Old Cork Station !

Old Cork is located about 126kms south west of Winton on the banks of the Diamantina River. 

We had decided to include it in a round trip beginning at Lark Quarry, home of the Dinosaur Stampede, then a drive across through the jump ups to the station and return on the Diamantina River Road. A return trip of 300kms on dirt and bitumen. 

Photos taken from the lookout at the top of the jump ups.

The reason Old Cork Station was such a special trip was that George includes the song, 'Diamantina Drover,' in his repertoire. It is about a drover who goes to Old Cork Station and never goes home, the outback here has him for life. 

It includes the line ... ' and the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina ... ' which seems very appropriate at the moment. 

Everywhere we have travelled in the last two months is drought affected and so dry. The temps at this time are in the high 30s to 40.

Old Cork Station Historic Homestead is a vintage sandstone homestead that was one of the first properties in the Winton Shire. The homestead lies in ruins but interpretive panels provide some information about the history of the station and homestead. The waterhole 

nearby has permanent water in it, unlike most of the waterholes, rivers and creeks we have seen.

Having heard George sing the song many times it was a little emotional to imagine a family struggling to make a go of it here. 

We had passed the new homestead site on our way across from Lark Quarry, about 30ks away.

Above: a view looking from the homestead verandah. 

Below: the view looking back up from the waterhole to the homestead

Also a view of the waterhole. 

A photo opportunity not to be missed 

The sun setting as we returned to Winton.

Below are some photos of Arno's Wall in Winton. The wall stands 2 metres high and is 70 metres long. It is constructed of concrete and rock brought in from Arno's opal mine. He has embedded old lawn mowers, bikes, boat propellers, machinery, vintage typewriters, vintage ovens, kitchen sink etc into the wall. As we overnighted behind the North Gregory Hotel we had easy access to the wall

By Lynne