Page 8 - Waterways - July '20
P. 8

Page 8, Waterways
      South Australia … A Beautiful Blend




      By Don Kiselewski, MCC,                                                                                The second and less
      D.S., Palm Beach Gardens                                                                             glamorous way to get
      Travel Leaders                                                                                       opals is by noodling.
        I could not have said                                                                              The material that is
      it better: “the potpourri                                                                            brought up from the
      of South  Australia will                                                                             hole contains opal.
      keep the traveling visitor                                                                           That’s how they knew
      experiencing a myriad of                                                                             to stop drilling.  This
      life styles, cultures, sights                                                                        loose material from
      and sounds.”                                                                                         the hole is hauled to a
        The Australian state of                                                                            central location, where
      South Australia is about one                                                                         it is fed by conveyor
      and a half times larger than our state of Texas; however, it                                         into a small (air-conditioned) shed that is completely
      has only about one-tenth of the population, which ranks it                                           dark, except for black light. Opals will glisten in black
      fifth among the other divisions of the country. Located on                                           light, so when the stones roll by they are picked off the
      the central south side of the continent, its southern border   Cape du Couedic Lighthouse            conveyor.
      is the coastline on the Great Australian Bight portion of the                                          Everyone in Coober Pedy has a story of how they
      Indian Ocean. South Australia shares its land borders with   lies this truly outback desert town. For those of you who   made it and lost it. Much the same as I would imagine
      the four other mainland Australian states and the Northern   have seen the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, you   the kind of stories came out of our California Gold rush.
      Territory.                                         can relate to my comments. It gets to 120 degrees in the   The people who live there are hearty. They have to be
        In 1627, Europeans made their first sighting of South   summer at daytime and close to freezing in the winter   to  exist! They  deal  in  opals  and  cash  with  their  own
      Australia when the  Gulden Zeepaert, a Dutch ship   nights. To protect themselves from the elements, the locals   particular blend of life.
      commanded by Francois Thijssen, cruised the coast and   live underground in homes drilled into the earth. Not only     Embellishing the blend of the great outback wouldn’t
      named the area, Pieter Nuyts land. However, it was Matthew   homes, but churches and other types of occupancies protect   be complete without the mention of the camels. Yes,
      Flinders and Nicolas Baudin who first mapped the coast in   themselves in this manor. Why, you may ask? Because, it’s   camels were left over from the building of The Ghan.
      1802. They changed the name to Terre Napoleon.     the Opal Capital of the World, where the precious stones   When the world famous railroad line from Adelaide to
        Thirty-two years later, the South Australian Act was   are mined and processed.                    Stuart (today’s Alice Springs) was constructed, there
      passed that established the state’s area, and more importantly     The extraction and capturing of the raw opals is done in   were no roads to transport the wooden sleepers (or ties
      that the colony was to be the embodiment of British society   two ways. First an auger drills a four-foot diameter hole in   as they are often called) to the middle of the desert. So,
      and “convict-free.” In this regard, South Australia’s origin   the ground, brings up the sand, rock and (hopefully) some   with typical Aussie ingenuity camels were imported from
      was unique. Unlike the other provinces whose origins   opals. The hole can be 30- to 40-feet deep. If they hit a vein,   Afghanistan to become the ships of the sand to move the
      were based upon convict settlements, South Australia was   they drop a man into the hole to the level of the vein where   freight. After the initial construction, many were turned
      planned by the British to be a center of civilization for free   he chips out the opal. This is how the area got the name   loose and still roam freely throughout the outback. The
      immigrants, promising civil liberties and religious tolerance.  Coober Pedy. When the aborigines saw the operation they   Ghan got its name from the shortened version of Afghan.
        Governor Hindmarsh proclaimed the province on    proclaimed, “Coober Pedy,” which means, “white man in
      December 28, 1836. The British decided to do it by the   a hole.”                                    South Australia on page 9
      numbers in populating the colony, establishing what was
      known as systematic colonization. This was Edward Gibbon
      Wakefield’s theory, which was also employed in New
      Zealand.
        Nine ships carrying some 636 people destined to
      “christen” the colony had to make an unscheduled stop at
      Kingscote on Kangaroo Island until the powers to be decided
      just where to locate the city. Adelaide was finally chosen
      as the site. From this tiny beginning, Adelaide has grown
      to the state capital as well as containing the majority of the
      state’s population; the balance of which has settled in the
      fertile southeast portion of the state, along the coast and the
      Murray River.
        Adelaide is one of the key ingredients in the “beautiful
      blend” of South Australia; a truly laid back city that enjoys
      the simpler things of life. Oh, there is plenty of nightlife,
      sports and other high energy activities, but it is the simpler
      way of life that sets it apart. Recognized as Australia’s
      Festival City, it hosts the country’s premier art festival every
      March. This is but one of what seems to be never ending
      festivals and entertainment. There are numerous venues
      throughout the city that can be reached in no more than a
      15-minute walk. The city itself is circled by parks so it’s
      green and open in any direction just a few blocks away.
        When the city was designed, the requirement for the
      street width was determined by the radius required to do
      a “U” turn with a double team of horses pulling a wagon.
      This resulted in extra wide streets and as a bonus today,
      there is no such thing as gridlock or a traffic jam. You can
      get almost everywhere in the city in 15 minutes. The center
      of the city houses a wonderful market with fresh meat and
      produce and, it’s just a short streetcar ride from the center
      to the beach on the Gulf of St. Vincent.
        Just across the Gulf to the south lies Kangaroo Island,
      still another blend to the character of South Australia. The
      island was sparsely populated with little productive use
      until the end of WWII. Returning servicemen were given
      homesteads to work the land. In addition, the island was
      stocked with native animals, except dingos, to serve as a
      natural breeding ground. Today, it is the animals that are
      the drawing card for the island. Included in the plethora
      of animal life seen in their natural habitat are kangaroo,
      wallaby, echidna, koala, little (Fairy) penguins, sea lions
      and even Ligurian bees, the only pure strain left on earth.
      The queen bees are shipped all over the world to beekeepers
      in little matchboxes.
        Grapes further add to the blends of South Australia, for it
      is the Barossa Valley that produces the major portion of the
      Australian wines we drink. They are world famous for the
      Shiraz, and it’s a good bet that next time you look at the label
      of Australian wine that indicates a product of South Australia
      that it came from the Barossa Valley. Food and wine produce
      the blend that makes this an excellent location to enjoy.
        If you are ready for rough and tumble, nothing in this
      world could match the unique blend of Coober Pedy. Five
      hundred or so miles northwest of the urban city of Adelaide
   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12