Up to road from Lightning Ridge towards the Queensland border is the near ghost town of Angledool. The old town hall theatre and a church as some of the few buildings that remain of what was once quite a decent sized town.
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 inc...
That church, down here in the big smoke, would trade for hundreds of thousands. Small towns rise up, and small towns slough down ... 'tis the nature of the bush, and scrabbling a living.
ReplyDeleteYeh. The big smoke is interesting in terms of prices these days. I daren't look at what value the places I used to own in Sydney are selling for these days. I read an article that people are choosing to move to regional cities like Bathurst, Orange and Tamworth. Well if it is true and not simply a puff piece to try and get people to do it, then I think that is great.
ReplyDeleteNot sure they are "choosing" to move. They cannot afford to buy in Sydney. Even renting is difficult. My son has just moved from a house in Epping that cost him $530 per week to a delapidated flat in Glebe which costs him $350 a week. He is considering moving to Bribie Island.
ReplyDeleteThose that choose may be very happy :-)
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