TheRamblingWombat ACT - Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

The Sanctuary Loop – Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

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This is an easy 2.1km wetlands walk (a half loop can be completed) which according to the guide takes 1.5hrs. It can be done in much less than this though do spend a bit of time to enjoy the walk and the sights along the way. You could spend a few hours here. The walk (apart from a couple of very short side detours) is fully sealed, has a number of seats, and is wheel chair accessible. It is a great (must-do) introduction the the Reserve. Continue reading “The Sanctuary Loop – Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve” →

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Voyagers – A Tribute to Australia’s Cameleers

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Between the 1860s and the 1920s around 2,000 cameleers, with over 20,000 camels, came to Australia from Afghanistan, Baluchistan and what is now Pakistan. In those days, before motor vehicles, camels were the ideal pack animal and were well equipped to cope with the harsh environment of the Australian Outback. Continue reading “Voyagers – A Tribute to Australia’s Cameleers” →

TheRamblingWombat Adelaide

Adelaide Mosque

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The Adelaide Mosque, the first mosque in any Australian city and the oldest surviving mosque in Australia, opened in 1889.

Visitors to Central Australia may be aware of the role played by cameleers from Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Pakistan in the opening up of the Red Centre of Australia and, in particular, the construction of the 3,200kms Overland Telegraph Line between Port Augusta (outside Adelaide) and Darwin which was completed in 1872. Between the 1860s and the 1920s around 2,000 cameleers came to Australia. A fitting tribute to the role played by Afghan cameleers can be seen in nearby Whitmore Square. See my separate review on ‘Voyagers’. Continue reading “Adelaide Mosque” →

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Adelaide Town Hall

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This classically styled Victorian building, featuring Corinthian style ornamentation and built of local Tea Tree Gully freestone and Dry Creek bluestone, was designed by Edmund Wright, a former city mayor. The building opened in 1866 and was touted as the largest municipal building in the southern hemisphere at the time. In 1872, writer Anthony Trollope, who was touring Australia at the time, rated the building, and town halls he had seen in Australia generally, as greatly beating those in Britain at the time. Continue reading “Adelaide Town Hall” →

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A Royal Palace in the West End

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Lest you think I have attached the wrong pictures to this review I should point out that this is not a palace in the real sense of the word. I will explain further, later in this review. This quaint, rather plain and indeed rather rundown looking clothes shop was formally a tearoom run by one of Adelaide’s most flamboyant sons – Albert Augustine (Bert) Edwards. Edwards, on the right, with one of his employees are depicted in my second picture, outside the tearooms as they were in 1912 – picture courtesy of the State Library of South Australia. Continue reading “A Royal Palace in the West End” →