June 17th...

What a day with nearly 20 mm of rain over night. Dirt roads have been closed because of the muddy conditions. It is not possible for us to visit Mt Murchison Station where Connie (nee Desailly) and Edward Dickens lived. The roads will not open for several days and with more rain expected we feel we must re-plan our schedule. It is very disappointing because the whole focus of this section of our Safari has been whisked away.

Late morning we went into Wilcannia for another look around at some beautiful buildings including the Hospital erected in 1878 and the Arthenium building which Edward (Plorn) Dickens had a part to play in its development.

There were many police at the main bridge over the Darling River. After waiting for awhile and listening to a speech from a leader of the Barkindji people about saving the Darling River. (This grand old river is fading away...green in colour and very low in the huge channel.) This group of people were staging the SAVE THE DARLING RIVER !  WILCANNIA BRIDGE BLOCKADE.

We returned to camp and enjoyed a lovely walk along the Darling River but OH SO MUDDY!

Blockade over Darling River Blockade