YAMBUK, V – The latest seal census declares Lady Julia Percy Island as the largest seal colony in Australia. What’s more, the count registered four separate breeds of seal, with a grand total nudging 20,000.
Such abundant life is ironic for an island once known by local Aborigines as Deen Maar, or the island of the [...]
Xantho, a coastal steamer, sank off the WA coast in 1872. With its twin masts, and elongated hull, the same ship is thought to be depicted by Aboriginal hands at Walga Rock, east of Cue.
Imagine a mini-Uluru, and you have a rough idea of Walga Rock. Measuring five kays in circumference, this monolith rises from [...]
WAGGA WAGGA, NSW – Cutting chops one day in 1866, Tom Castro had a brainwave. The Wagga Wagga butcher knew that the difference between being a butcher versus a baronet was a kilo of audacity.
The meat merchant shocked the world when he claimed to be Roger Tichborne, a young aristocrat who supposedly drowned between Rio [...]
VICTOR HARBOUR, SA – Encounter Bay has two meanings. The original encounter occurred between Matthew Flinders and Baudin in 1802.
The more modern rendezvous dates back to 1980 when Chris Tapscott, a teacher at Victor Harbour High, reckoned his Year 7 kids would benefit from encountering the Anangu people.
Headmaster Noel Young agreed. Suddenly the classroom came [...]
UBOBO, Q – Last time a pay phone received as much media attention was when Superman left his trousers behind. The phone stands outside the general store which is a celebration in its own right.
Halfway through 1999 Telstra attempted to remove the booth in the interests of shareholder return, but Ubobo said no. The entire [...]
TAMBO, Q – Mary Sutherland and two dozen teddies flew to Osaka in 1996. The occasion was an international trade show. ‘We’re lucky we didn’t get any orders,’ says Mary. ‘We only had two sewers then.’
Seven years on, Mary has 15 women on her books, from sewers to stuffers. The team at Tambo Teddies has [...]
Just before the Sydney Olympics, a fire ripped through the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby (NSW), killing a festoon of snakes and lizards.
A rare survivor was an alligator snapping turtle who earned the name Terminator. As some divine reward for her resilience, a new mate called Leonardo was found by council workers in the same [...]
As the beef capital of Australia, Rockhampton (Q) has long had its share of bull statues. Six in fact are dotted round town, from the Brahman near the uni to the Droughtmaster at the airport. (Get your bull map from the tourism office to find the whole herd.)
But since 2000, with the triannual Beef Expo, [...]
QUOBBA POINT, WA – If you miss the humpbacks, and took a siesta when the blue whales did their breaching, then settle for the next best seaside spout in Australia: the blowholes of Quobba Point rock.
Unlike Kiama in NSW, the Quobba holes don’t rely as heavily on heavy seas. Even a mild swell can get [...]
PIRRON YALLOCK, V – Take a time-lapse camera to Lake Pirron Yallock, an overgrown puddle west of Colac. Otherwise you won’t believe those islands you see, complete with five-storey trees, are moving around.
The shallow bowl that forms the lake was once a peat swamp. The soil was perfect for spud growing, and even now you [...]