3rd November 2019
At nearly 1,500 kms, the Murrumbidgee is the second longest waterway in Aus, although, as the crow flies, it’s only about 700 kms due to it being shaped like a major set of intestines! Geez does she wander about! But this is a great outback river, and it deserves to have a little homage paid to it in passing. And one of the best places to do this is at Balranald, tucked into a few of those never-ending river bends out on the edge of the mighty Hay Plains, about 160 kms east of Mildura.
We were out of Mildura and heading for Wagga the other week, but needed a break and a coffee. So we pulled over in Balranald. Best decision all day.
There’s not a lot to Balranald, a neat grid of about 30 streets with the Sturt Highway running through the middle, population about 1,200 and a decent enough set of shops and businesses for the locals to get by for most things, pub, golf club, footy team, all that. A neat town that looks and acts pretty respectable. Not that it was always totally attractive, as back in August 1858, when this was a real frontier town, one fairly under-impressed journo reported...
"This obscure and miserable township, situated on the Lower Murrumbidgee, is here attracting a considerable share of attention, as being one of those rowdy places for which the Australian bush in the interior has become so famous.
“The public will bear in mind that it was at Balranald, some time since, that poor Graham, the publican, was killed (the murderer was hung some short time afterwards at Goulburn). The doctor who attended the trial on the occasion was drowned while on his way home; the widow, having gone to Deniliquin to get married, when absent her child was burned to death; and the messenger sent to inform her of the accident was drowned while crossing the Murrumbidgee.
“It would seem that there are certain phases through which these townships have to pass. Formed by neither nature nor art, many of them drag on a miserable existence. All who know the interior of this continent must be aware of the large sums of money earned by the labouring classes, it must be also well known that the social wants are few of these labouring people who occupy the advanced parallels in the wilderness. The mildness of the climate frees them to a very great extent from disease; they occasionally commit outrages on themselves, such as lying out at night, irregular and unwholesome diet, and oftentimes, when they can get it, "knock down their money in a drunken, bacchanalian spree.”
Okay, some days not everything goes right! But today – trust us – this a great stop off. And for a coffee stop, try Café Cassaro on the main drag, easy-going, good fare, and two nice country ladies running the place. And décor – well, plenty to keep you occupied while you tuck in.
And afterwards, go for a walk down to the river. The towns-people have put together a decent park-type area, without anything too showy, and the grand old Murrumbidgee lined with massive redgums is the archetypal Aussie outback waterway, could easily contain a bunyip or two. So, do yourself, and Balranald a favour, stop off and say g’day.
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