Toorale homestead - Louth

We set off from Bourke  , we had stayed the night at Kidmans camp , which was a lovely spot and headed off south to start the Datling River run. For the first few hours we didn’t see any river as our first destination was 

TooraleHomestead

The drive in was pretty good , lots of dust and a little bit of corrigation but really quite good 

We seen some wildlife including an eagle 

Bit blurry as it was taken through the windscreen of the car , 

Some Emu’s and kangaroos 

The homestead itself is closed to the public except during school holidays ,so we didn’t get to go in but , we knew before we arrived that was the case and I was keen to see it anyway.

Sir Samuel McCaughey in partnership with his Brother John and cousin purchased Toorale, Nocoleche and Dunlop station. Acquiring 800 000 acres of land and 130 000 sheep and 80 horses.  Eventually Samuel bought his brother and cousin out. He built the homestead in 1896 as a wedding gift to his niece. The golden years for the homestead were between 1872-1924. Records indicate that the homestead had lavish gardens, hand painted wall paper and an internal courtyard with a lead light ceiling. 

Sadly in 1924 Toorale ceased operation as a family business and became corporately owned by the 1960s the homestead had fallen into disrepair and the gardens overgrown. 

It certainly looked like it was once magnificent. After leaving Toorale we headed south over more dirt roads towards Louth. We stopped at   Mount Talowla Lookout to look back across where we had been and to see the magnificent view.

We arrived in Louth in time for lunch at Shindys pub.

As I said in the first blog post this is not our first time in the darling river run , last time we went to the graveyard to see the famous Mary Matthews Memorial, we didnt go this time , but it was well worth seeing and you can read more about it Here

After lunch we headed out to our home for the next few nights Trilby station.

The road to Trilby was pretty corrugated and we arrived a little concerned at what condition Ruby would be in , but from what we can see she seems to have held up pretty well, we found a few screws on the floor , no idea where they came from , hopefully the service centre will know. But otherwise she held up pretty well. 

Ohh and we lost the screw out of the plug for the sink , so at the moment can’t wash up in the sink until we get to a hardware store.  

Catch you later 

Googy girl