Hi
This will probably be the last blog post before Christmas. I am flying out of Croker Island to Darwin on Wednesday and onto Brisbane on Thursday. Jayson will accompany me on the flight to Brisbane. We are having Christmas at Yarraman. Laura will also join us (Josh unfortunately will be still at his FIFO work. Dean, Kristy and Noah are hoping to join us in January.
Recently a good friend Kent (a keen gardener) requested some photos of the Minjilang community and our garden.
I rose early this morning, set up my drone to catch the sun rise. Unfortunately an early show of rain prevented me seeing the sunrise. Once the rain had cleared I took the following photos.
Firstly, looking east over Mission Bay towards the east. In some of my past blog posts I have mentioned the Outer Islands. They are out in the distance of this drone photo however they can only be seen when there is really good visibility.
Spinning the drone around towards the west the photo below shows the community of Minjilang. The arrow points to the house where we live. Back in the early 1940s a Methodist Overseas Mission was set up here as a part of the Australian Government's 'Stolen Generation' police of that day. The original mission was located up in the top right hand part of the community in this photo. Some the traditional owners of this land were originally forbidden from mixing with these stolen generation children - there was a fear then that 'full blood' Indigenous people would corrupt the 'mixed heritage' stolen generation children. The traditional owners, wanting to observe this intrusion into their country, had camps along the beach near a fresh water spring.
Moving the drone to the west and turning it back around towards the east again. Our house is the one at the bottom centre of the photo below.
Pointing the drone camera straight down the photo below shows our little house. We have just had a new white roof fitted. Being close to the beach, the salty corrosive environment had taken its toll.
Sending the drone out to the south west of the community and looking north east you can see the community, Mission Bay and the main road into Minjilang.
Sending the drone to the south of the community and looking north shows another view of the community. If you zoom in, way in the distance of the photo below, Cape Croker can be seen.
Spinning the drone around towards the south the photo below shows a creek, commonly referred to as Japs Creek. Back in WW2 a couple Japanese airman were pickup here after their plane went down. Off in the far distance is Point David (the southern point of Croker Island) on the left of the photo and over in the distant right a channel of water (Bowen Straits) can be seen and beyond that is the mainland of Australia.
Flying the drone back along the beach just down in front of our house are the remains of the old jetty from the mission times.
Going further north along the beach is another little creek. In the bottom part of the photo below are some more poles near the waters edge. In the water nearby are the remains of a barge. All of this infrastructure was part of the cattle operation that was here in the mission days when they barged live cattle into Darwin.
When I arrived here in September 2020 our house yard was rather dry and dusty. Lots of horse manure, and other fertiliser and lots of water have made a big difference. Below are some turmeric, basil, chilli, sweet potato in large pots.
Some bananas and sweet potato - looking a bit sad due the very hot dry conditions recently. With the increased cloud cover of the last few days they are a lot happier.
Below L to R - Five Corner or Carambola, Tropical Lemon, Mini Guava and a clump of lemon grass.
Some beans and pawpaw. Sadly, the builders damaged one pawpaw.
Another paw paw and frangipani
This week a couple of the rangers and I overnighted at McClure Island. We were successful in removing a large ghost net from the reef on the eastern side of the island. I am not sure whether I will have time to post a blog about this before Christmas.
If not, Nancy and I pray you will all be blessed at over this Christmas and New Year period.
Take care and stay safe.
Bryan and Nancy
Comments
Kent
Love Murray and Helen