Mataranka

Our trip to Mataranka was amazing! There was so much history there, so many beautiful springs and Elsey National Park had a great botanic walk!

Mataranka is the place that has the memorabilia and memorials to Jeannie Gunn who wrote the book “We of the Never Never”. She was a lady that lived in Melbourne and married a station owner named Aenus Gunn. She then went to live with him on Elsey Station, near Mataranka and wrote an account of her time there. Unfortunately they were only married for about 18 months as Mr Gunn got sick with blackwater fever (a severe complication of malaria) and died. She had no reason to stay and so left Elsey Station and went to live back in Melbourne.

While at the Station she had befriended a little Aboriginal girl who she named Dolly and called her Little Black Princess. She also wrote a book about her called “The Little Black Princess”. The Aboriginal girl was not able to go and live with Mrs Gunn after Mr Gunn died due to Aboriginal regulations at the time. The little girl was put in foster care and her life is recorded in the book “The Girl that talked to the Stars”.

A movie was made of the story and the house that was used in the movie was there at Mataranka for us to look at.

Interestingly, Mrs Gunn was also connected with Reverend John Flynn. Apparently when he accepted a calling to work in the outback as a Reverend he asked Mrs Gunn what would be the best help to the people in that area. She advised him to set up means for which they could receive medical care and the isolation of the place could be broken. Reverend John Flynn was responsible for setting in place the process of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and also the School of the Air for isolated children.

Bitter Springs

Bitter Springs was just near our camp site. It was an amazing colour and the water was warm. A few people had goggles in there and saw some turtles in amongst the reeds. The clay under the water was a very soft, psychedelic blue colour. It was an amazing place to visit and swim in. Gerson put some of the clay on his face.

Elsey National Park Botanic Walk

Elsey National Park had a lot of walks but many of them were over 6 hours worth of hiking. We decided to go on the Botanic walk where were learned the names of many different types of trees and what the Aboriginal people used to use for food. We also learned how some of the trees and plants were used for medicinal purposes. It was very interesting!

Rainbow Springs

Rainbow Springs was another very popular swimming spot. You can go to the centre of the springs which has very hot water in it and you can see it bubbling very strong up from the ground. The water cools as it goes down the river and that’s where people swim. It was very pretty.