Meningie to Port Wakefield

Today I headed down the shore of Lake Albert to Narrung where there is an Aboriginal village which was the tidiest country town I have ever seen. I was lucky to meet and chat with an Aboriginal man who had lived there for 40 years. He was one of the stolen generation and very proud of his town and how well run it is now, it used to be a bit wild. He pointed out the church to me, a leftover from the mission days, which appears on the left of one of our $50 notes. Next to the church on the $50 note is an image of David Unaipon who was raised in here when it was a mission.

David Unaipon (also written as Ngunaitponi) was born at the Point McLeay Mission, now known as Raukkan, on the Lower Murray, on 28 September 1872.  David  was a writer, inventor, public speaker and preacher. He was a proud Ngarrindjeri man, well known as a spokesperson for improving the conditions and rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. He also made many significant contributions to science and literature. Here is the image of the $50 note:

The painting on the wall of an old shop on the main street is excellent.

The other painting was on the wall of a shed at the rear of the shop, also very good.

Near the shop is a clear area with a rotunda and a banner has been painted on the fence depicting birds and animals.

I wasn’t unhappy to leave Meningie, the country around is flat, brown with no trees and the wind was freezing, so it with glad heart I was off to Karoonda in the wheat growing districts of SA. The country became more interesting with lots of Mallee and Cyprus scrub along the roadside and a few hills to break the flatness. Karoonda is a small town with a big group of silos that have been painted relatively recently. At night they project artwork by local artists onto the silos so a return visit may be worthwhile sometime. It was cold and blowy but I put the drone up to get a shot of all seven painted silos.

On the right hand end there were a couple of eagles painted and the big one was stunning, it really looks like it is flying away from the silo.

At the other end of the silos there was a Kelpie and some sheep.

The Kelpie was very lifelike, given the large scale of the painting.

I was happy with Karoonda, it was well worth a visit, so I was quite contented heading off for Owen, still in the wheat growing area but on the other side of the top of the Barossa Valley. A much more interesting drive though hills and lots of towns on quite windy roads, but an enjoyable drive. The silos at Owen were only painted in March this year and the scenes reflect old grain growing activities of the area. Again the drone went up to get above the ground level obstructions and take in the whole silo group.

The artwork was more abstract than most silos, not so much to my taste.

The other group of silos had a team of men filling wheat bags and loading the bags onto transport.

The motel in Owen also had artwork on the end of a building, it was of a harvesting scene with horses pulling the harvester with bagging and other activities in the background.

At the back of the pub there were a couple of outbuildings with artwork on them.

And another next door.

I’m now in Port Wakefield and I spent the afternoon cancelling credit cards and sorting out things after I was hacked. They only got $500 before we were able to close the accounts and I should get that back from the bank. I spent a lot of time on the phone to three different banks, setting new passwords, and checking just what happened. I cannot access my bank accounts at the moment so with an advance from Deen I will be to continue on my way. Another day at Port Wakefield and then onto the Yorke Peninsula.