The Road to Tungamah
Tungamah is a little town I can't help but keep returning to. Perched on the banks of the beautiful Boosey Creek, its name is derived from the Yorta Yorta word for the brush turkey, a native forager that once roamed the region. It's a town full of personality, if not people – at last count there were only 250 residents.
In many ways, it's a typical farming town, there are grain silos and petrol pumps, a post office and a pub. It's also a community that’s deeply proud of its heritage, with information panels scattered on almost every street celebrating the town's former boom times, from the establishment of the railway, butter factory, four banks and six hotels to the much-adored ice cream parlor, Peter's Peter's.
On the sunny morning I visit, I'm exactly forty-one years too late to try 'the world's best ice cream', so I settle for a walk around town with my camera and a cup of coffee.
The pedestrian footbridge.
Mist rising off Boosey Creek.
In the post sunrise hours, the town is quiet. My eyes are drawn to the old weatherboard houses with flags on display. In one front yard, a red ensign flutters upside down, signalling distress at sea. At another, a flag with a skull and crossbones hangs limply from a tree.
Further along, an Australian flag is pinned to a front fence, while the verandah behind it is crowded with blooming cacti.
I wander over to the local pub, now the only licensed venue in operation. Next to the front door, a hand-painted street library offers a selection of well-thumbed books.
At the end of the main drag, the town’s artistic grain silos shine. They were transformed in 2018 by Western Australian artist Sobrane Simcock at the invitation of the Tungamah Kick-Start Committee. They would later go on to inspire the North East Art Trail, a collection of painted silos and murals across six small country towns.
By the time I finish my coffee, the town has started to stir. A ute pulls in at the pub, a old cattle dog waits for his owner to buy a paper at the general store. Two hundred people isn't many, but on a morning like this it feels like enough. I'll be back. I always am.