Harness Racing Club. Racing began at Newcastle Showground in 1949. In the eighties a 940 metre track began development along with the stadium, nextdoor. International Sports Centre was born.  To become then Energy Australia stadium then Ausgrid Stadium and Marathon stadium may have been another name.

A liberal is a person whose interests aren't at stake at the moment.

             

Juliet, Clydesdale Mare, head down..... work work work....day-trippers....Morpeth.

Tom Roberts Bailed up 1895/1927 Art gallery of NSW

An historic bushranging incident in the region of the Newstead property (of The Golden Fleece fame). Roberts had trouble selling the painting and in 1927 he recast the background for a flattering frieze-like effect.

Often the surface soil was of fine red 'cornflour' and was voluptuous and cushioned the Michelins around the curves of the drive in the National Park where trace of ancient megafauna could be sensed (such as the giant obese wombats and the towering kangaroos) and all the roads led to Vigars Wells in the middle of nowhere to the path taken by the horse drawn coaches.
There any romanticising of the west dissolved away.
The deserted dry outpost was windswept. Why did the old coaches cross the sand dunes instead of taking an easier path? Even today compacted wagon wheel tracks are still visible. Imagine the strain on the horse teams.

Vigars wells (in the previous photo) were build at a natural soak and were a vital watering and resting point used, for instance, by the famous Cobb & Co coaches whose services linked settlements literally from one end of the country to the other (in the eastern states).
By 1870, Cobb and Co were harnessing 6 000 horses per day and were covering 45 000 km each week. They moved the station people (farmers and pastoralists), shearing teams, wool buyers and public servants. The last coach ceased operating in 1924 in North Queensland.
Slower wagons drawn by horses or bullock teams took wool to the river ports of the Murray river and river boats cut the delivery times to Adelaide by as much as 3 months.
(The data is from intrepretive signage. I wonder if it has any exaggerations. And how well did the company manage all those horses?)

Further into the Goulburn Valley, the National Parks has provided a rest area and a story board that tells about Phippes Cutting which is a hand-made road, part of which can be explored nearby.
This Wollemi National Park is included in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage.
The area is within the traditional country of the Wanaruah Aboriginal people.
Horse transport is associated with the horse studs in the district. Widden Valley seems hidden away.

Horse country. Brown is the new white in fencing.

Coolamore Horse Stud. Upper photo.
While I was cruising along, in the early afternoon, on a sunny day, on a country road, past the horse studs, out of Scone, in the Upper Hunter, I noticed a green field where the horses were frisky and a fox was seen running across the field and I watch until it disappeared into the vegetation. What was fox up to? For a citysider it was a rare sighting.
But, I believe the fox is a nuisance and is an unwelcome introduced species. Similar to the troublesome possum in NZ.
My grandmother knew a song:

Oh! the fox he went out one shiny night and prayed for the moon to give him light,
for he had a long way to travel that night, before he returned to his den o,den o, den en o
for he had a long way to travel that night before he returned to his den o....

Woman in a Rodeo, in the horse capital, Scone, last Saturday.
Rodeo as in Row-day-o is what old folks used to say (instead of road-ee-o).

Animal carer.
Mothers Day 2009

Still and deserted by day but Newcastle International Paceway is all energy at night. I read Newcastle trots is a great venue for Harness Racing action and other extravagances.
Another winning photo!!

The heat wave is unrelenting. Is Darley still cool and green? Irrigation of the fields would be necessary.

Straw coloured fields in the Hunter valley.
Childhood stories by Mary O'Hara and greener times are recalled in: The Green Grass Of Wyoming and My Friend Flicka, when Flicka was a horse rather than a program!




Q&A: Rambutan. (Bahasa Indonesia)

Darley Australia stud, near Aberdeen was peaceful in the Upper Hunter Valley.
The ruler of Dubai, Seikh Mohammed Bin Rashi Al Maktoum, who is into global breeding and racing operations, is the owner.
Darley has now purchased Woodland Stud which is another large enterprise that had been in the hands of a local identity, Bob Ingham, who is said to have received $500million.
Other millionaires from the Middle East and Ireland have similar thoroughbred breeding interests in the valley.


The Islamic calendar is marked by Eid al-Adha of the 8-11th December. The festival recalls Abraham's role and observances would be followed by millions, even billions of people, who, from where I am situated, form a somewhat parallel universe and follow an alternative traditional calendar.

Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley is home to the thoroughbred.
Mare and Foal, in bronze, has pride of place in Elizabeth Park. Scone is a small country centre where the horse reigns supreme in the surrounding shire.


Siart yr Wyddor a luniwyd gan T C Evans, Cadrawd, tua 1900. National Museum of Wales. Extract for study purposes.