I’ve yet to meet a Calcareous Concretion I didn’t like.

Although there’s some confusion about exactly where that magical Moon Rock meeting is likely to be. My first sighting in Outback Queensland’s Richmond was supposed to be ‘unique to the Richmond Shire’ according to the town guide.

BUT … I’d clocked up several hundred Moon Rock sightings before heading a few hundred kilometres south-west, where a data sheet from Boulia’s Stone House Museum outlines the geological forces that formed – yes, you guessed it – the BOULIA Calcareous Concretions!

Richmond’s dubious claims of Moon Rock uniqueness are weakened further by calcareous concretion presence in the Gogo formation of the Kimberley, Western Australia. Happily, my razor-sharp mind immediately resolved this discrepancy!

Calcareous Concretions are a feature of the Toolebuc formation, left when Australia’s vast inland sea dried up after covering much of what is now Outback Queensland – including both Richmond and Boulia!! QED …

Of course the most common form of calcareous concretion is the pearl – I therefore stand by my opening sentence – but other than formation method, the pearl and the Moon Rock are completely dissimilar …

However, although Moon Rocks can be seen in Boulia and the Kimberley, the fossil fossicking grounds of the Richmond shire, where FOSSILHUNTER once roamed (and shall roam again!), is their heartland.

Ranging in size from tiny to immoveable, you can’t throw a fossil-bearing rock without hitting some evidence of Richmond’s widespread exploitation of the Moon Rock’s decorative qualities.

The commemorative cairn, a grim or happy reminder (depending on your politics and point of view) of ex-Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen who opened the Flinders Highway that bisects the town, is made of various smaller sized Moon Rocks.

But there’s no evidence that they in any way resemble the pumpkin scones made famous by Sir Joh’s wife, Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen …*

A scattering of larger Moon Rocks lurk in the gardens below the Lakeview Caravan Park around the wonderful Fred Tritton Lake (above), a feature of Richmond’s ingenuity and an understandably popular local gathering spot.

But if you want to see Moon Rocks in their natural habitat, drive out to Cambridge Crossing on the Stawell River, 40 km from Richmond.

The riverbed, mostly dry on our June, 2011 visit gave no clue to the forces that pushed these Moon Rocks up against the crossing bed when the river flowed.

Luckily, the temptation to crack open a Moon Rock’s hard casing and cut through the limestone layer to discover the fossil or crytal that formed its nuclei was thwarted by the absence of a rock pick. Well, actually a jackhammer …

So here’s one someone prepared earlier!

A pile of Moon Rocks cleared from the riverbed and crossing didn’t look THAT big – until I stood next to them!

And remember I’m not a small person … although I’m still wondering how Pilchard’s photo of me and the Moon Rocks (below) was mysteriously photo-shopped to make me look fat …

While I salivate at the memory of top notch Bakery goods from the mysteriously named Moon Rock café at world class dinosaur fossil museum Kronosaurus Korner … they’ve really got nothing to do with the rest of this post  Just put it down to Moon Rocks in my head …

Richmond residents clearly come by THEIR Moon-Rocks-on-the-brain obsession honestly because it’s here, during the biennial Richmond Fossil Festival that the World Champion Moon Rock-throwing competition is held!

SO … if you’ve got the $AUD5.00 entry fee, and can throw a 23 kg (50 lb) Moon Rock more than 5.04 metres, you just MIGHT topple 2011 World Champ David Ievers in May 2012 and grab yourself a world championship title!!

Me, I think I’ll take my chances with the pearls …

Want more information?

• FOSSILHUNTER
• Moon Rocks
• World Champion Moon Rock-throwing Competition, 2018
• Kronosaurus Korner and Richmond

* Forgive me the indulgence of this gratuitous history lesson – Although Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and his wife, Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen were Queensland’s first couple 1968-87, these controversial and colourful figures were well known throughout Australia. He for his policies that allowed controversial development unsullied by such considerations as standard approval processes, and allegations of corruption; she for the fabulous pumpkin scones for which she will always be remembered despite later becoming a senator in her own right.

The post Only in OZ #19 – Moon Rock-Throwing World Championships, Richmond, Queensland appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

The benign, blue sky stretches away to infinity around western Queensland’s Boulia, mostly unrelieved by clouds, birds or planes. Unremarkable – at least by Outback standards – Boulia’s boundless blue backdrop is the ultimate Big Sky luring travellers to the Outback.

But it’s not the splendidly panoramic sky of daylight hours that attracts visitors to this remote capital of the Channel Country.

It’s the mysterious Min Min Light which only appears at night!

The famous lights didn’t appear as we descended south from Julia Creek and Mt Isa into Boulia after 600km on indifferent outback roads.  Hardly surprising, given it was still daylight.

So with a mixture of anticipation and scepticism, we read signs around the town proclaiming we’d entered Min Min Light country.   Would we get to see the famous lights on our first foray into the paranormal world of this phenomenon for which there is no rational explanation?

The Min Min light has been well known in Aborginal lore for generations.  But the first police report of the legendary light was lodged shortly after the Min Min hotel, 100km east of Boulia, burned down, leaving only a bottle heap and cemetery.

Panicking after seeing a glow hovering over the graveyard, a passing stockman spurred his horse for Boulia.  To his horror, the light turned and followed him most of the way back to town.

While his report was met with derision, a short time later a couple new to the area arrived in Boulia.  They requested an explanation for a mysterious light which moved away from them when they moved towards it, but followed them once they returned to the road.

Then, a few nights later, another stockman reported an eerie light originating from the Min Min graveyard, this time bounding through the air like a football.

Despite theories – phosphorescence, burning gas, ghostly apparition, alcoholic influence, even fungus!! – there’s no scientific explanation to completely explain the spooky light.  Now the Min Min light – often mistaken for a bright car headlight – has been seen by thousands of people since that first sighting nearly 100 years ago.  But  despite attempts to chase it down, it’s never been caught, outpacing runners, horses and cars.

Even if the lights HAD appeared at the excellent Boulia caravan park on the Burke river (named for the explorer) overnight, it would’ve been impossible to see them in the deep sleep we’d sunk into after a long day on the road.  So the next day, our paranormal adventure continued at the local Boulia Museum ‘Min Min Encounter’, the only place where a Min Min Lights sighting is guaranteed!

Tragically, it’s not possible to photograph any part of the 45 minute journey we followed through this professionally designed hi-tech production.  

But it successfully debunks possible explanations through actual eyewitness accounts of genuine Min Min light experiences.

Then the journey ends with a simulated night bus ride through the moonlit outback terrain, where the Min Min lights appear just before dawn!

The post Aussie Icons #6 – Min Min light, Boulia, Queensland appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

The ancient landscape of OZ, eroded by time, long disappeared sea beds and a harsh climate has given rise to weirdly unique and bizarre creatures. Well … their remains, anyway!

I knew this. But I DIDN’T know the present day Outback fossil fields near northwest Queensland’s Richmond, would engender a creature more fantastic than any of them.

And I was there when the Bermuda Trianglesque alignment of mystical forces during our July 2011 visit to the Richmond fossil fossicking fields coalesced to spawn an almost-alien almost-super heroic life form.

Where else could the trappings of an ordinary life of relative civilization be thrown aside so fecklessly – to transmogrify into the fabled and fearless, frenetic and frightening …

FOSSILHUNTER!!

I blame the ‘Honour Roll’ exhibit.

As we left Richmond’s Kronosaurus Korner, inspired by an array of wondrous fossil finds worthy of removal by study at Harvard University, an exhibit near the exit catalogued some exciting discoveries. We stopped for a closer look. An honour roll of significant fossil finds – unearthed by tourists, many of them children on family holidays, at the nearby fossicking fields!

Yes, the fossil force-field started to stir …

Then again, maybe the blame lies with the ‘dig’.

Armed with our photocopied ‘Fossil-Hunting Guide’, map from the Visitor Information Centre and shovel, we arrived at the fields ready to kick some serious fossil-finder butt. Only to be trumped by a pair of Canadians who’d discovered a rare, almost complete fish skeleton (cick HERE for the story) that even made the news – although incomprehensibly claimed by Queensland’s premier as a great personal triumph. We watched the plaster cast being lifted from the ground for the bumpy trip back to the lab.

The odds of finding fossils are astronomically high on this Toolebuc formation – an ancient limestone sea floor, where almost every rock yields animal remains. We couldn’t miss, right? SURELY we could outdo the Canadians – after all, this was virtually our home turf! And Pilchard’s gemstone fossicking skills, well developed from countless hours on the sapphire and opal fields, were transferrable to the fossil medium, weren’t they??

But the final blame for FOSSILHUNTER lies with junior FOSSILHUNTER.

Part of the ‘dig’, a young lad casually wandered up to one of the staff with something in his hand. ‘What’ve you got there?’ she asked, bending over for a closer look.

‘Fish jaws,’ he replied nonchalantly as she got out her fossil-hunter kit – magnifying glass and preservation liquid.

‘Fish jaws, huh?’ Pilchard snorted, and I could sense his competitive urge rising, along with the hot, green bile of envy.

And right then, right there, FOSSILHUNTER emerged, fully formed and frantic for a frenetic fossil finding frenzy!

The uninformed may well believe FOSSILHUNTER’s foiled attempt to join the fossil-finding elite*** was due to lack of expertise.  I blame lack of equipment – ie only two (map, shovel) of the guide’s 14 suggested field equipment items!  My discovery of a Scenic Public Toilet only partly made up for the disappointment of remaining amongst the millions of Australians who haven’t yet found a major fossil …

But where FOSSILHUNTER failed, many others have succeeded – a list of Queensland fossil hotspots reads like an Outback who’s who! And Richmond, along with Winton and Hughenden, forms the Dinosaur trail – although impressive fossil credentials in other towns (eg Muttaburra, Eromanga, Mt Isa, Isisford and Boulia)  put them on the map for fossil enthusiasts*.

Where else in the world can you see such fine (and in some cases – only) examples of Plesiosaur, Isisfordia duncanii, Richmond pliosaur, Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, Minmi** and more?

Of course transmogrifying into FOSSILHUNTER isn’t a requirement for appreciating Australia’s fossil finds – but Richmond, aka ‘Fossil capital of Australia’, is one of the few places that FOSSILHUNTER and his ilk can actually join the hunt.

Thanx to FOSSILHUNTER’s superior skills (yes, he’s probably reading this …) I’m betting that although we’ve already seen more fossils in Queensland than the average person, we’ll be following the fossil trail to other states!  Bet you can’t wait either …

For now, following the fossil finding failure in the fossicking fields, FOSSILHUNTER is dormant. But who can say when fossil force field fever will once again activate FOSSILHUNTER and trigger the next awakening??

*Click on each town for more information

** Click on each dinosaur for more information

*** No, other than the rock fossil in FOSSILHUNTER’s hand, not one of the exhibits above had ANYTHING to do with either of us … unbelieveable, huh?!

The post Aussie ABC – F is for Fossils! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

Possibly the sign of a misspent youth, my ability to guess ‘whodunit’ has been well-honed over the years by detective and courtroom drama novels, TV shows and films.

But this sign, languishing with other unlabelled exhibits in a shed at Boulia’s Stone House Museum, gave my amateur sleuthing skills the chance for a REAL workout!

Who made it? Where was it located?? Why wasn’t it there any more???

Of course to someone with my well developed investigative powers, finding the answers was a doddle …

According to point #10, the sign was once located 48 miles – approximately 80 km – from Boulia. So it pre-dates the metric system – adopted in Australia during the 1970’s!

The sign gives answers to probably repetitive questions – or why would the sign have been made in the first place? But while they’re about living in a remote location – Boulia itself is deep in western Queensland’s Outback – the signwriter clearly had enough visitors to make the sign necessary, which indicates a stopover point on or near a main road.

And given that other exhibits in the shed near the sign included signs for various refreshments, an old bain-marie and bottles, the stopover point could well have been a roadhouse or hotel.

Deducing the rest was elementary easy. Within a radius of 80 km from Boulia, a map of the area indicated hotel ruins 78km to the east – with no other site meeting the parameters above.

Then – a quick look at the excellent Boulia visitors guide booklet confirmed the Hamilton Hotel ruins about 80km from Boulia towards Winton! QED!!  Or should I say ‘WooHOO’!

Hamilton Hotel Ruins, via Boulia, Queensland

Today these ruins are what’s left of the last stage from Winton to Boulia. Opened in 1897, the hotel closed in the 1990’s – with what was left after demolition salvaged by the Stone House Museum. Travellers can still stay at the Hamilton Hotel – it’s now a popular rest stop and free camp with a modern amenities block.

And the old windmill still provides an irresistible opportunity for another Outback cliché shot!

Windmill, Hamilton Hotel Ruins, Outback Queensland

If, like me, you just can’t get enough of clever signs, you’ll be thrilled to find a whole bunch of them over at ‘Signs, signs’!!  Head on over to check out the other contributors!!

The post Signs #17 – Yes … or NO!! appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.