Having crossed the plains and coming into Balranald we spotted emus ... Australia's large flightless birds ... apparently the second largest bird in the world behind the ostrich.
We passed through Bakers Swamp without noticing anything. Then reached our last dot on the map for this trip - Larras Lee and saw this. The roadside monument says: In Memory of WILLIAM LEE (1794 - 1870) of "Larras Lake" a pioneer of the sheep and cattle industry and first member for Roxburgh under responsible government (1856 - 1859). This stone was erected by his descendants. --- 1938 --- This is a repost from a few days ago. Thinking I would use this for this week’s Taphophile Tragics post I dug a little further into William Lee’s story, it’s a very colonial Australian one. William was born of convict parents, living his childhood years around the Sydney region. In his early 20s he was issued with some government cattle, recommended as a suitable settler and granted 134 acres at Kelso near Bathurst. He was one of the first in the area and did well. A few years later he was granted a ram and an increase in his land to 300 acres. William developed a r
And what the land will support has changed again.
ReplyDeleteEmus are massive, and very very scarey.
Waaaah - I would really run if one of these would cross my way. Waaaaah!
ReplyDeleteActually I don't find emus all that scary (unless they are trying to steal my lunch at a BBQ) but the cassowary in north Qld is another matter ... they are much the same size and emu but will kick you to pieces if they get mad.
ReplyDeleteI've seen ostriches and nandus in the wild; definitely have to go to Australia to complete the trilogy! :-)
ReplyDeleteI get so excited when I see emus in the wild.
ReplyDeleteIt almost looks like their are 3 little emu heads between the 2 big ones.
I can't imagine encountering a bird that large but if all else fails you can give them your BBQ!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of cassowaries or nandus.
I tell you, JE, from here, Australia is pretty exotic.
I left a comment on the plane post. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
I have a very mellow dog, a pit bull who never barks at anything. We drove through an animal park with him in the back seat and he looked at buffalo, elk, zebra, everything with only mild interest. When we pulled up to a pen of Ostriches he went nuts. He barked and growled at them. In all of his 9 years I have never heard him growl before. He viewed them as very suspicious characters.
ReplyDeleteI guess every bird of this size would scare me away, ;-) - the largest "walking on his two feet on earth" bird around here is a hen ...
ReplyDeleteJM, I don't know what a nandu is. I'm surprised that you haven't been to Australia, you seem to have been everywhere else!
ReplyDeleteLetty, I get excited too, we saw a lot by the end of the trip. These were the second ... my husband was under strict orders to find some because he didn't stop when I saw the first lot ... which did have babies with them. What looks like babies here is just grass clumps. This was taken with a long lens because they run away when we stopped.
Paula,I didn't realise that spitfire was a "grey nurse" everwhere until I saw your post. As I said, I'm not much into aircraft.
TG, I'd growl too if I'd never seen a bird that big before.
Martina, roosters can be scarier than emus! The one we had a home used to attack us.
Joan Elizabeth, we had one of this roosters, too -- you could only enter his terrain with a broom ... my parents named him "Martina" ...
ReplyDeleteMartina ... what sort of child were you!!
ReplyDeleteKiwi, dodo, emu -- do they have no wings down under?
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