barcaldine

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Journalists on the Job, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

The story of Henri Gilbert and the wife he acquired in Roma is here in the JOL Blog blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/2016/07/26/the-french-pedestrian...

"In the late nineteenth century, French journalist Henri Gilbert set out to walk around the world. When Gilbert came to Australia he crossed the continent from Perth to Brisbane. He traveled on foot across the Nullarbor Plain, an arduous leg of the journey, taking some five and a half months. Gilbert kept a diary of the crossing in his meticulously tidy hand. That 173-page diary is a treasure that, by chance, was uncovered by Colin Dyer when he was browsing in the John Oxley Library in Brisbane." "The diary includes photographs of Gilbert himself and the people he met on his way, as well as cuttings about his journey from the local newspapers of the time. At each stop, the diary is authenticated by a signed attestation from the station master, the hotel owner, the postmaster, or the local mayor."--BOOK JACKET. Source: A Frenchman's walk across the Nullarbor: Henri Gilbert's diary, Perth to Brisbane 1897-1899 / translated and edited by Colin Dyer

Barcaldine is a hugely important and symbolic destination for visitors and travellers interested in the history of working people in Australia. It was here in 1891 that shearers, confronted with lower pay, went on strike, joined together in a camp outside the town and held meeting under "The Tree of Knowledge" - all events which played an important role in the formation of the Australian Labor Party. Today the town celebrates its historic radicalism with a Workers Heritage Centre, a Heritage Listed Shearers' Strike Camp Site and a beautifully re-created 'Tree of Knowledge'. The town is central to the Barcaldine Regional Council which covers 53,677 square kilometres and includes the towns of Alpha, Jericho, Aramac, and Muttaburra. Source www.aussietowns.com.au/town/barcaldine-qld

Children are still riding goat carts in Barcaldine. www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/barcaldine-school-grabs-pr...

This is Barcaldine. Compare with this other photo: www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/Image/DigitalImageDetails.a...

Thanks Kaye! I will pass this on to our catalogers.

This looks like Oak St / Capricorn Highway , the Barcaldine train station on the left, Artesian hotel, and possibility the tree of knowledge,

possibly Railway hotel , Shakespeare hotel