It was the quintessential summery day - a warmish sun, a coolish breeze, a cloudless blue sky. Not wishing to waste the moment, we hopped in the car and headed to Milang, a small town on the shores of Lake Alexandrina, the huge lake system that effectively dumps the Murray River into the ocean. We'd seen the walking path when we passed through the town weeks before and vowed that we'd walk it one day. Well, this was the day.
Before we did the walk we had a picnic lunch in a new shelter on the outskirts of the town, adjacent to the Nurragi Conservation Reserve which is a large swathe of land set side to preserve bird and plant species that are rare or endangered. It is a useful wildlife corridor connecting the Mount Lofty Ranges with Lake Alexandrina. The snipe is one such endangered bird, rarely seen because of its camouflage and erratic movements when in flight, hence the origin of the term 'sniper' as applied to lone gunmen!
We looked - but didn't see it.
We loved this copper sculpture of a fish that heralded the beginning of the walk.
Our first stop was at the Milang Railway museum. The passenger service had operated from 1914 on a branch line to Victor Harbor but ceased in 1968. Nowadays it is a fascinating museum of railway memorabilia.
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| The station's switchboard. |
Who wouldn't want to pack their cases after reading this advertisement?
Continuing our walk we wandered alongside the caravan park then down to the lush green lawn that fronted the lake. Picnic parties abounded, and I caught this little lad having fun with the seagulls.
Scanning the boundless lake we saw a motor boat...
... a yacht ...
... a windsurfer ...
... and the Oscar W paddlesteamer on an excursion jaunt to Milang from Goolwa.
We now joined the track that meandered lakeside, paralleling the road, sometimes close to the lake, as in this next photo ...
... and sometimes a far distance away as in the following photo.
I loved the whirr of the windmill and the iconic Southern Cross blade. As is often the case, a few nights later on television we watched a program set in Toowoomba, Queensland. Behind the presenter was a set of windmills. You guessed it. Toowoomba was the home of the Southern Cross windmill. The Toowoomba factory had been making windmills since 1876 but the Southern Cross was a new, improved design in 1903 and now, a recognisable feature of country Australia.
We had now reached the end of the path, so turned back and took the path that followed the road, back to our car. Nearby was a beautiful old homestead, its lush garden providing shade for the house.
There were a few pioneer buildings, giving the town a nostalgic air.
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| This former house is now the community centre. |
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| The old butter factory is currently being restored. |
But what a pity the block of buildings from the mid-1800s were all demolished in the 1970s. This is a photo from an interpretive panel. Most of the buildings belonged to Albert Landseer, a river merchant whose 1860 shipping agency soon became the largest trading and shipbuilding company on the Murray at the time. His steamers and barges carted timber, iron, wool, grain, bricks, mail and passengers. Milang became a bustling river port, and Landseer was known as the Duke of Milang.
We were almost at the car when we noticed the trees full of corellas.
A lovely end to a walk that encompassed a picnic lunch, a conservation reserve, railway history, activities on Lake Alexandrina, and a stroll through Milang.
