We had walked down the street and checked out the Tree of Knowledge. For those of 
you who don't know - and we didn't know the whole story - this is it quickly. The ghost gum which grew outside the Railway Station, earned its claim to fame as the founding site of the political movement we now know as the Australian Labor Party. In 1891 Barcaldine was the centre for the striking shearers during the “Great Shearers Strike” when they met under it. In May 1891, about 3000 striking shearers marched under the “Eureka” flag to put forward their protests against poor working conditions and low wages. Because the area beneath the Tree of Knowledge was the scene of actions and decisions which had a profound effect on the future of labour and politics in Australia, it has become an icon of the Labor Party and Trade Unions.
you who don't know - and we didn't know the whole story - this is it quickly. The ghost gum which grew outside the Railway Station, earned its claim to fame as the founding site of the political movement we now know as the Australian Labor Party. In 1891 Barcaldine was the centre for the striking shearers during the “Great Shearers Strike” when they met under it. In May 1891, about 3000 striking shearers marched under the “Eureka” flag to put forward their protests against poor working conditions and low wages. Because the area beneath the Tree of Knowledge was the scene of actions and decisions which had a profound effect on the future of labour and politics in Australia, it has become an icon of the Labor Party and Trade Unions.Exciting right - we thought the same thing. The only really exciting thing about it was the tree had been poisoned a few years earlier and a memorial built - the floor was clear so you can see right through to the roots. It took quite some convincing for Lexie to walk on it - she was really worried it would break and she would fall in.
As we were walking back to the truck, we passed a few of the old pubs in town and decided to try one out for dinner - seeing as we hadn't had a dinner out since we left home. We asked a local which pub was the best, because there was five of them down the main street and she suggested one - so that was were we were off to. Lucky we did go there, because while we were waiting for dinner, Chris went to have a flutter on the pokies - and pulled out $360 from a 1c machine. A local was sitting at the machine next to him and she said she plays the pokies there all the time and has never seen anyone win on that machine before! Yippee !!
Now that we had started to head inland, we had started seeing our first road trains - Logan was amazed and fascinated by them. We had also started seeing trains that have lots and lots of carriages - which we think carry coal.
Heading off in the morning for Longreach.
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