Irish & Wool in Boorowa

Over the NSW Labour Day long weekend, we had originally wanted to try out our new Cub Camper. But as the weather was not very conducive to ‘camping’ reasonably close to home to try our camper, we decided to look for a place further afield where the weather was forecast to be better. After a suggestion from me, Rebecca booked us a room at a hotel in Boorowa about 3 hours drive north east of home.

After some searching on the Internet for things to do in and around Boorowa, we found out that the Labour Day weekend was when the Boorowa Irish Woolfest was on. In the PDF we downloaded it said the Woolfest was a “rollickin’ good time full of craic, woolly wonders and a dash of Irish charm“. Amongst the many activities mentioned in the PDF were Barefoot Bowls, Quick Sheer Competition, live music, Irish dancers, wood cutting competition and demonstration, working dog trials, Blessing of the Fleece and the Running of the Sheep. It sounded like it could be a very interesting weekend!

On Sabbath, we spent most of the day on a scenic drive in the countryside, visiting the hamlets of Rye Park, Reid’s Flat, Darby’s Falls and Frogmore, and the Wyangala Dam. Those place names have interesting sounding names. What is more interesting is some of the history behind those locations.

Rye Park is situated on the Pudman Creek, which has been described as a pristine waterway where platypus, turtles, frogs and the endangered Pigmy Perch can be found. The area was first settled for farming by Europeans in the 1840s. But there have been periods of mining for silver and tin as well. Today the town is involved in wool and meat production. Evidence of the village’s early settlers can still be found. Hamilton Hume’s family settled in the area in 1865, their homestead remains today remains relatively unchanged from its original construction and it is still a privately owned working sheep property. Today, the Rye Park area is also home to a fairly large wind turbine farm.

Reid’s Flat is situated on the south bank of the Lachlan River. There is a rich history of indigenous dreaming associated with the valley as well as a lively bushranger history. Bushrangers were active in the area during the early 1860s included Jack Peisley and Frank Gardiner, who would often seek refuge at the farm of a William Fogg and in caves within the surrounding rocky mountains that provided excellent hiding places for them. It has been claimed that girlfriends and wives would hang white washing on the lines in the valley when it was safe for the bushrangers to leave their lairs. Today local merino sheep wool produced in the area is amongst the finest in the world, with most of the 15 micron fleece being pre-sold to the Italian fashion market. Prices received per bale of this wool often sell for world record prices.

Wyangala Dam is a “major gated rock fill with clay core embankment and gravity dam with eight radial gates and a concrete chute spillway across the Lachlan River”. It is located in the south-western slopes region of New South Wales, it’s purposes including flood mitigation, hydro-power generation, irrigation, water supply and conservation. The lake resulting from the dam is called Lake Wyangala. Completed in 1935, and upgraded in 1971, Wyangala Dam also provides drinking quality water for the towns of Cowra, Forbes, Parkes, Condobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Euabalong and Euabalong West. It also provides water for a far larger area and operates in conjunction with Lake Brewster and Lake Cargelligo to supply water to the lower Lachlan valley. The dam wall is comprised of rockfill and a clay core and is 85 metres high and 1.37km long and at 100% capacity the dam wall holds back 1,220,000 ML of water having a surface area of 5,390 ha, from a catchment area of 8,300 km2. Wyangala Dam is the second oldest dam built for irrigation in New South Wales and was one of the last dams in the state where a railway or tramway system was used to aid construction. It is the only dam on the Lachlan River system, which feeds the Murrumbidgee River, which also feeds into the Murray River. A hydro-electric power station at the damn generates up to 22.5 MW of electricity from the flow of the water leaving the dam. The name Wyangala is said to originate from an indigenous Wiradjuri word of unknown meaning and is the name of Wyangala Station which was one of the properties flooded by Lake Wyangala waters when construction of the dam was completed in 1935. The current earth and rock wall was constructed between 1961 and 1971 due to fears that the original dam wall was beginning to lift away from its base, which would render it unable to withstand a major flood.

Darbys Falls is a small village situated 15 km east of Cowra, New South Wales. There is a public astronomical observatory located near the village. The village is situated on the Lachlan River between Wyangala and Cowra. The topography of the land is rough and hilly, surrounded by large granite tors and boulders. The area has a significant mining history for various minerals, including gold. In 2012, the village association applied to rename the Darbys Falls Recreational Reserve in honour of Lynne Sawyers who was named “Local Australian of the Year” in the Australia Day Honours List for 2012. Lynne received the award from Prime Minister Julia Gillard for her community work in fostering more than 200 children over 15 years. The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales refused to recognise the “Lynne Sawyers Reserve” because it had a policy of not allowing place names that honour people who are still living. However the Cowra Council encouraged the village association to defy the Geographical Names Board and hold an official renaming ceremony in 2013 anyway.

Frogmore is a small village about 25 minutes drive north-east of Boorowa. Copper was first discovered and mined in the area in the 1850s, with wolfrum and tungsten also being mined in the area. Magnificent granite tors can be seen in the area around the village, as well as throughout the area of our Sabbath scenic drive.

One thing that seemed lacking in regards to all the locations mentioned above was information signage about their history and attributes! Or maybe we just didn’t look in the right place in those locations.

After a long day of exploring, in the evening we decided to avail ourselves of the culinary fare in the hotel where we were staying for our evening meal, but alas when we went to the hotel’s restaurant after Sabbath we had left it too late and it was too busy and there were no tables available. So we opted for pizza from the “Roadhouse” take-away a few doors down and across the road instead.

We started Sunday with a walk along the river, then along some of Boorowa’s streets, and breakfast provided by the hotel we were staying in. Then, while some of the Irish Woolfest stallholders were still setting up, we had a look around the various market stalls. Rebecca engaged in some Retail Therapy, purchasing a box of Batlow Non-Alcoholic Apply Cider, a large tub of Boorowa Honey, and some very yummy looking cakes (which we had for dessert as part of our lunch). There was a lot of other things to see before the parade and the “Running of the Sheep”. We chose to see the classic cars, a wood chopping demonstration, a wandering leprechaun (who we got a photo with), and highland and Celtic bagpipe bands, as well as browsing in some of the local shops.

One thing that intrigued me was the inclusion of bagpipe bands in an essentially Irish festival. I did a quick search on the Internet, and it suggested that while bagpipes are commonly associated with Scotland today, they apparently have a long history in other parts of the world before becoming part of the Scottish way of life. One website claimed that bagpipes, or their progenitor, were first used in Egypt around 400BC. The Uilleann Pipes, a type of bagpipes, are the characteristic national bagpipes of Ireland. The tonal qualities of the uilleann pipes are unlike many other forms of bagpipes. They have a different harmonic structure, sound sweeter and are quieter than many others, such as the Great Irish warpipes, and Great Highland bagpipes. The uilleann pipes are often played indoors, and are almost always played sitting down.

After looking around the various things and listening to the 2 pipe bands that attended the festival, we purchased some lunch from one of the food vendors. Then we found a suitable place on the upper floor balcony of the hotel to eat our lunch and await the parade.

The parade started after some speeches from various dignitaries and spokespeople representing some of the sponsors of the event, and included a mobile sheep shearing float, floats or vehicles from various emergency services, community organisations, and vehicle clubs. It was all very interesting. Then it was time for the “Running of the Sheep”. You may have heard of the “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona. The “Running of the Sheep” is Boorowa’s version of that, with sheep running down the main street and back. Unlike the Running of the Bulls, it doesn’t involve people running ahead of the animals (or at least it didn’t this year), but rather being herded by farmers on 4 wheel vehicles, and their working dogs. Apparently at the point where the sheep had to turn around to proceed back to where they started, there was some confusion, although we didn’t see it from our vantage point.

After the “Running of the Sheep”, there were Irish bands providing street music and vendors continued selling their wares until about 3pm. Then the process of packing up commenced. By about 5pm, virtually everything was packed up and the main street returned to normal, almost like there had been no festival at all that day.

One of the reasons I suggested Boorowa was that I wanted to get some photos of what was left of the Galong – Boorowa railway. After the “Running of the Sheep” I went for a walk around the town looking for old railway infrastructure. On Friday, on our journey to Boorowa, I managed to get some good photos of Galong station and bridges between Galong and Boorowa. While walking in Boorowa itself I managed to get some photos of the various remnants of the railway in and near the town including a wooden bridge, concrete culvert, old turntable, grain silos, and a water column once used to fill the tenders of steam engines. For information on the Galong – Boorowa railway, go to my Jimsmodeltrains website.