ISISFORD

20^th September, 2012

Ahhh … the serenity!  Other than bird calls the silence is all enveloping.  We’ve set up camp on the banks of the muddy Barcoo River at Oma Waterhole.

Our campsite at Oma Waterhole

At this time of year the inland rivers seldom run and are a series of waterholes along the course of the river.

We have an uninterrupted view of the muddy river

With a variety of waterbirds cruising up and down the waterhole we figured that there must be fish here too.  There seemed to be a small pelican population in residence along with cormorants, darts, ducks and water hens.

Hmmm!  Do you think he'll bite?

With our next neighbour camped about one hundred metres away this seems like a good place to hunker down for seven to ten days while the first part of the school holidays are in progress.  A long walk or a short drive up river are the cleanest public showers (hot and cold) and flushing loos we have come across.  Not too shabby for being in the middle of nowhere.  We’re ten kilometres south of the small outback town of Isisford (population 120) which has the dubious reputation of being in the middle of nowhere.  The locals prefer to say that they are in the middle of everywhere!

Main Street of Isisford

In the morning we hop in Mitzi and head into town to pay our camping fees at the shire office.  The fees are $2.00 per vehicle per night or $10.00 per vehicle for a week and the showers are free.  Bargain!  It’s a clean and tidy little town with a police station, primary school, post office, health centre, shire office, library, grocery store and two hotels.  Yep … two hotels!  These outback towns like to have a backup hotel – just in case!  The town was settled in the mid 1800’s and many old buildings can still be seen along the main street.  One exception is the Outer Barcoo Interpretation Centre which was built six years ago on the site of the old open air theatre.

Outer Barcoo Interpretation Centre in main street of Isisford

The centre was built to exhibit a rare fossil found on a local station about seven years ago.  Inside the air conditioned building (a welcome relief from the 37 C temperature outside) was a café, theatrette and display area.  The film was interesting telling us all about the explorers and settlement of Isisford.  Then there was a short documentary about the important fossil find - along with ongoing research in the area.  Upstairs above the theatrette we finally come face to face with ‘Isisfordia duncani’ – a 98 million years old crocodile that has been named after the town and the station owner who found it.

Isisfordia duncani

At only one metre in length this isn’t a big crocodile.  It is however the ancestor of all the crocodiles and alligators in the world today.  When discovered the fossilised remains of ‘Isisfordia duncani’ were encased in sandstone.  After two years of painstaking work the perfectly preserved fossil could be seen.

Fossilised remains of 'Isisfordia duncani'

The only missing piece was the head but nearby on another dig the upper part of a head and jawbone were unearthed.

Fossilised remains of the upper part of the head of Isisfordia duncani

Now the palaeontologists had a full skeleton of the newly discovered species.  Fossil discoveries in Australia are a recent event and there are exciting times ahead as more funding becomes available.  It was once believed that Australia held little interest for fossil hunters – it was thought that all the good finds were to be had on other continents.  The recent and ongoing Australian discoveries of some of the largest dinosaurs to walk the earth may just rewrite the history books!  Opposite the Interpretation Centre is Clancy’s Overflow Hotel. 

Clancy's Overflow Hotel in Isisford

Yes – this is still Banjo Paterson country and the Outer Barcoo area is immortalised in his hilarious poem ‘A Bush Christening’.  We head back to the camping area and along the way pass a historical memorial marking the spot in 1846 where explorers Major Mitchell, Graham Douglas and Youranigh (their aboriginal translator) crossed the river which they named Victoria.  They had followed the river from where it began in the Great Dividing Range and believed the river flowed to the sea.

Historical marker - Major Mitchell 1846

They then recrossed the river and headed south towards Sydney.  Their reports of grassland and water encouraged pastoralists to bring sheep and cattle and establish settlement of the area.  Of course they weren’t the only explorers to the area.  Leichardt passed this way as well as Edmund Kennedy and William Landsborough.  Edmund Kennedy found that the river did not flow to the sea and in fact flowed inland.  The local aboriginals called the river ‘Barcoo’ - so he changed the name from Victoria to Barcoo and this is the name that we know it by today.  Back at camp we relaxed and watched the ever passing parade of birds and animals.  Apart from the water birds there are oodles of other birds ranging from tiny little wrens to parrots to whistling kites.  Cattle graze around us as well as kangaroos and there is even a flock of goats that wander along the opposite river bank.  The next day Wok decided to try his luck at fishing while Robyn caught up on some reading.

Wok getting set up to do some fishing ...

Wok wasn’t very hopeful as we were sure that anything decent could not possibly survive in this mudhole.  As hot as it is we aren’t even tempted to have a swim in the muddy brown water so why would any self respecting fish be in there?  Well we stand corrected!  That day he actually caught four fish – two yellow bellies (golden perch) and two eel-tailed catfish.  As they were all undersized Wok got to practise his catch and release technique but we reasoned that if there were small ones there might also be big ones.  So next day Wok got out his trusty fishing rod and tried again. 

A fisherman at work ....

In the morning he caught an undersized yellow belly again but in the afternoon things really picked up.  Wok was very excited when he caught a nice sized catfish

Wok with his eel-tailed catfish

but even more excited when this large yellow belly took the bait.

A very pleased Wok with a large yellow belly

Of course fish was the main course at dinnertime and very nice it was too.  We are now more than happy to spend some time camped at this muddy waterhole and won’t be so quick to dismiss other similar places on appearance alone.  With wildlife to keep us amused and fish to be caught - this isn't too bad. 

Ahhh … the serenity!