Q: Quambatook

Quambatook on the Avoca river is childhood home of two of Australia’s music celebrities. John Williamson, a country and music star and Molly Meldrum, music entrepeneur, record producer and journalist. It’s hard to believe that not only did they attend the same small country school, but they attended at the same time. Both are celebrated in the Quambatook museum.

John Williamson is my favourite Australian singer and he was the reason we went out of our way to visit this small dying country town. I am currently reading his book True Blue. In it he describes his inspiration for his songs. I hadn’t thought about it before. So I was surprised to learn that many were based on his home town and his childhood.

To explore this further we needed to to stay overnight to get into the museum. This allowed up to meet more locals and understand Quamtabook in its hey day.

Local special events still held in Quambatook include Silo Cinema and Australian Tractor Pull Championships. They both sound like a lot of fun and bring people from everywhere to the town. When we visited Quambatook, they were setting up for a Silo Cinema that weekend and locals were certainly excited.

I think the thing I was impressed by the most about Quambatook the cremation of Sundeh Singh in the old cemetery in 1917. The town respected the Indian hawker so much that they wanted to give him his rite of cremation according to his religion. This novel ceremony using butter and kerosone was conducted by an out of town priest. After the large funeral pyre went out and the ashes were cooled they were transported back to India and scattered over the river Ganges.

Being an old gold mining town it was interesting to see the goal at the museum site. After gold mining the focus of the town changed to wheat farming. The area is still a large wheat supplier however changes to farming techniques has halved the size of the town.


Coffee Catch-Up #39

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was last Thursday to escape town for a few days. As I was finishing work on Wednesday afternoon I felt a little manic. My husband and I took a road trip to Tamworth, 3.5 hours northwest of Newcastle. It felt so weird when we crossed the imaginary line of our LGA (Newcastle Council) because during restrictions it was the limit we could travel to. We had planned to have lunch at an historic pub at Wingen many times and Thursday was the day.

To celebrate the first trip to a pub since lockdown ended I did what most Aussies did and ordered a beer on tap. I don’t often drink beer but thought why not. It was so cold, fresh and memorable. The food was also pretty good. I would have loved another beer but time did not permit. It was great to be out of the city connecting with the country again.

View from back verandah of The Durham Hotel

If we were having coffee I ask you if you picked the winner of last Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. In Australia it is known as the race that stops the nation and is Australia’s most famous house race. As it is over 3200 metres it is particularly hard to pick a winner for and this year proved no exception. The favourite, Incentivise was leading with 400m to go when suddenly Verry Elleegant swept in and won.

If we were having coffee how excited I was to find my missing house keys. These keys had been missing since before last Christmas and I had searched everywhere for them. I had given up hope. Then about a week ago I got to catch up with a girlfriend for breakfast. So I dressed up and matched my handbag to my outfit. Then just as we were leaving the café and I was searching for my mask I opened one of the many side pockets and to my surprise found my missing keys. I let out a shriek with excitement and made many heads turn.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the hydofoil surfer I enjoyed watching this morning at the beach. He was difficult to photograph but mesmerising to watch. The beach was high tide and only the surfers were out because of the conditions.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world.

Thanks to Natalie The Explorer for hosting our weekendcoffeeshare.