Australia So Much to See

Darling Downs - Pittsworth, Nobby, Clifton, Warwick, Dalveen, Stanthorpe, Severnlea

 

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The small rural centre of Pittsworth was a pleasant surprise with a wide range of shops and services, mainly catering to the mixed farming in the area, in an attractive little town. 

The main street was very wide, with flowers on the verges and median strips.  All street gardens were kept neat and attractive. 

From Oakey we decided to avoid Toowoomba and take rural roads which were through very pretty farming country with a patchwork of crops in various stages, and a large dairy farm.  Milk and cheese production has always been prominent in Pittsworth agriculture. 

Sister Elizabeth Kenny was a self trained nurse who lived in Nobby and pioneered a controversial method for treating poliomyelitis. Where conventional treatment involved immobilisation, Sister Kenny had success using what has now become Physiotherapy. 

Warwick is a large rural service centre with lovely well maintained old buildings which show the heritage as one of the earliest towns in the Darling Downs. Warwick’s roots go back to 1847 when the name was gazetted.  Warwick became a city in 1935, and has been called the city of schools due to a number of church run boarding schools in the city.

During the 1917 debate over conscription for war service, Prime Minister Billy Hughes addressed the citizens of Warwick at the railway station.  He was struck by two eggs hurled from the crowd. When the local policeman declined to arrest the offenders, Hughes decided to establish a Commonwealth police force.  Ref: Queensland Places.  The centenary of this event falls on 29th November 2017, so if you visit Warwick then, expect eggs to be flying.    

Dalveen is a tiny town, now bypassed by the New England Highway.  With a railway line no longer used for commercial rail traffic, the reserve near the line makes a quite spot for the night away from the highway.   

James Mitchell Park is a green grassed site, with a unisex flushing toilet, a movement sensitive night light, tap and a dump point.  While the council had plans to implement a fee or stopping overnight, those in Dalveen wanted it to remain free, and it has remains free. 

We then continued travelling south via the old highway by going under highway and following the fruit road where orchardists and wineries have door sales. 

Entering the Granite Belt, we pass Stanthorpe, another town now bypassed by New England Highway.  This town is a regional centre for an area with orchards and vineyards as well as sheep and cattle farming.  The cool climate due to altitude creates an environment which suits orcharding and vineyards.   

Following tin mining commencing in the area, the town was gazetted during the 1870s, taking the name from the Latin word for tin, Stannum, hence meaning Tin Town.   

We travelled south on rural roads, with the next stop after Nobby being at Clifton.  We had a contact through a friend for family at Clifton, who had an extensive private collection of machinery, particularly Caterpillar Tractors.  With unknown travel time frames, we do not have set dates, so did not try phoning these people until we were a week away from Clifton, but were unable to reach them by phone.  In going out on the road to their property, we met their neighbours who were live long residents of the area.  They had sold part of their property to the family with the collection.  The people we had come to see were themselves away with their caravan for a couple of weeks.  Although we never got to see the collection, we did learn a lot about farming in this rural area. 

To the south of Stanthorpe and between the localities of Severnlea and Glen Aplin, the Country Style Caravan Park   is in a rural setting, between the New England Highway and the Severn River where there is a small weir.  Tent campers can set up their tents at the water’s edge and have access to a very well provisioned camp kitchen close by.  Caravanners booking unpowered sites can also use this riverside or the bush camping informal areas. 

Being in a horticultural area, the park is frequented by young ‘backpackers’ seeking and working in seasonal jobs.  The caravan park staff will assist these travellers in where to source work.   

This tiny town has two claims to fame. 

Rudd’s Pub is a small old fashioned hotel. Arthur Hoey Davis, who created the characters Dad and Dave under the pen name 'Steele Rudd', returned to the land after his successful Rudd family novels, buying a farm five kilometres east of Nobby in 1909.  Rudd's Pub was built in 1893 and was originally called the "Davenporter" hotel. The name was changed to Rudd's Pub in the 1980's in recognition of the author Steele Rudd.

Before leaving Queensland, a few days in the Granite Belt at Girraween National Parks was on the agenda.  We stopped at the Severnlea caravan park for a night to enable us to reach Girraween National Park early in the day, but we had not expected a massive dust storm which covered much of New South Wales and the adjoining area of Queensland.