Pics From South Australia

[RocksnRoses]

Just a few pics of what we do down here. Our core business is crushing limestone products for the local trade as well as on farm crushing for the farmers in the area. The one unique thing about our operation is that we do not quarry the stone, we just load and cart it from stockpiles in the farmers paddocks. The majority of this stone has been hand picked over the last 100 years and in latter years it has been picked by machine. Nowadays the farmers us large rollers with angle iron ribs to break down the stoney country. We also clean out dams, clear fencelines, build roads etc., for farmers. We don't get involved in civil construction at all.

Pic 1: My first crusher in the 60's
Pic 2: My second crusher in the 70's
The rest: Our current operation. This plant was built in 1982.

Rn'R

[RocksnRoses]

Our current operation.

Rn'R

[stretch]

That's a nice little operation. What sizes are you producing?

[RocksnRoses]

That's a nice little operation. What sizes are you producing?

Hi Stretch, thanks.

We scalp at 60mm, then through the summer months we rescreen the scalps and take off 60-40mm which is used as soakage rock for septic systems. The -40mm is put over a 6mm screen to take the soil off which is blended with sand, watered and sold as sandy loam. The 40-6mm is used as a rough base product. Our crushed products are 20-10mm, 10-6mm and -6mm. We also make crusher run and road bases. We can vary the sizes by using different screens.

Rn'R

[euclid]

well done!

[RocksnRoses]

Thanks Euclid.

When the old fellows picked the limestone off the land they only had a horse and dray, so when the dray was full they would take it to the nearest stony ridge or fenceline and tip the stones out. There are many stories told how they would pull the dray up and fill it in one spot without moving it. A lot of this stone is till there today and we load it up and cart it to the crusher. All the old homesteads and farm sheds were built out of local limestone. Over the years we have demolished and crushed many of these old buildings.

Pic 1 & 2. Old stone shed
Pic 3. Stones along a fenceline
Pic 4. We often grade the stones from the fenceline
Pic 5. Picking the stones up

[RocksnRoses]

Pic 1. After the stones have been picked up. This line wasn't graded
Pic 2. Stones tipped in the paddock
Pic 3. Loading
Pics 4 & 5. Tipping at the stockpile which will be crushed later on

[euclid]

that is some interesting stuff you posted! I'd be after those old structures for the rock unless they were historic in nature then it is important to preserve those for the future. So were you all building fire barries last year? I have some friends who sent pictures of the fires down in SA and the sky just glowed orange and the sun didn't shine for a few days due to the smoke.

[RocksnRoses]

We did demolish those old walls. When they get to that stage the mortar around the base frets and it is just too expensive to repair them. We didn't have any fires in our area last summer, actually the whole state was fairly quiet, sometimes the smoke drifts accross from the eastern states. I am not sure what fires your friends would be referring to. Sometimes the parks have big fires started by lightning but they are only in mallee country so they keep an eye on them and let them burn.

Rn'R.

[euclid]

I understood them to be in Victoria down around Melbourne off the beaten path. I haven't spoken tho them in a while so I could be mistaken.

[RocksnRoses]

You are right euclid, there were huge fires in Victoria the summer before last. They were in the mountains north east of Melbourne and burnt for quite a few weeks.

You said on another thread that you were in the NT for a while. Where in the NT were you and were you working or holidaying there?

Rn'R.

[euclid]

You are right euclid, there were huge fires in Victoria the summer before last. They were in the mountains north east of Melbourne and burnt for quite a few weeks.

You said on another thread that you were in the NT for a while. Where in the NT were you and were you working or holidaying there?

Rn'R.

I was in Darwin, I was staying in Fannie Bay and I worked at the RAAF base for a while and then Holiday a few times. I had a lot of fun on walkabout in Kakadu and Berry Springs. Just liked being out side when the weather was right. Last time I was down in Oz was in 1995 it was right before the Monsoon rains came.

[RocksnRoses]

I was in Darwin, I was staying in Fannie Bay and I worked at the RAAF base for a while and then Holiday a few times. I had a lot of fun on walkabout in Kakadu and Berry Springs. Just liked being out side when the weather was right. Last time I was down in Oz was in 1995 it was right before the Monsoon rains came.

Here are some pics of Berry Springs to whet your appetite for your next trip Downunder, euclid. We were there about this time last year and the other one is a Shell road train on the Stuart Highway just south of Darwin.

I spent four months last year working on a cattle station in the middle of the Territory, about 50 Km east of Elliot. We were laying 3" poly pipe to take water further out from the bores to the grass. We laid nearly 300 kilometres last year and the programme is continuing this year. I believe they want to lay about 2,000 kilometres of pipe all up. I didn't go up this year because we are too busy here. The last two pics are of the D10N laying the pipe at about 6-700mm and the old Kenworth bringing the pipe along for us.

I haven't been to Kakadu yet, but I hope to spend more time travelling through the centre and the top end in the near future. The weather this time of the year is absolutely magnificent and like you said, it is just a great place.

Rn'R.

Rn'R.

[euclid]

Great pictures! You are right I would so much like to get on a big bird and fly down to Australia. I would like to see the Gold Coast and go back to Darwin and go to Kakadu again. If you remember there was a Aviation Museum outside of town on the Stuart hi-way. Well if you ever go inside they have a reitred B-52 and a pallet of blue bombs (we called them blu-death) because they were inert for training, anyways our unit donated those to the museum back in 1993. I remember those termite mounds and how big they were. Just some interesting stuff in ya'lls country.
Cheers.

[Aussie Nick]

Not that I think it is going to make any difference to what you continue to do but I would say to you that I have seen many of those old buildings and they do have a historical significance.

I am surprised that you would even admit that you have knocked them down, in such a casual fashion.
Even Euclid picked up on the issue and he is not even an Aussie.

Just goes to show how we Australians respect our heritage and history little of it that there is.

That house you showed in the photo was probably built within fifty years of colonisation by some hard working pioneer without the assistance of modern equipment or machinery. Every rock was hand picked with care and skilfully laid.

I wonder what the pioneer would think of you coming along with your machine to tear down his only worthwhile possesion which he constructed with much love skill and tenderness.

I really don't buy your claim that those buildings are fretting at the base, hence your excuse to tear them down.