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Coonabarabran NSW 2357

19Oct09

This post is a collection of some of my thoughts and experiences living in Coonabarabran during my recent rural placement (and is by no means comprehensive or authoritative). Photos of Coonabarabran and the Warrumbungles are available on my Flickr photostream.

People/lifestyle

Coona is a small country town with a population of 2,601 (2006 census). The town is classified RRMA 5 (“other rural area”) and ARIA+ 4.51 (“outer regional”) in the two major indices of rurality/remoteness used in Australia. That said, I love the country lifestyle in Coona! After living in Sydney for over 20 years, you really appreciate the friendly down-to-earth people, fresh air, wide open spaces and relaxed pace.

Kangaroo sign
Kangaroo hazard sign on John Renshaw Parkway, Coonabarabran

In my travels around Australia I’ve noticed some regional variations in vocabulary/grammar, which is perhaps unsurprising in a country this size. In Coona, I noticed that most people substituted “in the” with “of the”. For example, a patient might come in stating that his cough “is worse of the morning” or that he takes “one tablet of the morning and one tablet of the night” of a particular medication.

Warrumbungle National Park

The nearby Warrumbungle Mountain Range, located within the heritage-listed Warrumbungle National Park, is perhaps the most important tourism drawcard for Coona these days. The volcanic rock formations and rugged landscape of the Warrumbungles are the result of millions of years of erosion of an ancient shield volcano. The national park is a great place for bushwalking, with a variety of tracks of various grades, and I plan to go back to try one of the more challenging trails next time. The easiest way to see the Warrumbungles, however, is either White Gum Lookout or from the deck outside the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory.

White Gum Lookout, Warrumbungle National Park
White Gum Lookout, Warrumbungle National Park

Burbie Canyon, Warrumbungle National Park
Burbie Canyon trail, Warrumbungle National Park

Around town

Coona township was founded in 1860, but the greatest development of the town occurred during the economic booms of the early 20th century, as reflected in the Federation and Art Deco architectural styles that predominate on the high street (John Street).

Memorial Clock Tower and Imperial Hotel, Coonabarabran
Memorial Clock Tower (1926) and Imperial Hotel (1930s)

Coonabarabran Courthouse
Coonabarabran Courthouse (1878)

Commonwealth Bank, Coonabarabran
Commonwealth Bank, Coonabarabran (1935)

There was formerly a railway service operating to Coona on the Gwabegar Line (a branch of the Main Western Line). The Gwabegar Line reached Coonabarabran in 1917 and became an important mode of goods transport. Regular rail services ceased in 1990 and the Gwabegar Line north of Binnaway (including Coona) was closed in 2005.

Gwabegar Line (abandoned), Coonabarabran
Gwabegar Line (abandoned), Coonabarabran

Surprisingly, there are two Chinese restaurants on John Street – Golden Sea Dragon Chinese Restaurant (金海龍酒家) and Golden Fountain Chinese Restaurant (金源酒家). Golden Sea Dragon has a very kitsch interior design, but is apparently more popular with the locals and seems to be a bit cheaper. Neither of them serves particularly authentic Chinese fare, but nor would you expect them to out this way. (And yes, you have to ask for chopsticks at both restaurants).

There are two main pubs (Imperial Hotel and Royal Hotel) in town, with the Imperial generally considered to be the better of the two. Both were described to me as “real” Aussie pubs, so it was perhaps unsurprising that the three of us medical students stuck out like sore thumbs when we walked into the Imperial one night!

Imperial Hotel, Coonabarabran
Public bar – Imperial Hotel, Coonabarabran

Royal Hotel, Coonabarabran
Royal Hotel, Coonabarabran (1912)

There are three cafés on John Street, although only one of them actually calls itself a “café”. My pick of the three was Raquel’s Café (good foccacias), though apparently The Jolly Cauli is also quite good when the owners are around.

Cornucopia motif, The Jolly Cauli
Cornucopia motif – The Jolly Cauli café (ex-Union Bank, c. 1920s)

More photos of Coonabarabran and the Warrumbungles are available on my Flickr photostream.

Coonabarabran: astronomy capital

11Oct09

Coonabarabran is the astronomy capital of Australia, by virtue of hosting the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) – Australia’s key site for optical astronomy research and the location of the largest telescopes in the country. Coona also holds the annual Warrumbungle Festival of the Stars (usually in October), which celebrates the town’s connections with astronomy.

The SSO site was chosen for its clear skies, low light pollution (being hundreds of kilometres from Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle) and relatively high altitude. These advantages are also true of the town itself and I was amazed to see so many features of the night sky, normally hidden by light pollution in Sydney, even just standing outside my quarters at Coonabarabran Hospital. As I looked up at the sky (and took a few photos – see my Flickr photostream), I wondered how many fellow Sydneysiders would grow up never seeing the Milky Way arc across the night sky.

The Milky Way from Coonabarabran
The Milky Way from Coonabarabran Hospital

Anyway, a bit of commentary (and photos) of some of my astronomy-related adventures around Coona!

Siding Spring Observatory
John Renshaw Parkway, Coonabarabran NSW 2357
www.mso.anu.edu.au/info/sso/

Taking pride of place at SSO is the 3.9 metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), the largest optical telescope in Australia. Its location at an altitude of 1165 metres helps to reduce astronomical seeing and makes the AAT dome a visible landmark from town. The location of AAT also makes the deck outside a great place to view the Warrumbungles. The telescopes are not publicly accessible (professional astronomers have real work to do), however the AAT can be viewed from the observation deck (tip: if you don’t feel like walking up four flights of stairs, enter AAT using the door on the left and take the lift). There is also a small “exploratory” exhibit at SSO, but it’s really only of interest to astronomy beginners.

Anglo-Australian Telescope dome
Anglo-Australian Telescope dome

Anglo-Australian Telescope
Anglo-Australian Telescope

Warrumbungle Observatory
“Tenby”, John Renshaw Parkway, Coonabarabran NSW 2357
www.tenbyobservatory.com

While SSO telescopes are not accessible to the public, there’s a nearby private observatory run by former SSO manager Peter Starr. Warrumbungle Observatory offers nightly sky and telescope viewing sessions under the knowledgeable guidance of Mr Starr and the opportunity for astrophotography through his telescopes for those with an SLR camera (see my Flickr photostream). I highly recommend going there if you visit Coona.

Astronomical viewing at Warrumbungle Observatory
Astronomical viewing at Warrumbungle Observatory

Lagoon Nebula M8 (NGC 6523), Warrumbungle Observatory
Lagoon Nebula M8 (NGC 6523), Warrumbungle Observatory
Canon EOS 30D, Meade XL200 (14″)

World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive
www.solarsystemdrive.com

Lastly, a rather more touristy aspect to the astronomy capital – the World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive. This is a scale model of the solar system where the 37 metre diameter AAT dome represents the Sun. Scattered at approximate scale distances on the main roads to SSO/Coona from Dubbo, Gulgong, Merriwa, Tamworth and Moree are billboards featuring scale models of the planets (including Pluto). During my travels around Coona I eventually managed to see all the planets – it really gives you a sense of the vastness of space and just how small our planet is in the grand scheme of things.

Earth: Worlds Largest Virtual Solar System Drive
Earth: World’s Largest Virtual Solar System Drive

Destination: Coonabarabran

08Oct09

As promised earlier, this is the first in a multi-part series on Coonabarabran, where I had an amazing experience on rural placement for Community Rotation in the Sydney Medical Program. So without further ado, my first post about my time in that wonderful little town the locals call “Coona”… how on earth I managed to get there!

The New South Wales Geographical Names Board database (circa September 2009) entry for Coonabarabran includes the following comment:

“A town of on the Castlereagh River and in the Warrumbungle Mountains. It is 465 km from Sydney having good road, rail and air facilities.”

Whilst the comments regarding transportation may have been true some 20 years ago, alas this is no longer quite accurate. Commercial flights no longer operate to Coonabarabran Airport and the railway service ceased in 1990 (replaced by a CountryLink coach service from Lithgow). There is a good road connection, however, with national highway A39 (Newell Highway, the main Melbourne–Brisbane route) running through town. It was clear that the best option for me was to drive to Coona.

Former Coonabarabran Railway Station
Waiting for the train that never comes… Former Coonabarabran Railway Station

Getting there from Sydney, however, is somewhat indirect. There is no way to drive to Coona on A-roads without lengthy detours via Bathurst/Dubbo or Maitland/Gunnedah. The only reasonably direct routes involve travelling mostly on B-roads and minor roads – the two main routes used by Coona locals are via Mudgee or the Hunter Valley, which I’ve outlined below. Travelling time is around 6–6.5 hours by either route (depending on traffic/breaks).

N.B. The information below is provided as a general guide only and driver discretion is advised – both routes involve driving on minor roads of variable quality.

Sydney to Coonabarabran via Mudgee

West on M4 Western Motorway and continue on A32 Great Western Highway via Blue Mountains, exit onto SR86 (B55) Castlereagh Highway and continue north-west via Mudgee and Gulgong, west on SR86 (B55)/B84 Golden Highway via Dunedoo, north-west on SR86 (B55) Castlereagh Highway via Mendooran, north on Mendooran Road* via Mollyan, north on A34/A39 Newell Highway into Coonabarabran.

M4 Western Motorway
Heading west on M4 Western Motorway, near Penrith NSW

Sydney to Coonabarabran via the Hunter Valley

North on M1 Sydney–Newcastle Freeway, exit onto B82 Freemans Drive and continue north-west on B82 via Cessnock and Pokolbin, west on Broke Road, north on Wollombi St, north-west on Charlton Road, briefly east on Singleton Road, north-west on Wallaby Scrub Road, north-west on B84 Golden Highway via Denman and Merriwa, north on Vinegaroy Road and continue on Cassilis Road via Coolah, north on Black Stump Way, north-west on Warrumbungles Way via Binnaway, north on A34/A39 Newell Highway into Coonabarabran.

B84 Golden Highway, Merriwa
B84 Golden Highway directional signs, Merriwa NSW

Epic fail

18Sep09

We apologise for this temporary service interruption.

While I was away on rural placement in Coonabarabran, which I’ll be writing about extensively after the third-year Barrier exam, it seems that medicinalchemistry died on me. On closer examination it seems that my hosting service (Yahoo! Small Business) had upgraded my WordPress install to 2.8.4 (after a few years of the automatic update system doing nothing), in the process completely breaking WordPress and the MySQL database.

Epic fail, Yahoo.

I guess it was about time that I refreshed this blog anyway, so I’ve done a clean install and will be progressively restoring key content that I salvaged from my backups. Stay tuned.

MedSoc logo refresh

16Aug09

The Sydney University Medical Society (MedSoc) has a historic logo designed by Professor Sir Thomas Anderson Stuart, which has remained in use since the late 1880s. Perhaps the reason this design has endured over a century is the strong symbolism featured on it: the caduceus*, lion passant guardant (USyd, NSW, UK), waratah (NSW), and abbreviation for ‘University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine’.

Unfortunately, the original plates were lost over time and the only digital images we had to work with were two low-detail JPEG files (see images below). Even some on the MedSoc Council didn’t realise that our logo featured a lion and waratah on it.

As part of preliminary work for the Sydney University Medical Journal (SUMJ) 2010, I decided to create a detailed vector version of our logo. I looked through our Journal archives to cross-reference the general design and decided to base my new artwork on a print I found on the cover of SUMJ 1965 (vol. 54)…

Sydney University Medical Society logos – old and new

The vector logos were created using Adobe Illustrator CS4. From a design perpsective, my primary aim was to modernise the appearance whilst remaining true to the original design. Thus my 2009 version employs cleaner lines and revised geometries, which help to emphasise the symbolic elements. For example, text was set in Univers 73 Black Extended after the style of the 1965 version’s sans-serif type.

The 1965 colour scheme was very eye-catching, dominated by scarlet and jungle green, to the point of being described as ‘Christmassy’ by some. I’m not sure whether this was a true representation of Anderson Stuart’s original colour scheme, but in any case I decided that a more subdued palette was preferable for my 21st century refresh.

The new logos were officially adopted at the 2nd meeting of the 124th MedSoc Council.

*Whilst the caduceus is traditionally the symbol for messengers and commerce (the traditional symbol for medicine being the rod of Asclepius), I suspect that Anderson Stuart chose it deliberately to represent the Royal College of Physicians.