Revelling in the Riverina: Episode 11 – The Saltbush Plains

REVELLING in the Riverina

 

The vintage years

 

 

 

Episode 11:                                                                    The Saltbush Plains

 

 

 

Hay, NSW (the Lions, Golden Rivers Football Netball League)

 

Stage 11: Narrandera to Hay

 

The long drive between Narrandera and Hay requires resolve, considerable concentration and multiple ways of passing the time to defeat the potential boredom of the roadscape. For me it usually involves ticking off the big sheep runs as my marker points: Tubbo near Darlington Point, then Kerabury, next Toganmain at Carrathool, and finally, Burrabogie east of Hay. 

 

Music is a must for this stage. In the ‘seventies, it was Supertramp, Dire Straits, ELO and the Moody Blues interspersed with repeats of Al Stewart’s ‘Year of the Cat’ and a bit of Boz Scaggs. Even better for this road, why not Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’:

 

 

 

 

A ‘revive and survive’ stop on our drive along the Sturt Highway to Hay appears half an hour after leaving Narrandera. Just past the impressive Tubbo station woolshed, at the truckstop-roadhouse village of Waddi, a right hand turn takes us back onto a road we traversed in episode 5, Kidman Way. In a flash we arrive at Darlington Point on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. But back up a little, and let me indulge in my first experience of driving out this way.

 

My only sojourn since leaving our rented farm house, ‘The Chateau’, this morning was over three hours ago, at Darlington Point, west of Narrandera. After the beery farewell thanks to the boys from Temora town last night, I did not make time for breakfast, so the burger washed down with an iced coffee at the Waddi Roadhouse was long overdue. Darlington Point seemed like an outpost of civilization on the edge of an arid land, warning westward-bound travellers of the vast expanses ahead. It reminded me of one of those lonely last-stop places: be careful, because you are now entering unfamiliar territory. The highway, stretched out before me, disappeared into a mirage.

 

(excerpt from: The Thin School Exercise Book; Temora to Tooleybuc, August 1977)

 

Darlington Point has an unenviable piece of football history that must be recounted. It involved the forfeit of the biggest match of the season. Darlington Point played in the South West District Football League Reserves competition in the early 1950s together with a handful of teams from the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and further east in the Coolamon-Ganmain district. The competition was divided into two zones – east and west, with the winners of each zone playing off for the premiership. 

 

Darlington Point, winner of the western zone, were matched against eastern zone winners, the Rannock Federals, to decide who would be the 1952 premiers. The game was set to be played at Grong Grong on Saturday 16th August 1952. In an unfortunate coincidence that was the same day as a double wedding in Darlington Point, with a band of the ‘Pointers’ players either in the wedding party or among the invited guests. What to do – football and possible fortune or wedding and happy families? There was really no choice for the Darlington Point boys. So, my sentimental favourites, Rannock, took out the ‘52 SWDFL Reserves competition premiership without having to pull on the boots that grand final day. Coincidentally, the same two clubs were opposed in the grand final two seasons later and on that occasion there were no prior engagements affecting their opponent’s attendance. The game went ahead as scheduled, with the Rannock Federals again taking the honours.

 

Back on track it’s time for some humming of the bush ballad ‘Flash Jack from Gundagai’. Hang on, why not test your singing voice against a Bushwackers’ rendition of the classic shearing song:

 

 

Our westwards hike to Hay on the Sturt Highway is a route I have travelled for more than 45 years. I can report that the semi-arid pastoral landscape has undergone huge changes. The once ubiquitous and vast sheep paddocks on the saltbush plains are now bordered by, or have been replaced by, extensive irrigation blocks producing cotton, maize and pasture crops among others. The saltbush now shares the plains with crops on laser-levelled corporate farms.

 

If driving the lonely Riverina roads carries risks by day, it can play tricks with the mind and be even more hazardous by night. As we approach our next waypoint, turn the radio dial to 2 Hay FM and listen to Neil Murray’s haunting experiences on a night drive between Moulamein and Hay, ‘The Lights of Hay’:

 

 

Pulling into Hay we are met by signage that declares the town’s population as 3400. Beneath the demography, the board advises those who have made the effort to travel this way of upcoming events. It could be an Australia Day celebration, a Shear Outback attraction, an Anzac Day service, the Hay races, even the Rainbow On the Plains festival. All have a place in tradition-strong and modern Hay.

 

In illuminating the history of the Hay Football Club we are informed (again) by Rod Gillett of the NSW Australian Football History Society (Footy in Hay – In play since 1876 Parts I and II). 

 

Geography has always been against the town of Hay. Rod Gillett borrowed a Geoffrey Blainey phrase, “the tyranny of distance”, to sum up the geographical hindrance faced by Hay. And as Robbie Mackinlay notes “nothing has ever come easy for the Hay Football Club”. But the isolation of Hay has obviously strengthened the determination, persistence and resolve of the community. A big part of the resolve and determination has been the ability of Hay sport leaders to find a solution, to adapt, to move camp, to knock on doors, to improvise, and to do the hard yards (and kilometres!). 

 

Over the years, Hay teams have traversed the Riverina from Barellan to Balranald, from the Victorian Mallee to the MIA – all in pursuit of a game of footy. A read of Hay’s footy resume tells the tale: intertown challenges and round robin competitions, Hay Association (intratown and district), Leeton and District League, Edwards River League, Barellan and District League, Mid-Murray League, Kerang and District League/Golden Rivers League. Note the absence of SWDFL and Picola and District League – both rejected Hay on the grounds of distance to travel. 

 

Rewards in premiership terms have been long awaited, few and far between, but the contemporary Hay Football Netball Club – the Lions – have found their place in the sun and bask in the triple premiership triumphs of 2023 – Seniors footy, B Reserves netball and Under 17s netball.

 

When time permits, I suggest you tune into a wonderfully informative and colourful yarn by Robbie Mackinlay, Hay 1992 – The Triple Treat (Glory Days podcast).

 

 

Hay Lions in 2024

 

In round 10 (29th June) the undefeated Hay Lions were on the road again, on that occasion to meet the third-placed Wandella ‘Bombers’.

 

Hay 17.16 (118) d. Wandella 5.12 (42)

 

Second-placed Ultima look like the only serious rival to Hay in 2024.

 

Riverina Spotto

 

Footy hub passed and there are 8 to go.

 

the last post	Irish pub	a slice of pizza
faithful canine	sheep and dog	the family club
22 yards	two felines	31.12.74
truckie’s stop	submarine	a shearing team
all among the wool	one pub town	Sherrin
three  bees	square	footy hub

 

 

Next episode: Stage 12 – to Deniliquin

 

 

Previous episodes of Revelling In The Riverina, and more from Peter Clark can be read Here.

 

 

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