Images and Video
Stratford Country
Highlights
- Explore ancient Aboriginal sites at Bangku, gaining insights into the Wadjabangayi people's rich cultural heritage.
- Discover relics of Stratford Country’s Pioneer Past, revealing stories through old wells and historic stonework.
- Savour the expansive night sky with guided readings, immersing in the tranquillity of the outback after sunset.
- Experience hands-on learning about sustainable cattle grazing from Robyn, a passionate pastoralist dedicated to holistic practices.
StratfordCountry are inclusive stay&tour package, exclusively for fully self-contained caravanners. From camping grounds – Jamba- beside White Lake, two tagalong tours around this working cattle property depart early morning and arrive back early afternoon. After resting or ‘walkabout’, your guides Barry and Robyn return for sunset and expansive night sky ‘reads’.
The first tour explores where Wadjabangayi People lived, harvested and hunted. From Crucifix Swamp – Purilla – for native rice, nardoo, spear trees and good game in the wet season; we travel up to the Escarpment – Bangku. An important Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site, artefacts and remains abound – fireplaces, flints and grinding stones to the caves’ many layered and coloured stencils and artwork. All around, useful plants, for food, medicines, cleaning, cooking, painting and tool/utensil-making; + ochre grounds and walls, native wells, look-outs and seasonal shelters. As a Traditional custodian and guide, Barry leads revelations of how the Wadjabangayi lived well.
Day Two is about discovering relics of Stratford Country’s Pioneer Past – old hand-dug well, earth dam with Chinese stonework, broken windmills, survey trees, and old grave and hotel site. Throughout owner/manager/pastoralist/guide Robyn Adams details her breeder enterprise and modern holistic approach to raising and grazing cattle.
Itinerary highlights
STRATFORD COUNTRY
The ancient weathered red sandstone escarpment on Stratford Country speaks of an ancient Aboriginal Culture. In the caves, art and artefacts enlighten as to how the Wadjabangayi lived with the below forecourts scattered with fireplace remains. Recognised as an important Cultural site, the escarpment was once home to a large extended family group of over 30. Exploring the cave environs, see and sample ochre walls and grounds from where pigments were drawn, then mouth-mixed for blowing onto cave walls; and native wells, maintained and covered for near-year round drinking water. Plants and animals harvested for food, remedies and other uses thrive in the intact surrounds, with sampling of seasonal forage available.
Barry, as Traditional Custodian will guide your wonderings, extend your observations and invite a deeper understanding of the rich past of the Wadjabangayi people on Stratford Country.
STRATFORD COUNTRY
Tour details
- On demand
Features
Service facilities
This business does not currently offer accessible facilities.
Operation information
Stratford Country
Stratford Country is offering immersive guided tours of its past – Indigenous and Pioneer – and present – female-led modern beef production, through scheduled ‘all-inclusive stay and tour weekends’ exclusively for self-contained caravanners.
Just off the now fully sealed Jericho Road north of Blackall in central west Queensland, Stratford is a working cattle property with significant Indigenous assets and a flourishing, regenerative grazing enterprise.
Guided by Traditional Custodian Barry Riddiford and property owner/manager Robyn Adams, the stay and tour guests will experience a deep nuanced interpretation of ancient enduring Aboriginal Cultural practices and society. As the day closes, guests look skyward and learn about the Dreamtime Stories as seen in the stars.
The second tour further explores the grazing property and the artefacts of Stratford’s pioneers including old bore and hotel sites, whilst seeing how beef cattle are ethically raised in Australia’s vast rangelands.
In open woodlands of native grasses and pink sands, Stratford Country Jamba (Camp) is by a dry ephemeral lake. Amenities here include hot shower, toilet, dump-ezy, potable fresh water direct from the property bore and rubbish bins, with harvested fallen timber available for lakeside fires and guests’ replenishment. The tours from morning to early afternoon allow for later ‘walkabouts’ with an extensive bird list on request.
Guests enjoy a hearty smoko-brunch mid-tour ‘in the paddock’ and cater for themselves elsewise.
Memberships
- QLD – Outback Queensland Tourism
