I went to Casterton

It is only 30 kms up the road and very pretty in Autumn.
Dame Mary Gilmore, the woman on our $10 banknote lived in Casterton, Victoria in 1907 when this substantial hotel was designed and built.
However, she escaped and the hotel is now closed down. Young Mary Jean Gilmore had been taken by her husband to the Strathdownie sheep station and if I look up I can actually see the Strathdownie road from my window.  Vistas can be good out here in The Western District.
When that hotel was absolutely thriving in a wealthy community 30 years on, it got some neighbouring buildings in a completely different style.
Murrell's Shoes is charming example of Art Deco and has not been ruined:

It bravely faces the stonkingly Art Deco Casterton Town Hall. Totally Style Moderne in every way.

That dog-on-a-rock is there because Casterton [named for a place in Ireland] is the home of The Kelpie muster - an event where $12,000 has been paid for one dog [I wonder though, how mixed the seller's emotions were as he left without his clever doggie].  Those red dogs which are so focussed on sheep herding originated in the Victorian Casterton when it was noted by her Scotsman owner that "one of Kelpie's pups" would be just as clever at moving sheep as she was. There are A LOT of sheep around here.

No Kelpies needed at No Place For Sheep however. A most excellent Australian blog I commend to you. Follow the link to vent your spleen on Bananaby Joyce, Donald "7/11" Trump or the witless Tara Brown who has been in a slummy Beirut slammer for much more than 60 Minutes.

Yulecart 3301

I hope your weekend was as funny as mine. I saw the Yulecart Agricultural Show. There were ponies of course and inside the Heritage listed bluestone hall there were roses and wool.

The hall was built by the community using bluestone recycled from Strathkellar Homestead. The names on the prizewinning exhibits were the same dozen as on the boards displaying those who served in the 1914 war and the 1939 war. There's a continuity out here in the country.

from my window

The day after we endured 44.3 degrees celsius and a howling wind, the sky blushes over
Tarndwarncoort hill, occupied since 1840, origin of Polwarth sheep bred out of the first Merinos to leave Spain. 'Merino' means 'fugitive without a home', as so many of us are.