Okay another day , another circuit , this time the Southern Circuit - another 130-140 klm drive through and around the wheat fields . The first couple of items on the list were Mullewa cemetery - we don't do cemeteries usually and today was no different , then a local hall that needed some maintenance - no doubt a thriving meeting place for functions , dances & weddings in it's day . The next stop was an interesting one - Butterabby Graves . This was a site of some graves resulting from a clash of cultures - 2 white settlers were killed and 5 aborigines were hanged for the murders . The shelter was another one for the laser cut steel and shows the faces of all the men - it was hard to see the silhouettes when you were just under them , but when photographed they showed up beautifully .
Leaving this rather grounding place , we headed for somewhere we'd been to about 3 years ago - Coalseam Conservation Park . On the way what wasn't wheat , was Canola , and there was plenty of it as well .
Further along we found a breast cancer sign and this interesting creation .
Entering the gravel road into Coalseam Cons Park , we were immediately struck by the corrugations , and there were plenty them . 7 Klms later we'd pulled off to a camping area/lookout that gave us views over the river valley below .
Yellow everlasting daisies were greeting us , the white ones had all but finished , but made some contrast
After wandering around through the flowers for 30-40 mins , we headed down to the river and then up the other side to the lookouts .
There wasn't much water in the river and it definitely wasn't flowing . Before heading to the lookouts , we went down to the river and went for a walk along the riverbed .
Back up to the lookouts and we were greeted by more yellow everlastings , last time we were here there was nothing - we were too late , all the flowers were finished - what a contrast .
Views down over the river and into the distant wheatfields .
Several other flowers appeared - making a change from yellow !!
We had lunch in the ute because the flies were dreadful , then headed back to the circuit again .
The mauve / grey / blue plant had certainly taken over in this field - there was more than 100 acres of it !!
Next was Tardun Hall - an old hall made of corrugated iron , pieces of the roof & eaves were missing , doors had fallen off , it was a shame , but that's progress for you .
There's also an old shop - long since shut - and this old ute .
Next was the Christian Brothers Agricultural School - another impressive building designed by Monsignor Hawes - the Catholic Priest - this was from the gates , there is no public access . The farm is the largest school in the world - in it's heyday it was 18,000 acres !!!!
No money wasted on corners here .
Next was Pindar , a tiny village with a rather large wheat storage silo , a 2 storey hotel , couple of houses & a shed . There's an area where they let the wildflowers grow freely and hope the fabled Wreath Flower will grow - apparently it grows in freshly disturbed ground - needless to say we didn't find one !!
Across the Mt Magnet Rd there's a sign saying Wreath Flowers 9.3klms along Beringarra - Pindar Rd . Well we were a bit sceptical , but went for a drive just in case . After 9klms we rounded a corner onto a long straight section of road , there were a lot of start posts with streamers on them - we had arrived . We found this blue flower first , then stumbled across the Wreath Flower !!
It's a curious plant , growing no more than about 150mm high , but up to a metre wide , mostly 200-500mm .
Found a heart shaped one as well .
There were hundreds of them , both sides of the road and stretched for over 400m .
This is the view from above .
Back into Mullewa and around to Church of our Lady of Mt Carmel , and beside it is Monsignor Hawes residence , now a museum . This church is another of his designs .
That's it for today , we are totally wild flowered out after 2 days checking them out !!
From here we are heading to the coast for a few weeks to chill out some more and take care of a few jobs that need doing , so blogs may be quiet again . Here's a map link : - https://drive.google.com/open?id=12dq1LR7W3CnuC7o5f_pqxDl3zCwUwOiQ&usp=sharing
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