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New Norcia Austalia's only Monastic TownFounded by Dom Rosendo Salvado of the Benedictine order of monks in 1846. Following is a map of the Monastic Town as it is today. This map was prepared by T.C. Lawton and is on the brochure we were given at the Information centre. I have included the map here to give you some idea of the size of the actual town. We were all pleasantly surprised at the size and the quality of the buildings and even more delighted with their art gallery and museum.
To give you an idea of the architectural style of the buildings in the town I have included photographs of St. Gertrude's and St. Ildephonsus.
For a detailed and interesting history of New Norcia click here. The New Norcia Art GalleryThis gallery contains a first rate collection of paintings. It includes paintings by Spanish and Italian Masters, an Australian Contemporary Gallery and Mandorla Art Award Paintings. To find out more about the collection click here. There was also a special botanical exhibition of Charles Gardner's pen and ink drawings and delicate watercolours - all of Western Australian plants. This was the first time they had been exhibited. They were only on exhibition until 26 October 2003. For further information contact
Sally Osborn at the Monastery. The following notes and watercolour are a summary from another website which may be visited by clicking here.
Morning TeaWhen we arrived at New Norcia we parked the car in front of the hotel and decided this would be the place for our morning tea. It was a beautiful old hotel but, unfortunately they did not have money for anything but the essential repairs on it. Perhaps with a pick up in tourism money for a make over may be available. There was a grand stair case leading to the first floor, some renovations had been done in the 1950's but the ceiling - which was very high - had not been touched. Maybe this was a good thing as it looked better then the 1950's renovations. Flies were everywhere, this is the Australian countryside. After checking out the accommodation upstairs and admiring the wide verandah, with a view out over the monastic village and fields we headed down to the coffee lounge. Our friends Sue and Eric ordered the full monty - scones with jam and cream, Bob and I ordered fruit scones - plain. The flies were abominable, you had to keep shooing them away if you didn't want to share your food with them. This was where Sue made her fatal mistake, she stopped shooing! She cut her scone in half and spread both pieces liberally with jam and cream, she picked up one half and relaxed back in her chair to eat it, within seconds a fly swooped down ready to dine on the other half of the scone, but disaster struck. The cream could not support the fly's weight and he sunk quickly into it, Eric moved to flick it out, but alas he was too late and only managed to bury the fly deeper into the cream. That was the end of morning tea. Never order devonshire teas in the country unless you enjoy extra condiments!
On the way to and from New Norcia we passed many fields of wildflowers. See
adjacent photograph.
When we visited the Perth Agricultural show we were told that we should call at Gingin cemetery for the best display of Kangaroo Paws. It was good advice. Just look at the wonderful photos we took of Kangaroo Paws.
Two unexpected delights we found in the town of Gingin were:
This picturesque park has a waterwheel and pool, electric barbecues, playground facilities and toilets (which we needed to use). Across the road from the park we found an "Everglades Paperbark Walk".
A board walk through a delightful area of flooded paperbarks and dense undergrowth of ferns and lilies. It is a birdwatchers paradise. If you would like to find out more about the birds in the Gingin Shire click here. Make sure you put Gingin on your itinerary when visiting Western Australia. Top of page or Steam train |
Strychos Lucida R.
Br. by C. A. Gardner
