Page 78 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine

CARAVANNING & adventure
HCroydon: the pass-through gem
OW towns there
many is a credit to the local with a sense of self- are community, as they’ve reflection as you walk where reinvented a taste of past many of the old
One of Croydon’s true bushie characters, Tom outside the Club Hotel.
Outdoors
by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON
you can sit on the foot- what life had been like. burial plots.
path under the shade of the hotel veranda, en- joying a cold one, eat- ing a chilli-based garlic prawn pizza and watch a small mob of kan- garoos make their way down the main street?
ham and Innisfail, we made the climb through the Atherton tablelands to cross the Savanah Way on our way to Karumba.
graced the town during its lucrative prospecting days.
There’s a heritage pre- cinct where you walk down the street past the old school house, past the historic hospi- tal, police station and courthouse.
The number of chil- dren who perished in this harsh land is hard to believe, even the ages of the many who passed before they had the chance to reach the grand age of 30.
Croydon, often the pass-through gem, is a ‘must stop’ destination to soak up the history of this gulf and gold rush country.
We were going to do an overnight stay in Croydon in the local free camp area, but we ended up staying for four days.
The first gold strike in 1885 was the start of a massive 23,675kg of pure metal being ex- cavated from the harsh land.
Many buildings con- tain artifacts and even audio enactments of court cases and the woes of a prisoner as he lay in his cell bed.
This alone was an indication of what life would have been like.
Its characters are as colourful as the amaz- ing sunsets seen in this dry and dusty region.
has a passion for the
At one stage it was the third biggest town in Queensland, until fi- nally the gold ran out and the companies and miners moved away.
After leaving the
the Club Hotel, which
A trip to the local cemetery leaves you
coastal towns of Ing-
standing out of 64 that
* continued P79 www.bnb shing.com.au
Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, September 2020
Everyone you meet
One could only imag- ine the wealth in this area as the goldfields grew.
It just captures the feel of those early days and all I can say is congrat- ulations to the whole community.
There was an abun- dance of old steam- powered mining equip- ment on display at vari- ous locations.
history of the town and
many great yarns are
It’s easy to drive down a dusty track and find rusting machinery from
shared over an ale at
in fact is the last pub
What is left here now