Irish Luck

Argyle was the family property of the Duracks, that pastoral family that came from Ireland in the early-mid 1800s. Originally settling in Queensland, the entire North of Australia is littered with Durack properties as they expanded their empire. All of this was done as pioneers, being early settlers in all of the regions they travelled. As the empire expanded westward, cattle were driven overland to stock the properties. These were some of the great early cattle drives.

The Duracks were not just a family, but also a dynasty. At least three generations were in the pastoral industry, but they also branched out to become famous authors and artists in their own right. However, it was as politicians, and as influencers of politicians that they lobbied for, and ultimately achieved fame for Argyle by sending it to the bottom of the lake.

The dam on the Ord River was constructed in the late sixties and was ultimately opened in 1972. Expecting it to take some years to fill, good rains in the wet season that year saw the dam fill early, catching out those that were expecting to have some time to collect relics form the old Argyle property. The Homestead itself was moved stone by stone to a new site downstream of the wall and is now preserved as a museum, however, many artefacts were lost to the rising waters.

The dam was designed to provide water to support irrigated farming in the north of Australia, diversifying the economy from cattle into crops and orcharding. The Duracks were instrumental in this push and so it was with mixed feelings they were to move from Argyle.

 

And so for us, Argyle became Kununurra for shopping, fuel, and hopefully internet. We achieved two out of three – apparently you don’t need internet on a Sunday in these parts. Still having much travel to do for the day, we delayed lunch (thanks to our all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast splurge) until the junction of the Victoria and Great Northern Highways, where we were educated in the local habits by reading the graffiti in the shelter, and checking out the underwear tree. All ages, genders and styles represented. Go figure!

The Bungle Bungles was 200km down the road, then 60km in. It was a half hour off sunset before we hit the turnoff, then the drive in takes two hours, so we knew it would be in the dark. However, we were richly rewarded with sunset views on the ranges coming in. Will just have to wait for dawn now to see what the campsite is like.