Derelict Diapur

I haven't posted any abandoned buildings for some time, so here are a few from Diapur.

Diapur (Aboriginal for crabhole/swamp) is just north of the Melbourne-Adelaide Highway, between Nhill and Kaniva.



The Railway from Nhill arrived in 1886, and a huge dam had to be scooped out for the inter-state trains which stopped there for water.


The water tower

Diapur had its own brickworks, also hotel, general store, post office, blacksmith, saddler, bootmaker & Bible Christian Church.

Now just the silos, hall and a few houses.

The original hall
A new larger hall building was built in 1967.

The author of “Mad as rabbits” Elizabeth Lane grew up in the district, and the area is depicted in the book.

The weightbridge building

Diary 1.6.1883

Friday June 1

In bed when the porridge was ready that was 7:30 instead of 8 o’clock. It is a very mild morning the sea as calm as a river until afternoon, then the wind began to blow and it became quite rough by night. Distance today 226 miles.

Diary 31.5.1883

Thursday May 31

Still blowing very hard with showers of rain but had to stop most of the time below which is not a very pleasant place on a wet day.

Diary 30.5.1883

Wednesday May 30

Very rough today, I was washing yesterday but I have had to suffer for it all night with pain in my legs, cold water to wash in I do not think I shall do it again while it is so cold. We could not sleep last night it was so very rough, they had to take the sails in or it would have taken sails and masts all away, we keep having hail storms today, we have got a good log today Lat. 44.19S Long. 48.5E distance 285 miles.

Diary 29.5.1883

Tuesday May 29

Today is Royal Oaks Day, we do not forget if we are not on land. We count the days now how long we shall be before we land, I am tired out of this life. We could manage very well as long as we could get on deck, it passed the time on a bit for us, distance today 210 miles.

Diary 28.5.1883

Monday May 28

Cold day down all day, porridge and tea for breakfast and sea biscuits, the bread is dreadfully sour, soup and pork for dinner, tea and sea biscuits for tea. Nothing fresh today.

Diary 27.5.1883

Sunday May 27

Wet day, down all day, it is dreadful weather and cold. Emmeline is cross because she cannot go on the top, we are going on very nicely now the wind is high.

Diary 26.5.1883

Saturday May 26

Wet and miserable all day and almost like Christmas weather.

Diary 25.5.1883

Friday May 25

Wet again with very little wind, very miserable weather, have to be below almost all day. The log today was Lat. 43S Long. 22.28E. 181 miles

Diary 24.5.1883

Thursday May 24

Another wet morning with plenty of wind. The Captain was laughing at me this morning when I was going to the closet holding on to one side of the ship. You would laugh to see us holding to ropes and things as we walk. Emmeline can walk better than me she leans all on one side. Porridge and tea for breakfast, I wish we had some of our own bread this is so foisty it has got damp with being in the hold. E.A. the skipper has been letting fireworks off in honour of the Queen’s birthday.

Diary 23.5.1883

Wednesday May 23

Wet morning with very little wind, porridge and coffee for breakfast with salt beef for dinner. Our mess had to be without beef because we had got it last night so there was nothing but plum duff for dinner. A little Yorkshire pudding with some nice beef gravy would be a great treat now.

Diary 22.5.1883

Tuesday May 22

Another wet and cold day, a very strong wind and a heavy sea which grew into a gale by night, Emily Ann was afraid. It lasted about six hours, it ripped three sails into rags, it calmed down before we went to bed. The log today is Lat. 41.44S Long. 15.15W Distance 256 miles.

Diary 21.5.1883

Monday May 21

A wet day again and very cold, remain below almost all day. The wind was astern all day which causes the ship to roll very much. The log today was 202 miles.

Diary 20.5.1883

Sunday May 20

A very cold and wet morning the rain is coming down in bucketfulls as we say in Yorkshire. A great many sea birds following the ship today, there has been four of them caught, two mulhawkes, one cape pigeon. Another birth on board today. Distance today 190 miles.

Underground wonders

Have been using my Del.icio.us tags again and found some new entries on the 7 Wonders site. Here are two of the best

World’s Largest Diamond Mine: (via DeputyDog): The Mirny Diamond Mine in Siberia may be one of the scariest mines in the world (in addition to being the world’s largest open diamond mine). It is over a thousand feet deep and thousands of feet wide. It is so large it actually creates its own local weather patterns and the space above it has had to be designated a no-fly zone for helicopters (after this problem was identified the hard way). Gigantic trucks (like the small dot pointed to above) can haul over 200 tons of material out of the mine at a time, winding up and down the frightening spiral path that leads to the center of the mine.

Mormon Genealogical vaults The Mormons have some of the most sophisticated and thorough genealogical records in the world - 500 million pages of statistics dating back hundreds of years. So where does one horde such a rare treasure for safe-keeping? There is a nuke-proof underground bunker where the backups are kept carved into a granite cliffside outside of Salt Lake City. While the data is available to the public these original archival copies are kept completely secure. The folks of the Long Now project managed to get access but could only photograph the exterior. Inside, says their intrepid representative, long rows of microfilm storage resemble the endless stacks from "The Matrix" and a central water-catch zone (from the rock above) is reminiscent of Fremen water catches from "Dune".

Diary 19.5.1883

Saturday May 19

A wet morning, porridge and coffee for breakfast, salt pork for dinner with pea soup, there you have a meal fit for a lord of the land. There is a lot of sea birds about today and Cape pigeons. Distance run today 203 miles.

Diary 18.5.1883

Friday May 18

The boxes were brought up this morning, we got out all our eatables, this time the bottle of pickles that was in the box Bartle sent was broken. The weather is getting colder, we are now off the Cape of Good Hope, we are expecting rough weather, but have not got it yet. Lat. 38.14 Long. 6.14 distance 190 miles.

Diary 17.5.1883

Thursday May 17

A wet morning plenty of wind, the distance today is 260 miles. They captured a large mulhawke today, it is a bird with white body and dark grey wings, it was 80 inches from tip to tip of the wings, it will eat 6 ozs. of pork at once.

Course from Cape Verde Islands to Cape of Good Hope almost sailed to South America

Head in the clouds

"A pig with six legs and other clouds", from the Cloud Appreciation Society, and edited by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

The Grim Reaper

Every so often, I sight intriguing books passing my desk, and this is one such book.
The Cloud Appreciation Society's Manifesto states: 'We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see within them, will save on psychoanalysis bills.'

The Red Snapper

This is a glorious collection of clouds that look like things, including dragons, skateboarders, pasta, Salvador Dali, witches and poodles. It is a proud celebration of the carefree, aimless and endlessly life-affirming pastime of cloudspotting.

The Skateboarder

Filled with colour photographs of clouds. anyone who's spotted a fluffy elephant in the sky will enjoy these photos taken by members of The Cloud Appreciation Society, which celebrates the carefree pastime of looking up.

The U.F.O.

Obviously there are more pictures in the book. My one disappointment was I thought this would be a coffee-table sized book and was let down to find it is only postcard size. Oh, and saddened to think that the pig with six legs is probably some power-plant or factory's smoke stack.

Diary 16.5.1883

Wednesday May 16

Rain this morning but it got up fine by 10 o’clock. John Edwin has been breaking sea biscuits up small and making a cake of them with currants and sugar, it is like cold plum pudding, we should never have thought of eating such stuff at home but we are rather short of bread and it helps to fill up. We are going very fast this morning. Lat. 36.21S Long. 15.52W Distance for two days 420 miles, one of the stay sails was split this morning. Inacessible Island (Inaccessible Island is an extinct volcano, 14 km² (5.5 sq mi) in area, rising out of the South Atlantic Ocean) 170 miles off.

Inaccessible Island

Diary 15.5.1883

Tuesday May 15

Dull morning but I had to wash today, it got up fine. We had a dreadful night with the wind, it blew two topsails down, there was a great noise with the fall.
You will have got over Whitsuntide now, I hope it was fine for you. We were going fourteen knots an hour when the sails came down, they were two of the topsails on the main mast. No log today.

Diary 14.5.1883

Monday May 14

Rather dull morning but got up very fine. I suppose you will all be going to the field today and getting a bun and tea, I wish we could get a bun they would be very nice to us here instead of sour bread, but we must give up wishing for things we cannot get. I am very stiff this morning with my fall. Distance 170 miles.

Diary 13.5.1883

Sunday May 13

We were up in good time a fine morning, we have not forgotten that this is Whit Sunday, we have been talking about it and saying what new things there will be turning out today, if we had been at home I should have Emmeline with hers on, (Whit Sunday traditions were popular in the industrial towns of northern England, the community parades around the town with local families all in their best new clothes, with the girls dressed in white, ending with sports and competitions, Morris dancing displays, music, eating and drinking; a major event on the social calendar) she gets a little trick she can say anything, she is spoiled here with the first mate and the passengers. As soon as she sees the mate put his hand into his pocket, she goes to him and kisses him for sweets.

I have been poorly again today, I went up on deck before breakfast and was coming down the steps when my feet slipped from under me and I went to the bottom. I was very sick for a long time it gave me such a shake, I hurt my back and my arm. There was a service on the poop today. John Edwin is in the choir. I think there is nothing else of note today, distance 110 miles.

Diary 12.5.1883

Saturday May 12

We were up very soon this morning, there was a ship passing, it’s so near that the captain could speak to the captain of the other ship. It was bound for New Zealand with four passengers on board and one of them was asleep.

Diary 11.5.1883

Friday May 11

A fine morning not so much wind, Emily Ann was sick today, in bed from dinner time. The log today is 290 miles.

Diary 10.5.1883

Thursday May 10

A cloudy morning began to rain at dinner time had to go below deck to dinner, when it rains the ship below deck is a miserable place because there are so many children and no right tables for us all to eat off.

No log today.