranges to look at the history of the old copper mine there.
Blinman MineSouth Australia's magical Outback is great all year round, but if you prefer the cooler weather, it is best enjoyed from April to September each year. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au