Maiden's Hotel where Burke and Wills stayed

 

Menindee (including Kinchega National Park and Sunset Strip)
Historic town on the edge of the desert
Menindee is located 1106 km north-west of Sydney via the Great Western, Mitchell and Barrier Highways and 70 m above sea-level. If you are approaching from Broken Hill it is 111 km south-east along a sealed road and, if your departure point is Wilcannia, it is 143 km south-west on a mostly unsealed road.

Menindee is a tiny settlement of 980 people. The countryside is flat and arid and barely supports grazing, although Menindee itself is surrounded by citrus orchards and vegetable cultivation. If desert and fruit-growing sound incompatible, then one has to remember that Menindee is also surrounded by some 20 lakes fed by the Darling River. It is a weird experience to drive through land which is so marginal that you wonder whether it ever rains and to suddenly come across vast freshwater lakes full of dead trees and surrounded by sand, saltbush and inhospitable red soils.

The lakes were previously an unreliable source of water, filling out during flood periods and disappearing when the river level dropped. As early as 1894 plans were put forward for conservation of the resource but a water storage scheme was not implemented until 1949 (completed in 1960). The current storage capacity is 1 794 000 megalitres, 3.5 times the volume of Sydney Harbour and covering eight times its area. Lake Menindee, the largest, is 16 x 14 km in surface area. The purpose of the scheme is the provision of regulated flows for water supply and irrigation. A pipeline which runs from Menindee provides Broken Hill with a regular supply of water.

 

Lake Menindee in the Kinchega National Park

 

Historically the Darling River has been associated with the Barkindji Aboriginal people who travelled its length from Wilcannia through Menindee and down to Wentworth. They relied upon the river for water and food, using canoes and elaborate stone traps for their fishing. The town's name is said to derive from the Barkindji place name 'Minandichee'.

It is thought by some that the first Europeans in the immediate vicinity, the 1835 party of Major Thomas Mitchell, laid the foundations for what turned out to be disastrous relations with the Aborigines. Mitchell followed the Bogan and Darling rivers down to Menindee and the surrounding lakes, which he named Laidley's Chain of Ponds after the deputy commisary-general of NSW (the Barkindji called them 'Wontanella' meaning 'many waters').

At the lakes Mitchell selected a campsite on top of the sandhills. According to Mitchell's account trouble broke out when two of his party took a kettle for fresh water and some Aborigines they encountered wanted it. A white was clubbed and a black shot. A skirmish broke out and another black was killed. The Aborigines fled to the water where a woman with a baby on her back was killed. Mitchell records that 'a mournful song, strongly expressive of the wailing of women' was then heard and they hurriedly departed for the north expecting heavy retaliation.

Charles Sturt travelled up the Darling from the Murray in 1844 during his exploration of the interior. He arrived at the site of Menindee in 1844 and then headed north-west (see entries on Broken Hill, Milparinka, Tibooburra).

As pastoralists, drovers and shepherds followed in the wake of the explorers frequent and violent conflict arose with the Aborigines. The whites encroached upon traditional hunting grounds and raped the black women. The Aborigines killed and ate white stock, attacked droving camps and stole station food and stores. The trouble was serious enough to cause drovers to shun the area and landowners to abandon their properties, at least until 1853 when police were brought in to secure the area. Afterwards the tide turned against the Barkindji who were subsequently decimated by European disease, forcibly driven from the land and moved to government missions at Menindee, Lake Cargelligo and Ivanhoe.

While most skirmishes were limited in scope there were two ill-publicised massacres in the area. Leaseholds along the Darling stipulated that the property owners had to provide the Aborigines with provisions and permit the hunting of traditional game. When Avoca station, to the south, fell upon a period of hardship the bread provision was garnished with arsenic and the entire tribal group was found dead the next morning. On the shore of Boolaboolka Lake, to the east, a group of whites shot a tribe and left the skeletons to bleach in the sun, suggesting their conviction that they would not be held answerable.

The first settler in and effective founder of Menindee was Tom Pain and his family who arrived in 1852, determined to establish a home and business on the river. He opened the Menindee Hotel the following year. With numerous additions it is still open and considered the second-oldest hotel still in continuous operation in NSW. It is now known as Maiden's Menindee Hotel for the simple reason that it was owned, from 1896 to 1979, by the Maiden family (see entry on Moama). It burnt down a couple of years ago and a more modern hotel now replaces the original and historic building.

With the growth of the river trade in the 1850s, the arrival of a police force and Pain's presence, prospects for the settlement of the region improved. The runs of the Central Darling were officially surveyed and opened for tender in 1855. Explorer John McKinlay took up several of the properties, including 'Menindel', one of the first small frontage blocks along the Darling. This station later became Kinchega.

Captain Francis Cadell, who pioneered the operation of river steamers along the Murray, established a store near the hotel at Menindee in 1856. It was named Wurtindelly after the Aboriginal word for the sand ridges on which it was built. These two buildings became the nucleus around which the town grew. Although not the first to navigate the Darling, Cadell is the first whose name is recorded. It was not until early 1859 that he travelled upriver as far as Mt Murchison station (see entry on Wilcannia) and visiting his Menindee store on the return journey. Settlers began to pour into the region with news that the Darling was navigable.

Burke and Wills reached Kinchega station in October 1860 on their expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They journeyed on to Menindee by steamer, stayed at the Menindee Hotel then continued north.

Burke split the expedition in two. He headed an advance party of eight while Wright was left in charge of the main body of the expedition, which was to bring up the rear. Burke, Wills, Gray and King set off for the Gulf of Carpentaria leaving Brahe in charge of a stockade at Cooper Creek. Brahe was to wait for Wright's party but they never showed up. Four months later Gray was dead and Burke, Wills and King staggered back to Coopers Creek barely alive, only to find that, just seven hours prior to their arrival, Brahe's team had left some provisions and departed.

 

The grave of Dost Mahomet

 

One of those who waited at Cooper Creek was Dost Mahomet, one of the party's Afghan camel drivers. After losing an arm in a camel-related accident Mahomet settled in Menindee and worked in the bakery of William Ah Chung, who established one of the first market gardens in town. His grave is located about 1 km out of town on the road towards Broken Hill. Ah Chung's bakehouse, built around 1880, is still standing in Menindee St. It currently houses an art gallery.

A post office opened at the fledgling settlement in 1861 and the site was officially known as 'Perry' but locals protested and the township was gazetted as Menindie in 1863 (it was respelled Menindee in 1918). Growth was initially slow but with the help of the steamers Menindee became an important river port and telegraph station. The boats were quicker and much cheaper than bullock trains although in drought periods the water level would sometimes fall so low the waterways became unnavigable.

The 1860s and 1870s were a period of expansion for the town. However, when gold and other mineral finds were made to the north in the late 1870s and 1880s, employees along the Darling chased the new prospects and Wilcannia displaced Menindee as the main river port and business centre. Consequently, Menindee slowed down to become a service and community centre to the surrounding district. As previously mentioned this role was later supplemented by fruit and vegetable production when the lakes' irrigation potential was harnessed.

Things to see:  

Kinchega National Park
Just one kilometre north of Menindee, on the Broken Hill Rd, there is a signposted left turn to Kinchega National Park which extends westwards from the Darling River, encompassing all of Lake Cawndilla and the southern half of Lake Menindee. The 44 000-ha park was created in 1967 from land that was previously a part of Kinchega station. It includes river red gum forests, black soil flood plains along the Darling River where kangaroos and emu flocks are frequently seen, the varied and colourful vegetation of the red sandhills and sand plains, and a series of tall lunettes (crescent-shaped dunes) on the eastern side of the lakes created by a combination of westerly winds and waves. These lunettes have proven a treasure trove of information about past environmental conditions and archaeological material, including remnants of Aboriginal culture (scarred trees where bark was stripped for canoes or shelter, middens, hearths, stone implements and mineralised bones) and extinct animals (giant kangaroos and wombats and Tasmanian tigers).

The large, saucer-shaped depressions of the overflow lakes are home to a variety of waterbirds including pelicans, spoonbills, egrets, cormorants and swans. The best time to see the wildlife is at dawn or dusk, not only because they venture out at these times but because the colours of the outback are quite remarkable.

The park contains several remnants from the pastoral days. By 1881, Kinchega covered one million acres and had 143 000 sheep. It was regularly visited by paddle steamers run by Samuel McCaughey (see entry on Leeton). Steam engines were being used to irrigate the paddocks as early as 1875 and the station prospered as a sheep run shepherded almost entirely by Aborigines. Kinchega was also one of the first properties to experiment with bores, striking water at 250 feet in 1879.

Kinchega woolshed is still standing. Here, six million sheep were shorn over the course of a century. At its peak in the 1880s it had stands for 26 blade shearers. The remains of the homestead and cemetery are nearby, as well as an old water regulator and trough used to furnish the homestead with water. The homestead, built of locally kilned bricks, probably in the 1850s, was used as an overseer's house and stockmen's quarters from 1872 to the 1940s.

The cemetery may contain the crew of the paddlesteamer Providence . In 1872 they apparently left Menindee in an intoxicated state and forgot to refill the boiler which blew up and killed them. It can still be seen where it was dragged from the water. Other sites of interest are the Cawndilla Channel and Menindee Lakes Lookout.

The park has 35 camping areas with limited facilities. Caravans can be accommodated but there are no powered sites. Bookings can also be made to stay at the old shearer's quarters. Morton Boolka picnic area is especially good for bird-watching and the woolshed picnic area has fresh water. There are numerous self-guided walks and, for a more comprehensive overview, the Lake Drive and the River Drive. The Homestead Loop is a shorter journey through the park's European historical remnants. There are guided tours in the school holidays and the park is ideal for photographers. For enquiries about bookings, fees and information pamphlets see the park's (or the town's) visitor's centre, or phone (08) 8088 5933.

 

Lake Pamamaroo and Main Weir
The lake system has become a tourist attraction and recreational facility for the people of Broken Hill and Menindee. 8 km north of Menindee on the Broken Hill Rd there is a signposted right turn to Lake Pamamaroo and the Main Weir. There are recreational facilities at both sites. A plaque on a tree, at the weir, indicates the location of the Burke and Wills campsite.

 

Copi Hollow
About 13 km north of Menindee on the Broken Hil Rd, just before you cross the interconnecting channel between Lake Menindee and Pamamaroo Lake, there is a signposted right turn on an all-weather road which leads to Copi Hollow: an artificially constructed body of water developed for speed boats, sailing, swimming and waterskiing. The inland speed championships are held here each year in mid-May. There is a well-shaded shoreline park with picnic facilities, amenities block and a caravan park.

To get there follow the Broken Hill Rd out of Menindee for 13 km then take the signposted right turn just before you cross the interconnecting channel between Lakes Menindee and Pamamaroo.

 

 

View from the front lawn of a holiday house looking out across Lake Menindee from the holiday village of Sunset Strip

 

Sunset Strip
20 km north of Menindee, along the Broken Hill Rd, is a signposted turnoff, on the left, to Sunset Strip which is situated on the northern shore of Lake Menindee. Here we find a rather bizarre manifestation of the Australian quest for a holiday by the sea - a quest driven by the fact that the vast majority of the country's population is located along the coastal fringe. That has not stopped the people of Broken Hill. They gladly drive nearly 100 km to gaze out upon a muddy lake full of dead trees in a rather odd version of a waterfront resort. Instead of the overdone and often tasteless 'luxury villas' of the the coastal resorts there are inexpensive, kit-type holiday homes where corrugated iron is more common than brick. While the well-irrigated gardens are attractive, the exteriors of the houses are awful. If nothing else Sunset Strip certainly affords genuine insight into the priorities of Australians. Note that the water in Menindee Lake can get very cold and wind squalls can also produce dangerous waves.

 

Fishing in the Lakes
Not surprisingly perhaps Menindee is considered one of the finest freshwater fishing spots in NSW. Murray cod, golden perch, silver perch, European carp, crayfish and catfish are in abundant supply along the Darling and in the lakes.

If you are interested in a fishing or birdwatching trip in the area, phone Geoff Looney on (02) 8091 4437. A more comprehensive tour though the town's history, waterways and other natural sights is on offer from Burke & Wills Hire Boat Expeditions (02) 8091 4383.

 

History of the Town
Menindee itself has two historic trees - one marked by a survey team in 1882 and one in Yartla St to mark the height of the 1890 floods. At the Maidens Hotel, also in Yartla St, you used to be able to see the arrow Burke and Wills carved in the door post indicating the direction their journey would pursue. For many years the room the two men stayed in was preserved for visitors.

Also of some historic interest is the fact that John Cleary of Menindee started the first motorised postal service in NSW in 1910, although the contract stipulated that his lorry be followed by a coach-and-horses in case it broke down! When this system proved uneconomical he reverted to the horse-and-coach until allowed to use the lorry on its own in 1911.

 

The Heritage Trail
The visitors' centre can furnish you with a pamphlet which will lead you around the town's heritage trail: 19 sites with informative signposts that connect physical locations with their historic significance. A book is also for sale ($8.50) which provides a more comprehensive account of the sites.

Lastly, remember that many of the local roads are gravel and can be hazardous or impassable after wet weather. Phone (08) 8091 5155 for an up-to-date report on their condition.

 

Burke and Wills site at Pamamaroo Creek
Here on the Pamamaroo Creek is the site of the base camp of the 1860 Burke and Wills expedition. The expedition party included 15 men, 23 horse, 27 camels and 21 tons of stores. At the time of Burke's arrival in Menindee it was an outpost with no other settlements between here and the vast interior. On 19 October the small party of Burke, Wills, Brahe, King, Gray, McDonagh, Patton and Dost Mahomet, 15 horses and 16 camels left the Pamamaroo camp and headed north. The balance of the expedition party stayed for the next year.

 

 

 

 

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Menindee