The general trend of this little jaunt is north-east to hit Australia’s coast at the most easterly point of the mainland. Joining a few dots along the way adds to the interest. The first dot was Goorambat the second is Weethalle in NSW.
This little town came into existence in the early 1920’s. Wheat started rolling out on the railway in 1923. Having nothing better to argue about the lovely Gayle and I speculated on the origin and pronunciation of the name as we drove. Clearly it’s from a Germanic/Nordic language meaning White Hall and pronounced with a hard T and the final E Weet-haller. Gayle begged to differ (actually insisted rather than begged). Take the V out of weevil and put in the TH from that and you have Weethell. Australians do some amazing things to words.
On our arrival we accosted a local who put us straight. It’s from an Aboriginal word for drink and it’s pronounced Wee-Tharlie. She ran off a list of mis-pronunciations that visitors had tried. Anyway it boasts a painted silo …
It’s the work of Melbourne-based artist Heesco Khosnaran who, it is said, used 200 litres of Haymes paint and 300 spray paint cans in the process.
We spent the night camping at the showgrounds. It’s $10 a night, instructions on how to make that small contribution are posted outside the toilet block. There is plenty of room and the toilets were nice and clean.
The annual Weethalle show was on the week before. Sadly, with the whole of New South Wales declared drought affected, it was rained out.
bobmcgee 