A New Horizon

The country is calling me, the hinterland of Australia, this ancient land, where rocky foundations were laid 370 million years ago, and ancient seas raged around western Victoria a mere 40 million years ago, creating inland deserts and lakes and small pockets of green. Lands that were once steeped in another culture and language, before colonial farmers denuded the plains, believing that the rain would follow the plough, and sometimes it did: where the old knowledge of birds, animals and land, the indigenous Dreamtime, powerful and evocative, can be felt, the song lines understood. These are the lands I now must visit, my new horizons are the most ancient of all.

Ancient pool, Gariwerd
old waterways and creeks, Grampians
Soar like an eagle. Looking for Bunjil
Our Australian bush, gum trees, Gariwerd
reeds in lake, Dunkeld
Rocks smoother by creeks, the Grampians/Gariwerd
View of the Grampians from Dunkled
Rock formations, the Grampians, Victoria.
Ancient formations.

38 thoughts on “A New Horizon”

  3. Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge- – WoollyMuses

        1. Australian cities are huge and sprawling. Melbourne’s population is 4.4 million and Sydney’s is 4.8 million. Most of teh residents of Australia have very little contact with the country, have never seen a kangaroo in the wild, and don’t have much interest in the hinterland, being more attracted to the coast.

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                1. That’s true, only around 55 kms. Unlike most rural places close to the city, we live in a green wedge zone, declared in 1994, which separates this area from urban growth corridors. Land cannot be subdivided here and there are a variety of other controls, such as tree removal. This is why we have mobs of kangaroos passing through. It is a rare thing for such a relatively pristine bush wedge to be so close to a city.

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    1. its not such a bad run from South Australia, a little side trip for you. Yes, I wouldn’t mind heading back there now, but really, I am having fun, for once, freed, as I am from too much holiday obligation.

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      1. This is the first time since our daughter left home four Christmases ago that she will be home for Christmas, and for that I’m very glad. I don’t even mind cooking for the four of us, it’s all the hoopla everywhere around that closes in on me! I’m glad you are having fun xx

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        1. You have to learn the art of ignoring hoopla Ardys. Meditate through it all. My son and daughter in law are profoundly deaf and they love christmas shopping. They wander through and only ‘hear’ each other:

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  6. Strange that we live in Victoria and have never been there! The trouble is the western area of Victoria is too far away from Melbourne for a day’s visit, but I’m gonna go there seeing we are retired now!!! Your photos are awesome. I want to do Broken Hill too. Another area you may be interested in Francesca is in western Queensland – the Mt Isa area – where the place is full of Pre-Cambrian rock hills – the oldest rock formations on earth. The Aboriginal tribe there were the Kalkadoons, an extremely tall race of people, whose descendants still live in the area. You can see them everywhere when you go for a stroll uptown (remember I lived there for 3 years). The rock fossicking areas were great to explore on weekends, our only time for fossicking when working. You can find amethysts embedded in small rocks, in their raw state, and Maltese Crosses which can only be found 2 places on earth – Mt Isa, Queensland and South America.

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  8. Pingback: New Horizon: Spring | What's (in) the picture?

  9. Really beautiful country, Francesca, and your photos are equally beautiful. What a wonderful goal to visit all these ancient places. Feeling dreamtime in such places is a lovely indigenous concept. One day I hope to experience these places for myself.

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  10. The aboriginal stories and legends really come alive when you visit these ancient formations. The Dreamtime stories make far more sense to me than the Bible, although strangely enough, there are some cross over themes..

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  16. Yours is such a beautiful country, Francesca, and your photos stunning. How ever did you winnow down the many and select these few to share? I would have gotten lost in thought very early on in the process. I do hope you will be able to again visit your much-loved “new horizons”.

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