It's name means 'heaps of rocks' and the tiny town of Tibooburra is 1300km from Sydney and 900 km from Adelaide.
It's the largest of the towns in these here parts, which makes it the 'Capital of Corner Country'. You're in the real outback here folks.
If the rugged outback appeal of Tibooburra is to your liking, you are going to love our upcoming 'The Rugged Outback Tour'. More information on where you'll go and what you'll see and do can be found here.
On the second day of a three day luxury cruise about Sydney Harbour, the last place you'll want to end up is on the rocks. Well that's exactly where you're going to spend the afternoon.
As you can see, 'The Rocks' district is one the oldest and most colourful areas of Sydney Town. History tells us that this is where the convicts and early settlers first set foot on land, back in the latter part of the 18th century.
It undoubtedly looked a bit different back in 'the good old days', but it still retains a lot of it's historical charm. Cobblestone streets separate buildings that look a lot like they did a couple of hundred years ago.
'The Rocks' is just one place amongst the many you'll visit on a three day Captain Cook Cruise around Sydney Harbour. The cruise is just part of a week long adventure that is The East Coast Tour. You can find more information right here.
Toole's Family Hotel in Tibooburra NSW was built in 1882 by Francis Bladon. Originally known as the Tattersall's Hotel the name was changed to Downie's Family Hotel in 1887, and has since retained the title of the "Family", despite having many owners in it's 129 year history.
Constructed of locally quarried sandstone with a verandah along the front, in the early days the hotel was part of the Cobb and Co network and some of the original horse stables remain standing today.
In the late 1960's and 1970's a group of highly acclaimed Australian artists came to the Corner Country for inspiration for their work and as "The Family" was their chosen watering hole it soon became obvious to artist Clifton Pugh that the bare wall need a mural.
In October 1967 Clif Pugh had been painting with Fred Williams out and about in the Corner Country and after a whiskey binge night at "The Family" Clif decided to sleep off rather than going painting with Fred but later thought better of it and decided to decorate the Family Hotel for the then publican Joss and Barney Davey with a lewd mural of Bacchus in his birthday suit surrounded by naked nymphs. The local policeman received 3 complaints about the offending part by three "protestant old maids" . Joss Davey said if Michelangelo's in the Vatican was good enough for the Pope than Clif Pugh was good enough for her.
Three days later it made the Broken Hill news and the local policeman had three more complaints so he had to act and instructed the publican to cover up the offending appendage or he would close the hotel down. A fig leaf was reluctantly added to keep the locals happy. This mural contributed to Clifton Pugh’s fame thanks to the media interest from all over the world.
Today you can find works from other artists. Russell Drysdale, Rick Amor, Eric Minchin (Brushmen of the Bush fame) Howard William Steer (Flying Doctor Artist) Philip Drummond have contributed their works, making the walls of "The Family" a "living" art gallery.
Today, the hotel is owned by the Toole Family, Kathy and Dan, who offer their own style of friendly outback hospitality to locals and travellers alike.
The Family Hotel Tibooburra is a "must see before you die" destination with over 50,000 people a year making the journey to this Australian Outback icon.
2011 is the greenest Tibooburra has been since 1974. The Tooles expect the wildflowers this year to be at their best with acres of Sturt Desert Peas and the valley’s Darling Pea.Story by Kathy Toole, Toole Family Hotel, Tibooburra
The Toole Family Hotel in Tibooburra is one of the many pubs we'll be visiting on our Historic Outback Pubs tour.
In the month of November, back in the year of 1888, Tamworth in New South Wales becomes the first town in the whole country to light its streets using this new-fangled thing called electricity. Just a few short years before, in 1876, this pioneering town lit its streets with humble oil lamps, before moving on to brighter gas lamps six years later.
The first powerstation that supplied the electricity for this history making lighting of the streets has been faithfully re-created on its original site in the Tamworth Powerstation Museum.
Here you'll also find the restored Tamworth Municipal Electrical Showroom building from around 1907. In this building is a collection of domestic, industrial, trade and commercial electrical items dating back to the late 1800s. You'll also find a large selection of books, catalogues and records that document the development of this industry from its early days.
This museum is unique in that it's the only all electrical museum in Australia. It chronicles the discovery and progress of electricity generation, supply and utilisation over time as well as its history and development in Tamworth.
For more Tamworth goodness, wander on over to Tamworth NSW 2010 and Four Day Mystery Tour - 16-19 Nov 2010 photo sets on our Flickr page.
