We have one too: symbolic of course but I’ll fill you in, OK. On the Coolah-Gunnedah Road, 9 kilometres north of Coolah is a splendid rest area. The former Coolah Shire Council erected a modern roadside reserve, as part of the Captain Cook Bi-centenary project for 1970. I’ve stopped there many a time on my way to and from Tamworth; starting point Dubbo of course.
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This spot was the location of the Black Stump Wine Saloon erected in the 1860’s, the same period of the American Civil War between the States; a show our ancestors did well to keep clear of on the other side of the world.
The Saloon was a staging post for teamsters and coaches heading out to the plains. Turn left towards Tooraweenah near the Warrumbungles, then keep going past Warren and Nevertire. This is the ‘beyond’ region so researched by a local historian for the Coolah Information Centre.
Amazingly this same historian points out that regional Aborigines had been the first to name this area the ‘Black Stump.’ Their name was Weetalibah-Wallangan, which says the same thing about a smouldering stump.
I say all this because in the Oasis Valley, we have a symbolic Black Stump also (which is really a railway sleeper stood in the ground which I duly painted with linseed oil to turn it black). This point divides our drier bush garden from our rainforest sector. You should tramp the boardwalk on a summer’s day with our myriad bubble-water jets in full swing! So on the map what is ‘beyond’? The Wine Saloon burned down in 1908. Further west as indicated you bump into Belah and Box Eucalypt grassy Woodland. Turn north-east from the Black Stump and an amazing thing happens – you reach the Coolah Tops! This amazing high country has some of the tallest Eucalypts in the country, along with cooler temperatures and above average rainfall.
Snow Gums (Euc. pauciflora) reach over 35 metres. White Gum (Euc. nobilis ) reach 79 metres and Euc. grandis towers at 84 metres. All these tall trees are in direct contrast to the drier and shorter vegetation surrounding Coolah Tops.