Adventure Ausrama Blog

The Ghan, running from Adelaide to Darwin, is our most luxurious train. Its forerunners were the Afghan camel drivers. In 1840, drivers and their animals were introduced to transport goods, even pianos and furniture, to settlements of the great dry inland.  They were brought into  the country from Afghanistan because their home country’s climate was as hot and dry as Australia's. The camel drivers’ nationality was shortened to ‘Ghan’ and the route has been called by this name ever since.   In 1860 24 camels were imported for the Burke and Wills expedition that was endeavouring to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They reached the fringe of the Gulf in February 1861. However, Burke and Wills died on the way back south on the banks of Cooper Creek, just by a tree that has the word "dig" carved in its trunk. Provisions had been buried there for the explorers, but they failed to dig and died of malnutrition. This tree is now known as the Dig Tree...

Early European settlers were amazed by the emu.  Governor Lachlan Macquarie was so impressed that, in 1822, he sent two emus as gifts to the Governor-General of India, the Marquis of Hastings.  When Macquarie set sail from Australia back to England on the ship Surry, he wrote that voyaging with the passengers were "pets" that included six emus, travelling in roomy well aired pens  well-aired pens. The animals were to be given as gifts to friends and patrons of Governor Macquarie back in England. Unfortunately many of the pets, including one of the largest emus died on the trip. In l791 John Harris, who arrived in the new colony as a surgeon, wrote that emus were swifter than the fleetest of greyhounds. Emu eggs were described as dark Green with little black specks the of pins.  It is a little larger than goose eggs.  The emu is Australia’s largest bird standing up to 2 metres high. lt has wings but it can°t fly. lt can run really quickly around 50 kilometres pe...