On the road again…

After a long hiatus, I’m on the road again with my This Working Life project. This time I’m travelling with my younger brother Terry, on what is known in grey nomad circles as a “half loop”. We are travelling via Adelaide, north through the Flinders Ranges, to Alice Springs and then on to Darwin; back and east into Queensland and then down through regional New South Wales to Canberra. As in the past, I’ll post a record of the country we travel through and the places we see. In this first post, I’m offering some postcards of Western Victoria where we have been travelling for the past few days:

The Wimmera, wheat growing country of western Victoria © Rob Walls 2015

An original Furphy water cart in the town of Rainbow, in the Western Wimmera. It is said that the term “furphy” originated from the unsubstantiated gossip that occurred on farms as workers gathered around the water cart. © Rob Walls 2015

Old shed in the Victorian Western Wimmera town of Rainbow © Rob Walls 2015

Horse trough at the Rainbow railway station in western Victoria © Rob Walls 2015

Second hand store, Nhill, western Victoria © Rob Walls 2015

Window of a print shop, Nhill, Victoria © Rob Walls 2015

A modern but very retro take away restaurant in Shepparton, Victoria © Rob Walls 2016

 

The Ebor Campdraft

A few days ago I came across the Ebor Campdraft. Campdrafting is a competition in which highly skilled riders practice the craft of “cutting out” individual cattle from a group of animals by using their riding ability and the agility of their horse prevent it from following its natural instinct to rejoin the mob.

Having “cut out” the beast they then have to guide it through a course of right and left hand turns and through a gate. That’s about as much as this particular novice could make of the event after I stopped to photograph it on Saturday. Because the finals were to occur the following day, I drove back the 80 km from Gunnedah to take more pictures. Here are a few pictures from the event:

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The backtrack to the outback…

I’ve been wending my way northwards through New South Wales more slowly than anticipated. The main thing slowing me down has been the picture opportunities along the way. For a photographer with time to spare, that can only be good.

At the start of the Kidman Way, the road to Bourke and beyond © Rob Walls 2010

No sooner do I get into the Australian countryside than I seem to be overtaken by the spirit of Walker Evans. This is probably appropriate in that the project I’m involved in is inspired by the work of the photographers of the Farm Security Administration. Coincidentally, their work was intended as a documentation of the economic stimulus package designed to lift America out of the depression.

Donna Aitken, proprietor of Cafe Whitton in Whitton, with her grandson, Tyson. © Rob Walls 2010

Facade, Leeton. © Rob Walls 2010

Massage practice, Yanco, NSW © Rob Walls 2010

Butcher's shop, Cobar, NSW © Rob Walls 2010

Katrina Schrader, the new barmaid at the Royal Hotel, Mount Hope, mid way between Goolgowi and Cobar. © Rob Walls 2010

Tomorrow morning I plan to photograph a farmers’ rally to protest the Federal Government proposed water restrictions on irrigation. Practically the whole town of Bourke is expected to shut down for the rally. More FSA type documentation it seems…

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

There’s no getting away from the election…

Election poster on the Warracknabeal-Mildura road © Rob Walls 2010