Hervey Bay Historical Village

Hervey Bay was named by Captain Cook in 1770 on May 22 after Augustus Hervey who was an English Naval Officer. It's something you usually don't think about but when you are an explorer you need to have a capacity to think up names for various features you come across. Of course, the indigenous people were here first and they were the Butchalla People.

The entrance to the Historical Village in Pialba. It consists of a collection of old wooden buildings that were moved here. Years ago the most common building material was wood. The local trees are excellent for building and are usually a very dense hardwood. Some of the wood is so hard that you need to drill a hole before you try to hammer in a nail.

This shark used to adorn an attraction in Urangan that closed a few years ago.

We paid $10 each and got to wander around various exhibits of articles from long ago. Some of them I could recognize from my childhood. Here was an old radio from a company called Technico. Curiously, along with gorgeous radios like this they also made vacuum cleaners and rotary lawn mowers. 

This radio probably dates from the 30's and I would have loved to have been able to look inside from the back.

An interesting quilt based on signs posted by swagmen / drifters during the 30's depression.

The meaning of the signs.

Picture of the church in Maryborough that I used to go to. It was demolished.

My new hi-fi listening room.

I actually attended that church on the right when we went to a Methodist Sunday School camp in Pialba when I was a child.

Inside. Apparently it is still used for weddings.

It is a little depressing to think that my memories are now of historical museum level quality.

There used to be a train line that ran from Maryborough to Hervey Bay and this was one of the stations along the way.

Old wedding dresses inside the waiting room. 

Radish was the name of a race horse who was the star of a comic strip that appeared in Aussie newspapers. Here is an example. Each year, Radish would be entered into the famous Melbourne Cup horse race but somehow some misfortune would always occur on the way to the track so Radish never got to race.

If you clicked on the link you went to the Trove website that has images of old Australian newspapers from way back.

Farm machinery.

Unfortunately there was a bad fire at the museum a few years ago that destroyed sever vehicles. I suspect these are the remains under the tree.

One of the burned vehicles was an old fire engine and they now have a replacement.

Interesting gate.

Maybe I should learn how to weld.

It was a lovely afternoon sitting on a bench, looking at the trees and enjoying a cooling breeze.

Left over sharks from the now closed Shark World. 

I have a small piece of wood from an old jetty pylon that was laying at the end of the jetty when the repairs were underway.

It's known as a squatters chair and my parents had one. We borrowed it when we were living in Brisbane during the early 80's. It is exceedingly comfortable.

We loved these cutout horses that are hauling the old buggies.

All sorts of old machinery.

Food safe used when refridgeration was not available.

I enjoyed the visit more than I expected. Just before we left I was talking to three of the attendants and mentioned that I grew up in Maryborough. The two ladies had moved to the area but the bloke also came from Mboro and was two years behind me at school.

Fathers Day breakfast

Australia celebrates Fathers Day on the first Sunday in September. You might like to read this about the various dates used around the world. Marianne offered to make pancakes for breakfast and then asked what I would like as the topping. At home we usually have maple syrup or sugar and lemon juice.

However this is Australia and we can do better than that. How does vanilla ice-cream and fresh passion-fruit grab you. It's totally decadent. You can get tins of passion-fruit pulp in the USA and they are acceptable even if they are not quite as good as fresh. Just ignore the little black seeds.

Even Marianne was tempted and I decided to gild the lilly with a splash of Muscat.

Meanwhile, it was another gorgeous day.

Blog #1000 - nostalgia in Urangan

I originally got into blogging back when I was working. Part of my job was to distribute information but I noticed that people often were too busy to read emails and then forgot about them or even deleted them. A blog allowed the information to just sit there until the person had the time and interest to take a look. I once described the process as similar to being the host at an Aussie BBQ. Instead of wandering around giving guests yet another beer, I would show them where the refrigerator / beer cooler was and they could get a beer when they were ready for another.

I have been retired for 8.5 years which means I do a new blog entry roughly one in every three days. That means that something was new, exciting or different quite often which is what I hoped retirement would be.

However, some of the blog entries are just for me and this is one of them. I am still exercising by walking and this is the local bike / walking path that follows the shoreline. 

View from the path to the water. In this area there is a large buffer zone to protect the shore during bad storms and cyclones.

This area is somewhat secluded so there are few cars. It's very quiet.

My standard walk is to the jetty and out to the end and back. I estimate it is about three miles.

I usually like to walk out there when the tide is out.

Crystal clear water. 

A school of small fish was swimming around and the seagulls were diving down to grab them. The white blob is the splash from a gull hitting the water. 

The pelicans were having a great time.

A quiet afternoon on the jetty.

The units where we are staying.

The serious fishermen congregate at the end.

All very peaceful with a light cooling breeze. Even though it is August here and theoretically the middle of winter, the high temperature is usually in the 70's. 

My friend Lee hates the photos of my feet. I really enjoy taking them.

I decided to take a closer look at the rock wall in front of the units.

It's a substantial wall and it was installed to protect the units. How they were allowed to be built so close to the water would probably be an interesting story. Usually such buildings need to be a considerable distance back from the beach.

We have been told that the construction of the wall was poorly done and there was no proper inspection. There are currently arguments about who should pay for the wall to be improved.

I estimate the wall is about 20' high in parts, but 12' tides are common. Fortunately the wall is situated in an area that is somewhat protected from any strong winds and swells coming from the north.

The rock wall to the left is the entrance to the boat harbour. Notice the building at the corner.

It is a former police station but is now owned by one of the unit residents. He currently rents it to an artist. It's not quite the right shape being too square, but I would like it as my listening room for my hi-fi. Supposedly there is a fiber optic connection to the building which was installed back when it was used by the police. Of course, the views from the windows would be magnificent.

The black part of the wall is submerged at high tide.

The other side of the this wall is the entrance to the boat harbour.

This map of Hervey bay explains the high tides. All the water flowing in at the north funnels into the channel at the southern end.

We are staying in the Breakfree units next to the boat harbour.

A photo of the jetty back when the trains still went out to the dock at the end that was demolished. I suspect this photo comes from the 70's.

Model of the docking terminal.

A very old photo. There used to be a lot more sand but the building of the boat harbour stopped the flow of sand along the coast and most of it washed away.

This appears to be from the 50's or 60's. Notice how thin people were back then. There was no rationing but people ate less junk back then.  Obesity is a problem in Oz.

More about the ship in the background here.

Just prior to being demolished. 

Sand everywhere.

Every evening if it is not too windy, we sit out on the balcony, listen to the waves and watch the night time sky. This time there was a colourful moon.