Milparinka and the Albert Goldfield

From White Cliffs, we took a dirt track crosscountry through scrubby desertscapes to Milparinka.

En route we met a herd of wary goats drinking; and another herd of curious, feral donkeys.

Today, Milparinka has just a bush pub and multiple ruins, including the gaol and the court house from the time when there were over 2000 prospectors on the surrounding Albert goldfields where the dust, the heat, and the lack of water took its toll on human life.

Charles Sturt, the explorer, made his Third Expedition to this area in December 1844. His expediton included 15 men, 11 horses, 30 bullocks, 1 boat and boat carriage, 1 horse dray, 1 spring cart, 3 drays, 200 sheep, 4 kangaroo dogs, and 2 sheep dogs. We drove to see Depot Glen, a dry creek where Sturt and his men stayed for six months during drought;

We then visited the nearby grave of Sturt's assistant on the expedition, James Poole who died of scurvy. His initials and year of death can still be seen carved in a tree. My musing at the poignant grave is interrupted by Gen jiggling her camera and noting "damn, the light is all wrong".

A few km further from the grave is the Mt Poole Cairn, originally erected to keep Sturt's men busy during the long wait for the drought to break, but then dedicated to the memory of James Poole, on the top of a hill with great panoramic views. Initially, we thought the cairn below was our goal, but the walk up the mountain took some climbing to get us to the top of the hill where the original, much larger cairn stood. An impressive moment to think back to how the expedition must have felt, stuck in a desert landscape for 6 months of drought.