Day 18 - Richmond - Hughenden - Pentland

Stopped at Richmond and Hughenden on the way to Pentland. Richmond is a charming town. We enjoyed reading about the different businesses on the excellent historical plaques up and down the main street. It was interesting to note that nearly all the buildings of note had burned down not once but two or three times over their life. We noted that the hotels in other towns had burned down several times but put that down to boisterous ringers and jackaroos getting a bit drunk and careless. Still, it probably helped to keep them warm during the cold winters. The town council had invested in a long term development plan and were implementing it well. The central strip in the main street had many beautiful brightly coloured bougainvillea that had been trained into small shrub shapes.

We lunched on the banks of the Flinders River at Hughenden and learned how a couple of brown snakes had taken up residence in and round the tourist information centre. It was quite entertaining to listen to the tourist officer recounting how she tried to call the depot for help but could not get an answer. Meanwhile the snake was twining itself round the stem of her desk chair. She had vacated the chair earlier so it must have been after a warm seat! The town did not have the same feel as Richmond and the map simply stated the names of the different buildings so it was hard to imagine the history.

We passed the Anglican Church with a very ‘friendly’ sign on the front gate of the rectory. The sign reads “This is a PRIVATE residence. Welfare assistance is not available here”. It made an interesting contrast to the AIM and the passion of John Flynn.

On the way through Prairie we stopped to look at a 35’ (10.7M) Comet Windmill. We were told by a passing council official that it was one of about 31 to have been made. He also said that they were going to connect it to a pump so people could see it working. They had all the parts they were just waiting for the old bloke to connect it. “Should happen some time.” he said with a knowing shake of his head and a shrug of his shoulders.