When we drove through Wilcannia on the way to Broken Hill I was determined to stop there on the way back home and have a better look at the place. Wilcannia was once a busy inland port on the River Darling. I will quote from one of the sign boards by the river.
“By 1880 Wilcannia had 3,000 people and 13 hotels . . . . In 1887, 218 steamers (they would have been paddle-steamers) unloaded 36,000 tons of stores and shipped wool and other produce away weighing 26,000 tons.”
I am not sure of the population of Wilcannia today but it cannot be very great judging by the number of derelict homes and shops.
There are some very grand buildings. The Post Office caught my attention along with the adjoining house with the iron lacework on the veranda. Both are empty. In fact most of the sandstone buildings, which are in good order, are empty. But unlike deserted buildings in a city these are not vandalised and the glass is still intact in the windows. Very dirty and impossible to see through but intact! When were were at Peterborough and we told people we were going to Wilcannia we were warned not to stop there for the night as it was not a safe town to stay in. Having spent a couple of hours on foot exploring the town with my camera – on my own, I think that the reputation of the town is worse than the actuality of the situation. I did see a few aborigines but they seemed to be at neat homes with gardens filled with flowers. There were a few other tourists that stopped after seeing me wandering around and they took their cameras out and followed my lead. Colin found a traveller to chat to and was not even aware of my disappearance!
Wilcannia is on the River Darling and the old iron bridge with the centre lift is still there but is no longer in use – the road now goes over a boring (but safe) concrete bridge that runs alongside the old centre lift bridge. The centre needed to be raised to allow the steamers to pass under it. It has been a long time since there has been enough water in the river for such large steamers to run on. This year has brought the water back to the rivers.
We searched for evidence of the port or wharf but could only find a couple of metal structures that could have been used to winch heavy stuff from the bank to the steamers and vice versa. From that old photo I copied it looks as if the boats merely pulled into the bank to be loaded and unloaded.
A walk down the street on the other side of the highway gave me a surprise, I found several pieces of artwork displayed not far from the pavement. There was nothing to indicate who had made them or when they had been commissioned or bought and they had some extra art work added to them in the form of painted “tags” but that somehow added to the character of the pieces!
I am glad that we stopped here for a couple of hours, I would have been disappointed if we had shot straight through again!
AJ
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