Today was a stop over day. We don’t have many of these on this trip. Only three in fact but I’m glad Griffith was included in the three.
Griffith has an amazing history that includes a large Italian component. They did it very tough out here but it seems the Italians new how to do it well.
We visited the Pioneer and Italian Museum. Both are very well done and highlight the amazing cultural background of Griffith.
The first building in the Pioneer museum was the school building. The school children would hang their bags on the hooks outside the front door and go into class.
The kids thought it was interesting the desks they used to use. I stood at the front of the class and yelled, “Quiet children” At the top of my voice. They thought it was hilarious and I explained that’s what the teacher would have said in the old days.
We ventured further into the Italian museum where on display was a huge number of items from tiny ricotta moulds to huge wine presses.
Food and drink definitely play a large part in the Italian community and this town was no exception.
This image shows a large basket used to hold curds while the whey drained off.
We continued to walk around the pioneer village learning the early history of Griffith. Here the girls are behind the counter in the bakers shop.
The bread tins that were used.
We left the pioneer museum and headed to the Hermits Cave. This is the view of Griffith from just above the hermits cave.
The story goes that an Italian immigrant made this area his home. He made stone walls and had a magnificent garden. We walked along the track and visited a few of the remains of his work. Amazing to think he built these stone walls and gardens by himself.
It was an interesting walk but a bit to much like a mountain goat track. The local paper recently announced a grant had been received for the improvement of the tracks in order for people to be able to safely visit the site but we are a bit too early for this so decided to walk back along the road.
Tomorrow we travel to Cobar.
Not nomads yet! 