Thursday April 1, 2010 – Tennant Creek.

We planned an easy day today. We went out to Mary Ann Recreational Area. It is a manmade lake with a dam. You can walk there from down town if you like. It is a beautiful spot and very well maintained. Hopefully it will be well used this holiday weekend.

On up the road we stopped at the Overland Telegraph Station. It was built in 1872.This is one of the repeater stations between Darwin and Adelaide. Now they could get news from the UK in 8 hours instead of months. They never talked about women at the station so we were not sure if it was just men there. The station worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There were the telegraph operators and line men living there. They really enjoyed getting visitors as the new people started to arrive. It remained in operation at this site until 1935 when it was moved into Tennant Creek. After a linesman found gold in 1925 Tennant Creek became a gold rush town.

We then went to see the Pebbles. After the Devils Marbles the pebbles were no so exciting. What was interesting however, was that this place was for aboriginal women only. Men had to ask permission to go through there or they had to go the long way around. After seeing so many places that were just for men it was nice to see a woman's place.

When we got back to our unit we were not able to get the door open. Then once we got it open with help from the staff we could not get it closed. Someone came to help us get the door back on track. After that we opened and closed the door very carefully.

After lunch and a time of relaxation we went back up to the Visitors Centre to see if the underground tour was running. We waited around for the others to show up but they didn't. The guide took us anyway. We were told they need 4 people to go on the tour. Out guide had worked in the local mines when he was young. This was not an actual mine but a place where men learned about explosives and practiced using them. There were three pieces of equipment that worked. The first was the drill that made the holes for the explosives. The second was the scoop that scoped up the dirt and put it in the car behind it. It was a very dangerous piece of equipment. You could lose body parts very easily. They are no longer in use after a man was killed operating one. The last was a diamond core driller. It was used to take samples of the rock for assay purposes. Many mining museums would like to get their hands on this last piece of equipment as it is the only one left in good working order. The wife of the owner will not let it be moved. It was a very interesting tour.