More Outback

When you drive in to Lightning Ridge you are met by this Big Emu called Stanley but it was not the only emu we saw. The real ones were everywhere along the road, fortunately not as roadkill which was the case with wombats and kangaroos, but standing there serenely looking at passing cars.

The emu, or the DHINAWAN, is very significant to the Aboriginal people. He takes the role of the father, mother, teacher and provider. The female emu lays the eggs and the male emu sits on the nest of eggs until hatching and then raises the chicks until they can provide for themselves. The emu is also a totem for some families in the area.

Our first venture on Sunday was to the local market where we met a very interesting American lady who came to LR over 20 years ago and was involved in the Historical Society. She told us many interesting stories.

One thing I always try to find out when we are traveling around Australia is if there are any of my fellow countrymen there. In this case yes, she told us of The King of the Swedes and how there was an article published in a Swedish newspaper that led to a few Swedish families moving to LR to try their luck. 

Astronomy monument with different flags to honour astronomers from these countries

In the afternoon we went on a bus tour and the guide was a goldmine, oops, I should say an opal mine of information. He told of us "Alex" a Polish miner, who had been imprisoned for over 4 years for murder, here in Australia, but after being completely exhonorated he came to LR to mine. He was also interested in astronomy and built this monument in honour of Copernicus, a fellow Pole. It is all built in concrete all made possible because he had befriended the concrete truck driver and got all the left over stuff when the driver cleaned his mixer. He was also an expert tequila distiller using all the cactuses growing around his home. Sadly the still exploded and he died leaving many miners at a loss. He was the only one who knew how to make tequila!

This castle was built completely by hand, stone by stone by Amigo, using material from his mining. After almost having finished it he had had enough and now he lives behind it with his 63 cats which he feeds from road kill that he collects and barbecues for his cats.

These are four of the sixty three cats.

Just wanted to add these last photos as well. They show how every bit of scrap metal and other things are used to make these living quarters and some people live there for years. Some were more like a normal house and according to the guide had all the mod cons. They lease the land and in most cases build as they go along, so no mortgages and then it is just the yearly fee for their claim. Sounds very tempting!

This the church with the dunny conveniently located outside, all in corrugated metal.