Glenrowan ~ AUS Post #44
Full Moon over Glenrowan
June 21-23
After a quick stopover in Bendigo to resupply, we made our way to Glenrowan, a town wholly dedicated to the memory of an Australian legend, an Irish bushranger of sorts.
At this actual location 144 years ago, a police shootout took place leading to Ned Kelly’s capture and ultimately his sentencing and death. There are many interpretations of what his life represents today - a villain, an outlaw, a true Australian, a Robin Hood.
Reading through the accounts of his life and that of his family and mother, it became clear, his life, at its core, represents the universal human condition in the fight against those that seek power and wealth at the expense of others - most simply captured in an anonymous statement displayed unobtrusively in one of the museum’s many glass cases.
Kelly Homestead
Ned Kelly’s Last Stand
Winton Wetland Reserve
Somehow we had bypassed a notable wetland area on our way into Glenrowan. So the next day after mapping out a scenic loop ride, we set off to visit the wetland, a nearby brewery and make our way back to camp through a small section of National Park open to mountain bikes on the hillside just above the caravan park.
Main road into the Wetland Reserve
At the entrance, we quickly realized this was unlike any other wetland we had visited, this was a massive restoration effort. In 1971, thirty square miles of swamp/wetland, vital and sacred to the local Aboriginal tribe for millennia, was transformed into a man-made lake for irrigation and recreation by building a dam 7.5km in length, the largest in the Southern hemisphere. Almost 40 years later, the lake was decommissioned and a wetland restoration process began in 2010. Ironically, also the largest undertaking of its kind in the Southern hemisphere. It is estimated full restoration will take 100 years making this only the fourteenth year in that process.
As we rode the bike path through the drier sections, we spotted Ibis and then a hawk perched in the dead stands of ancient Red River Gums of which over 200,000 were lost to the lake. Families of kangaroos raced across the grasslands, stopping to poke their heads up from underneath the tall grass to peer at us from afar, a welcome sight after crossing vast tracts of farmland void of wildlife. Large sections still looked much like a savanna rather than a wetland until we reached one of the campground areas and saw signs of the wetland taking shape, extending far beyond our viewpoint.
Throughout the reserve, there are informational signs along with artwork installations recognizing the landscape and its’ history. The one that stood out the most, and seemed to sum up our experience here in Glenrowan, was simply the timeless words of Ghandi - “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.” How I wonder whether our race will ever rediscover the awesome power that comes from simply being humble with the land, its creatures and each other?
Looking out at Greens Swamp from the camping area
