Book Review: Asleep in the Deep

Review by Liz Downes:

Staring from the cover of Trisha Fielding’s latest book, Asleep in the Deep, is the face of a young man seemingly gazing with confidence into his future. It is perhaps with the benefit of hindsight that we  detect the vulnerability of youth in his wide eyes and smooth complexion, for the subtitle warns us that in fact his future was tragically short.  Clifford (Cliff) O’Brien was among the 122 souls lost in one of Australia’s worst peacetime maritime disasters: the wreck of the SS Yongala in March 1911.

Townsville Museum President Trish Cronin (left) with author Trisha Fielding (right) at the launch of Asleep in the Deep: a love lost on the SS Yongala. Photo: Wendy Simpkins.

 
The impact of the Yongala tragedy was huge throughout Queensland and beyond, but was especially felt in the north which was home to many of the passengers. Most notable was the Rooney family, Matthew Rooney being a well-known Townsville builder. Among many other northerners were a mother and son from Charters Towers, the matron of Townsville’s hospital and, perhaps most poignantly, a Cairns mother and her four children, one of them just six weeks old.

 
Yet, while we may know their names and a few limited details of their lives, from this distance in time it is hard to fully appreciate the extent of the emotional burden borne by their bereaved families. We might imagine the alternating dread and hope that filled those early days when the ship’s fate was still unknown. We might contemplate the strain of never knowing exactly what had happened or where in the ocean one’s loved ones lay, despite extensive searches and enquiries. But the immediacy of that grief and strain is lost.

Composite portrait of Clifford and Georgina O'Brien. 
Photographed in 2022 by Trisha Fielding [from an original held by Townsville Museum]

It is this gap that a recently discovered diary helps to fill, greatly enhanced by Trisha’s skillful and sensitive interpretation. The ‘diary’ (too weighty to be termed a scrapbook) was sent anonymously to the Townsville Museum nearly four years ago.  Compiled by Cliff’s widow, Georgina, a collection of carefully pasted telegrams, letters, newspaper articles and photographs, document her anxiety and desperation in those early days and, as time passed, her dogged attempts to record all developments in the subsequent search for answers. Through her thoughtful interrogation of the diary, Trisha allows us to experience something of Georgina’s agony as she progressed from confusion and uncertainty to shock, grief and a lifetime of searching for the truth.

Townsville Museum & Historical Society President Trish Cronin (left) with Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill (right), at the launch of Asleep in the Deep: a love lost on the SS Yongala, by Trisha Fielding.
Photo: Wendy Simpkins.

There are many touching inclusions, such as the letter from Cliff’s own father to Georgina’s, mourning the loss of his “beloved boy” while generously recognizing that it is on Georgina that “the blow falls with the fullest force”. Equally moving is Georgina’s strong desire to have Cliff’s status as the father of their unborn child openly acknowledged, demonstrated by the steps she took to ensure this was recorded on his death certificate.

Intriguingly Trisha’s skills as a historian, and her eye for detail, allowed her to pick up those little clues – a choice of words, things said or unsaid, a significant absence or pertinent date – which reveal an intriguing back story to this tragically brief marriage: a marriage which seems to have begun under a cloud of scandal and family estrangement. Yet it is comforting to find that, in Georgina’s worst hours, her family were there to support her through those first dark days and the long years which she devoted to her husband’s memory and their daughter’s future. 

Trisha’s own meticulous photography of items in the diary greatly enhances the visual appeal of her book and the sense of an historical archive revealed. I closed Asleep in the Deep with the feeling that Georgina would be both proud and content at the way her century-old story has been presented for a modern audience.

Liz Downes
James Cook University Library Special Collections Volunteer

Book details:

Title: Asleep in the Deep: a love lost on the SS Yongala
Author: Trisha Fielding
Publisher: Townsville Museum and Historical Society, 2022
ISBN: 9780646858975
Other: 43 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 297mm x 210mm (portrait)

Where you can get a copy:

Price: $20

Available exclusively from the Townsville Museum and Historical Society

A Penchant for Pen-names

Many twentieth-century North Queensland writers who were regular contributors to newspapers and popular journals seem to have had a curious affection for using pen-names, often writing under multiple different names. I've sometimes come across these writers when researching, and with by-lines like "Tramp", "Sundowner", "Bill Bowyang", "Bush Scribbler", "Battler", and "Viator", it's hard not to wonder just who were the people behind the names? Here's a small selection of writers whose identities I've been able to unearth.

Charles Alfred Jenkinson ("Tramp"), 1927.
Photo: Fifty Years in North Queensland.

"Tramp"

The author behind the pen name Tramp was Charles Alfred Jenkinson (1872-1944). Jenkinson travelled widely throughout North Queensland and Papua New Guinea while working as a commission/insurance agent. Under the name Chas. A. Jenkinson, he reported on conditions in the north’s mining outposts as a special correspondent for a number of regional newspapers. For Cummins and Campbell’s Monthly Magazine, Jenkinson - under the name Tramp - wrote articles that ranged from historical chronicles of towns and pioneers, and descriptive ‘sketches’ of places he visited, to yarns based on his travel adventures. C&C's Monthly Magazine was an extremely popular and long-lived publication that ran for more than 30 years. Jenkinson also wrote for a journal entitled The Steering Wheel and Society and Home*, though he probably submitted the same material to this publication as he had submitted to the other outlets that published his work. Across more than three decades, Jenkinson wrote under the pen-names Tramp, Old Northerner, Queenslander, Solanum and A Miner.

 

* In 1939, this Queensland publication claimed to be the State's "oldest motoring and social magazine" and had been running for 28 continuous years.

 

"Viator"

Another regular contributor (and editor) of Cummins and Campbell's Monthly Magazine was William James Doherty (1867-1939). Doherty spent his early working life as a schoolteacher before turning his hand to journalism. His articles for the Monthly Magazine appeared under his own name, as well as under the pen name Viator (meaning wayfarer, or traveller). Doherty’s attempt at producing a history of early Townsville: The Townsville Book, is not considered to be a reliable historical account, but it is certainly full of good yarns. It seems that Doherty was aware of the book’s shortcomings, and noted in his preface that the source documents he consulted were very often ‘meagre, contradictory and sometimes improbable’. But on balance, he thought there were ‘grains of fact in every one of them’. As well as the name Viator, Doherty is known to have also written as WJD, Aurifer, Cudtheringa and Northern Star.

"Sundowner"

Many North Queenslanders will be familiar with Sundowner, as his regular column "Around the Campfire" was printed in the North Queensland Register for more than 60 years. Sundowner was Queensland-born Glenville Pike (1925-2011) - an author, journalist, historian and publisher. He wrote at least 25 books, including Queensland Frontier, Pioneers' Country and Chasing the Rainbow: the Golden Gullies of the Palmer. 

While living in the Northern Territory, Pike started the North Australian Monthly, which ran from 1954 to 1965. The magazine's first edition carried the descriptive sub-heading: 'A Magazine devoted to publicising Tropical Australia North of Capricorn - Articles: Topical, Historical, Geographical. Good Stories - Illustrations'. Pike used his editorials to champion the cause of the northern part of Australia, which he argued was under-funded by government, and little-known by most people resident in the Southern part of Australia.

Pike's other pen-names were: Bush Scribbler, Gecko, GP, Greybox, Ironback, Munburra, P3X, Robert Mcalister Browne, and Warwick Lynd.

 

Someone who knows far more about Glenville Pike than I could ever tell you is Peter Simon, retired journalist from the glory days of newspapers; raconteur, and blogger behind the often quirky (though never dull) blog "Little Darwin". If you'd like to know more about "Sundowner", here are a few links to Peter's blog posts about Glenville Pike, whom he knew personally, from their days of writing for the Northern Territory News.

https://littledarwin.blogspot.com/2011/05/death-of-glenville-pike.html

https://littledarwin.blogspot.com/2015/06/spotlight-on-glenville-pike.html

https://littledarwin.blogspot.com/2016/07/glenville-pikes-photo-gallery.html

"Bill Bowyang" was Alexander Vindex Vennard (1884-1947), a freelance journalist and writer who also wrote under the names Curry, Frank Reid, Maurice Deane, Vindex, Old Hand and The Fossicker. Born on Vindex Station, in the Winton district of Queensland, he later lived for many years in Bowen, where he became an apprentice at the Port Denison Times. At one time he was a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, and a contributor to The Bulletin and London's Daily Mail. As Bill Bowyang, Vennard edited the column "On the Track" which appeared in the North Queensland Register for many years; and he collected and complied bush poetry. His five-set volume of Bush Recitations aimed to preserve bush ballads of early pioneering days.

Alexander Vennard ("Bill Bowyang").
Public Domain.

Vennard may have first used the name Frank Reid, when he enlisted in the AIF in 1914 - he served in Gallipoli and Egypt. While he was in Egypt, according to an obituary printed in the Bowen Independent, Vennard wrote for The Egyptian Mail and The Alexandria Gazette. Three books were published under the name Frank Reid: Toilers of the Reefs (1922), The Fighting Cameliers (1933) and Romance of the Great Barrier Reef (1947).

"Battler" was New Zealand-born Effie Pike (1890-1979), who wrote poetry and song lyrics, as well as short pieces for The Australian Woman's Mirror, The World's News, Cairns Post, and occasionally, The Australian Women's Weekly.

Snapshot of an article about Effie Pike, that appeared in the Australian Women's Weekly,  1937.
Source: Trove

After returning to Cairns from one of her outback adventures, she was quoted as saying:

"Give me the real thrill… I must have the actual experience of what I write about, otherwise the story doesn't ring true. I just wander around looking for stories, and my travels take me into all sorts of queer places, but there is a fascination about my travels that I would not exchange for all the deluxe transport in the world."

It was Effie Pike who encouraged her son Glenville Pike to embark on a writing career - at the tender age of 12! As well as the name Battler, Effie Pike wrote under the pen-names June Eversleigh, Billabong, Rambler, Roamer and Warrigal.

Even prolific Australian author Ion Idriess (who wrote more than 50 books under his own name) sometimes wrote under a pen-name. Idriess wrote as Gouger for the national periodical The Bulletin; and the pen-names Up North, Emucrest and Stannifer have also been attributed to him.

 

Sources & Further Reading:

• AustLit.edu.au
• Bowen Independent, 21 February 1947, p. 5.
• Cummins and Campbell's Monthly Magazine [various]
• Jennex, Gil, and Pike, Glenville, 'Some Pen-Names Used in North Queensland Literature', [unpublished manuscript, 10 pages], marked Draft Four, February 1999.
• Jenkinson, Graham, (compiler) Fifty Years in North Queensland - with peeps into Papua 1890-1940 by "Tramp", University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 2006.
• North Australian Monthly [various]
• Pike, Glenville, (editor) North Australian Monthly
• Simon, Peter, 'Little Darwin' Blog https://littledarwin.blogspot.com/
• 'Wades Crocodile-infested Rivers for Thrills', The Australian Women's Weekly, 1937, December 25, p. 3.   

    

Asleep in the Deep - a new book by Trisha Fielding

Asleep in the Deep: a love lost on the SS Yongala, a new book by Trisha Fielding, has just been published by the Townsville Museum and Historical Society!

A young woman, whose husband of just six weeks disappeared when the steamship Yongala sank near Townsville in 1911, kept a detailed account of her search to learn of his fate. Georgina O’Brien collected, and lovingly preserved, every newspaper clipping she could lay her hands on about the missing ship (which wasn’t properly identified until 1958); every telegram and letter she received in answer to her inquiries about her husband Clifford’s whereabouts; every photo and keepsake of their short life together — and collated it in an album. Perhaps she kept the diary because she held the hope that he was still alive? Perhaps she wanted her daughter, who was born later that year, to have a record of what had happened to the father she would never know? 

The sinking of the SS Yongala resulted in the loss of 121 lives — it was a truly calamitous event. But up until now, very little was known about those people and how their loved ones coped with the loss. Through a detailed examination of Georgina O’Brien’s original diary (now preserved for future generations at the Townsville Museum) Trisha Fielding has revealed a previously untold story that illuminates the true human cost of the disaster. 

But as tragic as the story contained within its pages is, Georgina’s diary also reveals an uplifting story of enduring love and hope — a final ‘love letter’ to her dearly departed.

Publication details:

Title: Asleep in the Deep: a love lost on the SS Yongala
Author: Trisha Fielding
Published by Townsville Museum and Historical Society, 2022
ISBN: 9780646858975
Other: 43 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 297mm x 210mm (portrait)

Where you can get a copy:

Price: $20

Available for purchase from the Townsville Museum and Historical Society after 23rd September 2022.

Address: 1/27 Barbeler Street, Currajong QLD 4812

Telephone: 4775 7838

Normanton - a Pilgrimage

Established in the late 1860s, Normanton, on the Norman River in the Shire of Carpentaria, is like a town suspended in time. Its boom years were tied to the discovery of gold on the Croydon goldfields, beginning in 1885. My great-grandmother, Emily, was born in Normanton in 1892, and her mother, Minnie, (along with Minnie's siblings Louisa and William) had been among the first prospective students at the Normanton School. I wanted to visit Normanton to see the place where Emily (and her mother) had grown up.

Side view of the Railway Station at Normanton, with steel framed Carriage Shade at rear.
Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

The journey from Croydon to Normanton was an easy 151km drive, with two lanes of bitumen all the way to Normanton. We arrived late morning and stopped at a small park with a quaint-looking QCWA hall in the centre of a lovely patch of green grass. A tiny oasis in a parched landscape. Home to around 1200 people, Normanton sits on an ironstone ridge, surrounded by savannah grasslands and tidal saltpans. Though dry and dusty at the time of year we visited (September), during the wet season, the landscape around Normanton morphs into a spectacular wetland, teeming with wildlife.

The landscape around Normanton. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

My first impression of Normanton was that it seemed to have a sort of forgotten feel about it - as though it's somehow still suspended in the middle of last century. The wide streets were mostly empty of people, but perhaps the locals have more sense than to be out sightseeing in the middle of the day? Highlights, in terms of heritage buildings, include the former Bank of New South Wales, the iconic Purple Pub (formerly known as the National Hotel), the Carpentaria Shire Building, the old Burns Philp Building, and the Railway Station complex.

Former Bank of New South Wales, Normanton. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

The Purple Pub - originally the National Hotel, Normanton. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Carpentaria Shire Building, Normanton. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Information Centre - originally Burns Philp and Co. Ltd. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Situated on the corner of Landsborough and Caroline Streets, the large, timber-framed and metal-clad Burns Philp & Co. building, built in 1884, is a dominant feature of the town, being visible from the air when flying into Normanton. It is a rare surviving example, and the oldest of the company's nineteenth century structures in Queensland which included those in Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Bowen, Charters Towers, Burketown, Cooktown and Thursday Island. It operated continuously as a general mercantile store and agency office for more than 120 years. It now houses an information centre and library.

Side view of the old Burns Philp Building, on the corner of Landsborough and Caroline Streets, Normanton. Caroline Street was named for Caroline Landsborough, wife of explorer and Police Magistrate William Landsborough. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Soon we were thinking about lunch, and we settled on the Albion Hotel. We sat outside under a covered verandah to have our lunch, and although it was a hot day this was pretty comfortable. The food was basic pub fare and the drinks were icy cold - so all up, we were happy.

Albion Hotel, Normanton, 2021. Photo: Trisha Fielding.

Albion Hotel, Normanton, 1953. Photo: State Library of Queensland.

 

I asked for (and received) permission from the bar staff to take some photographs of the painted tiles that decorated the top of one wall, close to the ceiling. These tiles (some are pictured below) once adorned the counter-top of the bar, and were illustrated by Percy Trezise, an artist, conservationist, rock art specialist, Aboriginal rights activist, author, bushman, pilot and storyteller.

Illustrations by Percy Trezise, Albion Hotel, Normanton. Photos: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Normanton is the terminus for the Normanton to Croydon railway line, and the town's historic Railway Station complex is an absolute must-see. Construction on the Normanton to Croydon line began in 1881, under the supervision of a surveyor named George Phillips. The country around Normanton is sparsely timbered and prone to flooding, so Phillips designed and patented a system which utilised special U-shaped steel sleepers laid directly on the ground. During floods the line could be submerged without washing out the ballast and embankments normally used, so that it could quickly be put back into service when the waters subsided. The steel sleepers were also impervious to termite attack. The line reached Croydon in 1891. Phillips's steel sleepers remain in use to this day.

Carriage Shade, Normanton Railway Station. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Normanton Railway Station. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Built around 1889, the Station building and Carriage Shade were designed by James Gartside, a draftsman for the Railways Department, and built under Phillips's supervision. At its peak the station building contained a telegraph office, station master and traffic managers offices, clerk's room, parcels and cloak room, booking office, and a ladies room. The curved Carriage Shade sheltered the platform and three tracks.

Normanton Railway Station. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

The rail-motor known as The Gulflander now runs weekly between Normanton and Croydon.
Photo: Tourist Information Board, Normanton.

I loved experiencing the place where my great-grandmother grew up.  Now I can really appreciate (and better understand) why (when she was very old, frail and blind; and staying at my grandparents' house in the 1980s) she kept asking whether we had packed enough water for our trip? This was just a trip in our car to our house - a few suburbs away - but she was concerned we might not have enough water for the journey. A child at the time, I thought it was a funny thing for her to say - but I truly get it now. She was remembering back to her days in Normanton. You wouldn't last long up this way if you set out without water. Not then. And not now, either.

Oh... and one last thing... the sunsets in Normanton are spectacular!

Sunset, Normanton. Photo: Trisha Fielding 2021.

Be sure to check out my other blog post: Watching the last light in Normanton.

Croydon — historic gold-mining town

Population-wise, the town of Croydon, in north-western Queensland, is a shadow of its former, bustling self. Though it's now home to only a few hundred people, back in 1887, the town's population was 7000. (At its peak, around 1890, Croydon was Queensland's fourth-largest town). The rush to the Croydon goldfield began in late 1885, and thousands flocked there from far and wide seeking to make their fortunes in gold. More than 130 years later, it is the town's historic buildings and mining relics that attract most visitors to Croydon. I'll admit, Croydon had been on my "must visit one day" list for many years, and in 2021, I finally got to explore this fabulous little old gold town. It did not disappoint.

Replica mine headframe outside the True Blue Visitor Information Centre, Croydon.
This centre is home to informative, museum-like displays, as well as outdoor artefacts. It's perhaps the best "information centre" of its kind, outside of the large, regional north Queensland centres.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

We arrived in Croydon on a Sunday, around the middle of the day. Our first stop was lunch at the pub — the Club Hotel. This hotel was built around 1887 and is now the only pub (of the 36 that were operating in that era) that remains in Croydon. It's a charming old hotel that offers food, drinks and accommodation. We ordered some lunch and sat near an open window to eat and enjoy a cold drink.

The Club Hotel, Croydon, NQ.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

The view diagonally across from the pub was of the former Male Ward of the old Croydon Hospital. This building, originally built in 1894, was relocated here from its original location in the 1980s. It's now called Matron Morrow Hall and is used by the community for various purposes. 

Former Male Ward of the Croydon Hospital, now known as Matron Morrow Hall.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

There are lots of relics to see in Croydon, that evoke the town's mining heydays, particularly the old machinery you can see on display.  The gold on the Croydon goldfield was not alluvial, so you couldn't scratch around near the surface and find gold, like other North Queensland goldfields. The gold was in "reefs", so it had to be mined underground. That's why so much old hefty-looking mining equipment is laying around here. Some of it is in the (open) grounds of the Croydon Shire Council, or at the True Blue Visitor Information Centre (essentially a small museum); but there's also the site of the Iguana Consuls Mine, just a few minutes drive out of town. Most of what you'll see in town has been brought in from old mine sites, so none of it is in situ, which does take something away from the interpretive value of these relics. There is some signage on the displays outside the Visitor Information Centre, which does provide some context, but the machinery in the Council grounds has no signage at all, unfortunately. The exception to this is the heritage-listed Iguana Consuls Mine site, which has mining relics still in situ. This mine is the site of the last deep prospecting shaft sunk on this goldfield — in 1915.

 

A Langlands ore-crushing battery, (a ten-head 'stamper'), in the grounds of the Croydon Shire Council.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Two Langlands boilers, in the grounds of the Croydon Shire Council. These were originally located on the nearby Esmerelda goldfield.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Machinery on display outside the True Blue Visitor Information Centre, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Stuart & McKenzie's Union Foundry, established in Croydon in 1891, manufactured machinery for the field.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021. 

The buildings in the town's heritage precinct are all free for the visitor to wander through. Several have very informative displays inside and its worth allowing a couple of hours to have a proper look through them all. The former Town Hall, built around 1890, is a highlight of the streetscape — with its statement tower adorned with a delicate cast iron balustrade. Built of timber and corrugated iron, the building is now used as a movie theatre and dance hall. The stone-pitched gutters on the footpath and the period street lamps add to the authentic feel of this beautifully preserved building. 

Former Croydon Town Hall, Samwell Street, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Former Croydon Court House (c. 1887), Samwell Street, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Side view of former Croydon Police Station (c. 1896), Samwell Street, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Front verandah, former Police Sergeant's Residence (c. 1897), Samwell Street, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

A fascinating site to visit is the Croydon Chinese Temple and Settlement archaeological dig site, on the fringe of the town. There’s a circular track around the cordoned-off site, with interpretive panels on small posts and each of these elaborates on the life of a Chinese person who lived in Croydon in the gold rush days. According to the Queensland Heritage Register:

Chinese settlers moved into the area soon after gold was found. It has been suggested that their involvement was primarily ... as gardeners, cooks, and carriers. No Chinese held claims at Croydon, although some worked on tribute for other miners. The majority however, worked as market gardeners on 172 acres surveyed in the town plan as garden areas. The Chinese were the chief providers of fresh fruit and vegetables on the goldfields usually growing fruit such as custard apples, mandarins, watermelons and lemons.

... the size and form of the temple was far more substantial than would be expected in an itinerant community. The floor plan shows that the temple was slightly larger than the Atherton temple where the regional Chinese population exceeded 1000. According to a 1986 analysis of the Australian Chinese population after 1881, Sydney, with 3,500 and Melbourne, with 2,400 were the two key centres of population. Research showed that the total Chinese population in all other colonial capitals did not exceed 500 in each place. So Croydon, with an average of 300 people, probably had one of the largest Chinese populations in regional Australia. 

Most interestingly, according to historian Dr Jan Wegner, there were also Chinese hard rock miners who invested in mines on the Croydon field. So the Chinese settlers here weren't only market gardeners, storekeepers or cooks.  

The remnants of six sandstone bases on the site of a Chinese Temple at Croydon, dating to the 1880s.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

No visit to a town like Croydon would be complete for me without a visit to the cemetery. The day we visited was a warm one, around 32 degrees celsius, with very low humidity (18%) that made your eyes sting a bit. We waited until late afternoon, to avoid the worst of the heat. 

Croydon Cemetery.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

The grass was so crispy and dry here that it made a loud crunching noise under my shoes. No one else was around. We wandered about, looking at the headstones — calling to each other’s attention a particularly interesting headstone or inscription, when each of us found one. It was a quiet, but moving experience. Just us and some raucous cicadas. And the silent presence of the people buried here, who once had such high hopes for their futures — hopes of gold and prosperity. But so many were cut down in their prime. Illness or accident prevailed as causes of death here, more so than old age. I got the sense that not too many grew old here, back then. 

Chinese headstone, Croydon Cemetery.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

 

Headstone, Croydon Cemetery.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Apart from all the history and heritage attractions in Croydon, there's also a great lookout from which to take in the spectacular sunsets up this way. And a beautiful man-made lake — Lake Belmore, which is less than 4km from town. Built in 1995, Lake Belmore provides Croydon with its town water supply. You can fish and swim here (though I probably wouldn't, given the prominent sign warning of freshwater crocodiles!) and there's also a picnic ground here, complete with well maintained BBQs, under large, covered shelters. We thoroughly enjoyed a beautiful BBQ picnic here one evening, right beside the lake. It was a tranquil spot. And the progression of glorious colours — of powder blue and burnt orange and blood red — as the sun had set and reflected off the lake, was a glorious sight to behold.  

Croydon, as seen from Diehm's Lookout. Kapok tree in foreground.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Sunset over Lake Belmore, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

There's something special here for the train buffs too! Croydon is the end of the line for the Normanton to Croydon rail line. This line, built between 1888 and 1891, is a stand-alone rail line — it only ever ran between Croydon and Normanton (from "nowhere to nowhere"). The iconic 'Gulflander' railmotor arrives in Croydon once a week between February and December, weather permitting. But more on this in my next blog — on the port town of Normanton. 

The end of line, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021. 

Oh, and incidentally, the meals at the Club Hotel were excellent. It's just the usual pub food, but it's as close as you'll get to a home-cooked meal when you're a long way from home. I can recommend the lamb chops with vegetables and gravy. Out the back in the "beer garden" is the best spot to enjoy your dinner!

Out the back of the Club Hotel, Croydon.
Photo: Trisha Fielding, 2021.

Sources and further reading:

• Chinese Temple and Settlement Site: https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602079
• Croydon Court House: https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=600437
• Croydon Town Hall: https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601653
• Jan Wegner and Jana Kahabka, 'Croydon's historic machinery collection: A case study in the uses and needs of outback heritage machinery collections', Queensland Review, Vol. 25, Issue 2, 2018, pp. 252-266.
• Glenville Pike, Croydon Gold: An Illustrated History of Croydon, North Queensland, Pinevale Publications, Mareeba, 1986.