The Road To Croydon & Croydon 2nd Time

June 26, 2021

Monday morning the 21st of June, after saying goodbye to Jan & Ross I headed back down the track we had come. The target for today was the Cumberland Chimney and Dam free camp which is 20km on the other side of Georgetown. I did not drop in to check out this site on the way through. It is a historical site so I was getting the chance to do so now. It was 370km to the Chimney which is more driving than I would normally do in a day whilst touring but I had just come through that trek and had seen most of what there was to see. One thing we did not get to see was Millstream Falls. These Falls are just on the southern side of Ravenshoe. It is a short gravel road in so I went and had a look. Glad I did. They are Queensland’s widest falls. It is a beautiful spot.

Having had a half hour delay in getting away at Mareeba because of putting some air in my tyres, fuel and cleaning the windows, then half an hour in Ravenshoe to shop for a couple of things including coffee, then half an hour at Millstream, I pushed on to Mount Surprise for a late lunch. That called for a pie and chocolate milk type of lunch. Then a walk to the Savannahlander Railway Station which ran right beside the main road in the town.

I finally arrived at Georgetown where I filled up with fuel and filled my jerry cans. Georgetown has the cheapest fuel on the Savannah Highway so I made sure I filled my 30 litres of jerry cans there for use if I need them after Borroloola. I then drove the final 20km to the Cumberland Chimney and Dam. I did not arrive there till about 4.30pm. I have rarely pulled in to a free camp that late as there won’t be many spots at that time. I got the last decent spot though.

I chatted to a very nice couple who were next to me who had a Kimberly Karavan. Those vans are a good unit. I then walked up to check out the history of the Cumberland Chimney and the Dam. The dam was created to provide water to the large gold mine here. The chimney was to disperse the smoke from the steam driven batteries that was smashing the gold bearing rock.

The dam has provided an ecosystem for abundant birdlife.

With all that it is a pleasant place to camp for a night. I woke up to another beautiful morning and indulged in my favourite breakfast, mushrooms and eggs. I had finally found some fresh mushrooms at Ravenshoe. Getting fresh vegies on the Savannah Way is hard.

With breakfast done I got organized and headed off. I treated it as a relaxed morning as I had a relatively shortish trip of 150km to Croydon. On the way I stopped at the Gilbert River crossing.

The wideness of the river bed is an indication of how much water flows down the Gilbert in the wet season. It would be good to see it in full flow.

This cattle truck was coming down the road where I had stopped at the Gilbert. I love these outback scenes.

I arrived at Croydon and dropped into the Information Centre to get my permit to stay at the free camp (by donation) and then went and set up camp. The Information person, Marion, is a bushy who has lived in the area most of her life. She is so knowledgeable because she has lived through some of Croydon’s ups and downs and knows all the families who have lived here since the beginning. After lunch and some blogging I went to have a look at the historical buildings on the Heritage Walk. Firstly there was the Officer In Charge of Police Residence which was built in 1899 and was very impressive. Right beside it is the Police Station. There is also a lockup out the back that is a reduced building to the what it once was. They are the original buildings from back in the day as this old photo of people in the street depicts. When you stand outside the middle cell of the lockup a sensor is tripped and you hear a recording of the story of a prisoner from the old days.

I felt that the original and only remaining hotel from the old days deserves to be visited. Being a warm afternoon I thought that was good timing so I dropped in the Club Hotel which was built in 1887. It is a nice old pub.

I went back to camp and prepped stuff for dinner, then drove up to the sunset viewing area which is on a hill on the way to the Lake. Glad I did.

As I drove back to camp the old fashioned lamps were lit up and they looked so good.

The next morning, Tuesday the 22nd June, I continued my Heritage trek and went to the cemetery. The cemetery commenced in 1885. The old graves reveal the hardship of life in the outback goldfields.

Next was the Railway Station.

Then onto the original Men’s Ward of the original hospital built in 1894. It was moved to this location from the original hospital site to make way for the new hospital.

Next was the Iguana Consols Mining Museum. Firstly there was this miners hut which was actually lived in by pioneers.

This is still a working mine.

I then had a brief look at the Chinese area.

To the Croydon Town Hall. The Town Hall was not open for inspection.

To the Court House which was built in 1886. They have done very well with this as an exhibition. There is a recording of the dramatized transcript of an actual court case from very early 1900s. The furniture shown in the photos are the original furniture.