New Blog: Gary Junction Rd (Well 33 to Mt Zeil)

Hi Cuppa,
Thanks for the feedback. The building / outstation we found in the Dover Hills area was photographed by another ExplorOz member and updated in 2015 but he put them in the wrong Place listing (he put it in Dover Hills which is the locality marker about 2km away, and I created a new Place marker when we were there using the pin drop at current location so this is definately correct.
Outstation near Dover Hills. However, the previous photos were of the same place so I've just been moving the photos around and somehow I deleted the 2015 photos ooops.... but they looked identical to mine,

My recollection was that we turned into a track which led to a tank on a stand with a hand pump but from here the track continues a little way back and that's where the building is. Take a look at our photos of this tank and there are white gum trees here - is this perhaps the spot you were at? Bore & Hand pump

Everywhere we travelled this year has shown significant signs of recent change - mostly brought on by the effects of COVID and the flux of tourist increase in the earlier stages. Talking to the stores, all their staff are brought in and managed by Outback Stores and they seem to have a fantastic system with that. The staff were as well kept and groomed as those you see in the cities. Most of the aboriginal communities in the NT are connected with an art gallery co-op which is always working well. It's good to see this in place and people using it in the community. It is interesting to look at the artworks though and see the similarities and differences in style. At one place there were a few young artists trying their hand at realism but the technique was very amateur compared to the dot style so I hope they continue to keep teaching their people the dot style to keep the tradition moving through the generations.

Thanks for your interest and taking the time to comment.
Michelle

Hi David & Michelle.
It's a bit odd. The water pump we saw had no tank , nor remnants of one next to it. Just a hand pump, same as the one at Jupiter Well (but without a cut down 44). It was on a T junction of two tracks a kilometre(?) or so off the GJR. We took the second turn off the GJR (heading west) on what is the 'loop' which shows on your map. We turned left (eastward) at the T junction & travelled only a few hundred metres to what we were told was called the 'White Gums' camp (by some other campers who arrived after us, but who decided not to stay as they wanted to be alone). The water pump was within easy walking distance of where we camped off the side of the track. The track itself did continue past the camp & we followed it on foot for distance, turning back without having reached it's end , nor having found anything. On the map it looks like the outstation is further along the track (the loop) from which we turned left at the pump, but we couldn't see it from where we were. What puzzles me most is that the wasn't any evidence of a tank near the pump. Wish I'd taken a photo of it now. I have marked on the attached satellite image from Traveller where I think we were. I must admit that your account makes me want to cover the route again & to take even more time than we did. We went east-west accessing the GJR at Papunya having come in via Haasts Bluff from Glen Helen. I regretted not having come up via the Sandy Blight Junction track which I believe to be exceptionally pretty, & vowed to my wife that we would go that way another time, & if we do it'll be good to have your guide to the GJR with us.

Do you know the history of Aboriginal dot painting?
It was started in Papunya by Geoffrey Bardon, a white bloke, who was working there in 1971 as an art teacher. He noticed that the locals would draw stories in the sand and then they would be rubbed out or just blow away and he looked for a way of having them saved. He taught a bunch of blokes how to use acrylic paint and sticks and they started painting on whatever rubbish they could find laying around.
And dot painting was born.
https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-dot-art-behind-the-dots/
One of the original blokes that Bardon taught was Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra. I think he was the last survivor of the original group. He passed away in 2020 aged 88 years. In 1995, Margaret and I bought one of his paintings from Yuelamu (Mount Allen) which is east of Yuendumu off the Tanami Road. We paid $200 for it which was a lot for us. We had no idea of who the artist was. It was not one of his best, but we liked it. My artist niece who painted our OKA recognised his name on the back some years later.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Thank you Peter, that link is very informative and no I hadn't realised that dot painting was that new/young but I guess it makes sense now I think about it.

Our first dot painting was purchased at Yuendumu in 2002. Yours sounds valuable now!!

Well Cuppa, one of us will just have to go back there now and solve the problem ;)

Michelle,

Judging by Cuppa’s Sat image, this may be what you are missing?



Bob

Only recently found out that dot paintings were that “new”. Our first dot painting was purchased in 2004 from the Tilmouth Well roadhouse. Not sure who the artist is, as we are currently Nat our property near Apollo Bay and the painting is in Werribee.

Macca.

As a follow-up to Peter's piece about dot painting, here's an example from 1969. My brother was in Yirrkala for a couple of years ( 66,67,68) and collected some very precious art. He said that much of the work was in dot style.
Cheers
Jim

Now that we've transgressed to art, this is my example. Picked it up during a CSR trip in 2019.
The dot art denotes the wells of the Canning, and the centre image, which I think is just beautiful, is a scene near Punmu Community.
Had it stretched in Townsville earlier this year, and eventually hung it a few weeks ago.
Friends bought a painting at the same time, from same gentleman, which I thought was much, much "better" than mine.



Bob

Fair enough! Good effort. That one looks to be on the edge of Lake Dora just west of Punmu - we didn't go that way this trip.

Yes my blisters had blisters and continued to plague my days from here for the next 2 weeks. We kept hiking as that was the whole point of coming to the West Mac's so in my next blog you'll see that 2 days after the Mt Zeil hike we hike up to the summit of Mt Sonder, the next big hike in the area. it was easy in comparison but it was only possible for me to hike by dulling the pain sensations so I was taking max dosage of paracetamol and ibuprofen every 2 hours for the remainder of this stage of our trip. We even did a dash day trip to Alice Springs to buy "Compeed" - these are the best for blister repair but very expensive and I couldn't buy enough for my needs but it helped. I love hiking and it was worth it but I just had to switch off the pain receptors. All good now, and no damage done. I also need to change my hiking boots!!

Mt Sonder brings back vivid memories . Four of us started, but half-way up the freezing westerly forced two to decide against completing the climb. My BIL and I trudged on up the top, in bitterly cold winds, had a quick look around then retreated.
Wonderful climb and views, but nice to get back down.
Loved the West Macdonnells.
Cheers
Jim