TRAVEL FEATURE - AUSTRALIA
LEIGH WILKINS
AS STRAIGHT AS A HARROW
Nestled amongst giant
Eucalypts in a valley on the upper reaches of the Glenelg river a town sits almost hidden away from the modernity . Appearing as you round a bend this little hamlet is untouched , no road points here , all skirt or bypass leaving an unaffected history . A history that is proud , bold , and wanted .
Entering Harrow , within the Wimmera region of Victoria ( Australia ), you ’ d be forgiven for thinking you ’ d stepped into a portal that sent you back to the mid-1800s . The structures are old , not run down , just old , full of life and story filled . A monument to the man claimed to be the first European to pass by here sits proud although , his story meets with some disdain when speaking with the locals .
There ’ s a proud display of indigenous names , Mullagh is everywhere and although not indigenous it relates in every way , for this is the land of the Jardwadjali people whose ‘ country ’ occupies a vast 9,000 square kilometre region that stretches from the Grampians to Hamilton and almost as far west as the South Australian border .
It ’ s believed the Jardwadjali people , or at least their ancestors , have been in the region for as long as 22,000 years and yet it ’ s a somewhat modern sport that has brought them attention . For Johnny ‘ Unaarrimin ’ Mullagh was a proponent of cricket .
Unaarrimin was born on Mullagh Station in 1841 , just 5 years after Major Thomas Mitchell passed by claiming Australia Felix and laying foundations for what was to become the state of Victoria . Mitchell knew that his third expedition of discovery would change the Jardwadjali people and many of the others he ’ d come across . Did he care ? It ’ s almost impossible to say but he did believe the white British way was the best
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