Joining of the Rails 100th Anniversary Update

Well this post is finally back on line........

The weather today was hot out here reaching 41 and a friendly breeze to add to the atmosphere.

There has been a steady crowd gathering all day and now outside, it is just perfect, with not a breath of wind.

The passenger train that came through tonight slowed right down for everyone to get some good photos.

It's been that hot, that no was had a campfire, which is a pitty, as there was a large amount of wood brought in for the event.

The air strip was graded the other day and so far 2 plane have landed. Dick Smith will be flying in mid morning and so will a lot more day trippers.

As hot as it has been, the crowd of people has made the atmosphere just great and there is a complete range of ages, people will into their eighties who once worked out here on the Railways through to younger people that just love the bush and want to be part of this historic event.


More new tomorrow.


Cheers


Stephen

Monday night was topped off with a free concert which added to the atmosphere.

As everyone went to bed there was not a breath of wind, but it sure made up for it during the night, with a very strong wing taking vengeance.

Dawn on the day and people are stirring and the toilets are getting a good work out.

Tuesday 17th October 2017

Well what a day.

The wind did not let up during the morning and seemed to just get stronger, along with a very fast rising temperature.

My marshalling duties started at 8 am with fellow EO Member Peter G from Tamworth. Our shift finished at just after 11am and during that time, we were now getting a very steady flow of day visitors for the day and the day parking area was filling quickly. the wind was now beyond a joke and many people had one thing on their mind....to pack up and head off after the event.

The time was now fast approaching and so was the temperature.... it was now well over 42° well before 12 noon. The official ceremony was spot on time and after many speeches, it was time for Dick Smith to unveil the official new plaque on the southern memorial.

The crowd was fantastic, with many hundreds of people venturing to this very remote spot on the Nullarbor to witness the 100th Anniversary and the unveiling at the very time when the rails were joined all that time ago.

Well what a memorable few days at Ooldea.

A very special thanks to the very dedicated few that persisted in making the special event happen.

It is the quiet ones that made it happen and a very special thanks to Leon Ashton from Quorn and my great friend, Murray Collins from Ceduna that persisted to get it off the ground.

The west coast is always a very special place to visit and if you are very passing through, please take time to visit the many interesting out of the way places to see.

Now to head back home and see more places.

Here are a couple more images of our drive over to the west coast....

All looks fantastic Stephen!!

Well done to everyone.

Well done to all.
Pity the celebrations didn't seem to make it to the general media.

Fellow Readers
Thankyou Stephen for your postings. It was great to attend and meet fellow EO members.

As others have said the weather gods had their bit of fun with attendees - still that's the Outback. And those pesky little prickles (note to self - sock savers next time).

For me the event was a culmination of the contribution of my grandfather who worked on the line construction as a ganger and my own various experiences over a 40 yr period. It was poignant to take in the location and consider the wonderful nation building work that took place and the scale of that, without the benefits of mechanization travel and communications we take for granted today. And too boot it was done in the middle of WW1.

Special thanks to all who contributed to make the occasion happen without the benefit of any direct government funding, ARTC for the monuments, Dick Smith and Arkaroola along with the Australian Rail Museum and many other in-named contributes in both finance and time. Special thanks to the "Dunny Man" for the unique experience of odor free Portaloos - it shows it is possible.

The lack of Politicians had an upside in that it allowed an ambience and unfettered enjoyment of the moment to prevail by those who really appreciated the unique opportunity without having press crews and politicians take the limelight. Perhaps there was a lot of washer cutting in the halls of power with pending constitutional matters and the sheer difficulty of actually getting to outback Australia - I mean a small plane landing on a small dirt strip with significant cross winds and no frequent flyer points, limo or Qantas or Virgin Club at the airport - really (being sarcastic LOL) . Anyway we did not have to sit too long in the sun listening to boring speeches.

I attach the following taken at sunrise



Regards

Pete_G