So I really meant to write/post this a few days ago but internet here doesn't really like to co-operate very often and it's taken me approx 4 days to upload photos. Also, knowing what to write about the town is hard. Partly because I'm pretty new here and partly because it's virtually impossible to know what the truth is which makes writing a fair representation of the town difficult (particularly if I want people to come visit me :) )
I'll start with kind of factual things then. Wilcannia is approx 1000km from Sydney - drive west and keep on driving and you'll eventually get here. It's on the Barrier Highway, 200km before Broken Hill. It's also on the Darling River and actually exists because it is on the river. Pre trains and trucks, everything was shipped by paddle steamer and Wilcannia was an important port, also known as the Queen of the Darling. Important enough that there was a Mark Foys here and the second x-rays done in the country were performed here (first in Sydney). It had lots of beautiful buildings, such as this one which was the post office.
Once decent train lines and roads were in place, the importance of Wilcannia fell and continues to this day to. This is the other side of the road.
In terms of statistics, according to wiki there are 759 people here. However it's closer to 400 of which I would guess about 75% identify as Aboriginal Australian. Health statistics are pretty terrible - average life expectancy here is 38 for men and 44 for women. By virtue of being a small town employment opportunities are pretty limited and a lot of people left in the 70's to give their kids greener pastures.
This is where it moves from facts to things I've seen/heard. The problem with hearing things in Wilcannia is that there is at least 4 sides to every story. Most people seem to be distantly related or have a cousin that is going out with someones niece or the like. This means that you have to be unbelievably careful about what you say no matter where you are. It also means that you can hear the same story a number of times and only 3/4 of the way into it, realise that you've heard it before because it'll have things omitted/included/different emphasis depending on who you hear it from. So take everything from here with a grain of salt and I'm retaining the right to change my mind and opinion about it all, ok?
Alcohol and marijuana are really pretty prevalent problems across the whole community. Harder drugs are not looked upon well and tend to come from out of towners and there is a bit of petrol sniffing that goes on. Violence is also a big problem, although this seems to have gotten a bit better in the past few years. Police reckon that there is approx 1 attempted murder/grievous bodily harm every couple of months. In a town of 400 people, that's huge. Plenty of rumours exist about high levels of domestic violence and sexual assault and it seems that everyone knows someone who has been murdered. I went out to the cemetery the other day and aside from a number of unmarked graves, the most concerning thing was the huge number of young people buried there - it almost looks like a whole generation of people who were in their late teens or twenties are there.
This is getting a bit long but I don't want to wind up before I've said a bit about other things in town, like that nearly everyone who I've met so far has been really very lovely and welcoming, and very happy that I'm here (although a few have said that I won't last 6 months - I'm taking this as a challenge :)). The river is still what the town revolves around and features heavily in conversation (including mine!). The hospital was designed by the same guy that designed the nice bits of Sydney Uni - that's it below.
That front bit houses Marri Ma who are a huge primary health organisation that work out here. It goes into a T shape at the back with ED and a ward, although the number of in-patients is fairly minimal. Work is really really interesting but challenging - there are no doctors based in Wilcannia so anyone that comes in, the nurses see and then do a phone consult with the doctor if the need be. As a result, my assessment skills are getting better quick smart! There is a huge amount to learn in terms of assessment and skills that I need to be able to do so I'm studying a lot but am enjoying. My favourite thing about the hospital is the tea room which has a verandah on it and this is the view from it:
The hospital cook often makes us scones for morning tea :)
This is where I live and I can be early to a shift even if I leave 5 min before the shift starts.
Coming home at night, I can look up and see the milky way above me. It's dead quite when I fall asleep and I've never seen sunsets like the ones here anywhere else. What else to say about town? Hmmmmm. Ok, there is trivia on a thurs and bingo on a wed up at the golf club which also has a Chinese bistro. This is the only place to eat out here and the food is pretty good. It has a few vegetarian dishes although I'm not as good as a vegetarian as I used to be, mostly because with every single cup of tea I make, I'm always fishing bugs out and I'm sure that I must occasionally miss some.
There is one grocery store in town but it is extortionately expensive so I try not to get anything there. A fruit and veg man comes through every two weeks and he seems to have a pretty good range of things.
All in all, I'm really liking it here and I think it'll be a good 6 months. The only thing that is testing my patience slightly is the number of biting insects - I never realised what it truly meant to be itchy. However I've treated enough infected sandfly bites already to know that is a bad bad bad idea. I am considering taking out shares in a calamine lotion company though.....
Promise the next one will be shorter! and Petrina, I promise to do something more exciting to make the paper next time!
