ADVENTURE
Back to Beltana
Photographs: Tim Cole
Early
South Australian pastoralist and businessman Sir Thomas Elder is remembered
by many Australians as a founder of Elder Smith and Company (later Elder Smith
Goldsborough Mort, now trading as Elders Ltd). But the man after whom a major
range in the Flinders Ranges is named was also a noted camel breeder who,
impressed by the 1865 Burke and Wills expedition, imported 109 camels and
arranged for them to be taken from Port Augusta to Beltana Station where he
established a stud.
Known for their strength and stamina, the 'ships of the desert' played a major part in opening up early transport routes in the SA outback, and as well Burke and Wills were used by early explorers including Peter Warburton, Ernest Giles and William Gosse.
In June, a recreation of the journey that transported Elder's first camels to Beltana saw 40 cameleers lead 50 camels (including three wagon-drawn animals) from Port Augusta via Stirling North, Depot Creek, Neuroodla Creek and Parachilna.
Over
two weeks, the camel train travelled through the Flinders Ranges, averaging
20 to 25km per day. "The changing scenery was spectacular - the
sunrises and sunsets," recalls Peter Sims, participant and organising
committee member. "Sometimes we'd stop and sit under a big old gum
tree in a creek bed and it would come to mind that those guys in 1865 might
have sat under the same gum tree and panned out their next move. It was a
small thought but it really hit home that those buggers did it tough."
Full story: OUTBACK, October/November 2002
