Meandarra to Roma

After our overnight at Meandarra, it was time to continue west towards Surat.  

We were in big sky country.  

The first place we came to was the village of Glenmorgan, which declares itself to be the end of the line, as this is as far as the railway came.  It has an interesting history.

The station building has been relocated to rest area beside the road.  Very handy these Queensland buildings being built using weatherboards.

Beside it was the original town gaol.

Over beside where the railway used to go there was the original crane using for loading freight.  Mick loves climbing over these old relics and this one was beauty, being complete, and as it turned out, fully functional.

The old service station was still there, even with the vintage bowsers.  It looks like something out of a western movie.

I think the A1 Used Car yard doesn’t do a lot of business.  Mind you, there were some interesting old relics that had For Sale signs on them.  Fun to have a look at.

Time to get back on the road and have lunch at Surat, on the Bolonne River.  It was Mick’s birthday, so we had a very low key celebratory lunch of fish and chips in the park.

The park was really nice and featured some Queensland bottle trees.

Surat’s main claim to fame is this is where the last Cobb and Co stagecoach run took place.  I found that interesting, as Cobb and Co had their foundation and head office at Bathurst.  There is a nice museum on the site of the staging post.

On display is a replica Cobb and Co stagecoach. We have an original one on display in Bathurst…just saying…

The museum was interesting, and well set out.  This region was originally settled by sheep and cattle farmers and in the early 1950s there was a serious flood.  This steel hulled boat was used to ferry and therefore save many sheep from the flood waters.  

What a mammoth effort by so many men.  The sheep would have been extremely heavy with wet fleeces.

In the adjoining Visitor Information Centre there is a huge aquarium featuring fish found in the Bolonne River.  This is a small Murray Cod.

We went for a wander around town.  The original shire hall is a rather stunning timber building.

The current council offices were built in the 1960s and are somewhat out of place amongst the older buildings.

The post office is in a nice old building.  There was a cairn out the front to commemorate the last Cobb and Co run.

On the wall of one building was a huge mural made out of corrugated iron with the details cut out.

How clever.  Look at the detail in this Murray Cod,.

In the park there is the local was memorial.  The plaques were well polished, which was surprising to see.  

We were impressed that the main memorial in town was the Town Water Scheme.  That was definitely a lasting legacy that would improve everyone’s lives.

Once again, the town was well maintained with beautiful parks and interpretive signs for historic buildings.  A credit to the council.

Once we were back on the road we saw some paddocks sown to oats, not what we expected out this way.

We finished our day by setting up at a caravan park at Roma and were treated to a rather gorgeous sunset.