Australia So Much to See
Marree (formerly Hergott Springs)
In 1883 the town of Hergott Springs was surveyed,
and named after the German botanist who accompanied John McDouall Stuart through the area in 1859. The springs are a few kilometres
from the townsite.
The Old Ghan Railway reached Hergott Springs in 1884, at the time the town now known as Marree (renamed in 1918) was established. The rail line was subject to being cut by sand drift or flood damage in this the harsh climate.
A new standard gauge line
from Stirling North (Port Augusta) reached Marree in 1957 and Marree became a change-of-gauge station. The narrow gauge line
to Alice Springs ceased being used in 1981.
A more direct route for rail transport was constructed from Port Augusta to
Tarcoola and Alice Springs was completed in 1980, and the re-routed standard gauge railway replaced the Old Ghan line from Alice Springs
to Darwin, being completed in 2004.
Passing through Marree this trip, while the town and population are small, the town was very
busy as tourists, mostly with camping rigs, were pouring into and through town. People were re-fuelling and shopping before
heading further north, be they heading to Lake Eyre, Oodnadatta, or the Simpson Desert.
This is a 2003 built re-creation of, and at the site of, the first Mosque to be built in Australia (above). Read about the earliest Mosques in Australia.
Photo of the original mosque at this site from signage (below right).
Tom Kruse was the mailman of the Birdsville Track and a legend in the outback. His mail truck is on display.
Tom Kruse’s
famed mail truck the 1936 Leyland Badger is on display at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, in South Australia, which we visited
in 2006.
Tom was one of number of Birdsville mailmen over the years, but his time as the outback mailman has become the most
memorable.
There is a picnic area with barbecue and picnic shelter in the park.
This memorial park is dedicated to the Afghan cameleers who had a major part in the development of the area.
This is a memorial park, dedicated to the memory of the pioneering Muslim cameleers and the families of Hergott Springs (Marree)
May
you enjoy its peace and tranquillity.
Please observe the requirements upon entering the Mosque.
Children not permitted
to play in this area (to visit upon adult supervision only).
Please: No papers, drinks or food taken in.
A camel made from old railway sleepers creates a sundial (this photo from 2006).
On January 1st 1936, in searing 45-degree heat, Tom drove his first Marree to Birdsville mail run. Mail, fuel, supplies and the occasional
passenger had to get through and Tom did battle with sand hills, dust storms, flies and floods, swollen rivers and creeks along the
Birdsville Track every fortnight. Round trips between Marree and Birdsville normally took seven days but when the Cooper flooded across
the track, it could take as long as six weeks.
In late 1947 Tom bought the Marree based part of the Ding operation. Harry had
moved to Wilcannia in western NSW in 1944. On January 1st 1948, twelve years to the day he drove his first Marree to Birdsville mail
run, Tom took over the Birdsville mail contract for 396 pounds a year. Tom held it for 15 years and sold it in 1963.
In early
1951 Tom stopped doing regular trips along the track. He had started an earthmoving and tank sinking business in the pastoral north.
He worked in the north until the mid 1980s when he retired.
In the 1955 New Year’s Honours list, Tom was awarded an MBE for …'services
to the community in the outback … risking his life on many occasions'. Lady Slim, wife of the Governor-General, flew to Birdsville
on Monday July 18th as part of an outback tour to present the MBE. Tom didn’t make it to the investiture. He got stranded in the Cooper,
cut off by floodwaters. Tom finally received his decoration from Sir William Slim at Government House in Adelaide in April 1956.
By 1910 Sidney Kidman was running Australia's largest cattle empire, which stretched from the Gulf of Carpentaria to his home base
in Kapunda in South Australia.
Mundowdna Station, with a reliable water source and good feed, became Kidman's 'mobbing up' place. This huge station stretched around Marree and to the east. When the railway was not extended to Birdsville, Kidman cattle where
driven to the rail head at Marree or Farina.
There are a number of information boards throughout the park, and displays, including one about Sir Sidney Kidman.
At the time of his death, his stations covered 83 million acres (33.5 million hectares), encompassing most of the Great Artesian Basin and beyond into the Downs region of southern Queensland. S. Kidman & Co. is still the largest landholder in Australia, owning eleven cattle stations covering approximately 10 million hectares. This company is now owned by Gina Rinehart (two thirds) and Shanghai CRED (one third). Sale of the Kidman empire.