LC Australia Program 2011: Road Warriors

By Delaney Skordal

G’day from the Australian outback! Although we are gearing up for our home stays in Brisbane next week, we have spent the last few days experiencing the more rural side of Australia. On Monday we wrapped up our field studies about specific flora and fauna at Kinchega National Park. Still divided into the same four investigative groups as the previous day, we split off that morning to observe fauna instead of flora. Three of the four groups chose to study ants while the fourth observed the intimidating Orb Weaver spider. By half past eight that morning, most groups were found crouched around ant hills, intently observing the ant’s complex social interactions, or deep in the Kinchega woolshed, taking notes on spiders. Unfortunately for our projects, but fortunately for those of us who needed a break from the heat, Monday morning was unusually cool. Due to the cold, the ants and spiders we observed were much less active than usual. We carried out our field studies nonetheless. By three o’clock that afternoon we reconvened to share the fifteen minute presentations we had prepared just after lunch. First we presented our results from the previous day’s observation of plants, which Sara already discussed, followed by presentations of today’s projects.

Hanah and John were the first to give a presentation cleverly entitled “Ant Antics.” Hanah and John’s group had observed whether or not the need for food or water trumped the need for shelter from the harsh environment. They also looked at how the frequency of communication between ants changed depending on the distance of an ant to its ant hill. Next Emily and Katy presented “Anteractions.” Their group studied how the time of day affected the frequency of communications between ants within a colony. These “communications” were characterized by ants gathering away from the ant trail and touching feelers. Although Dick and Marni’s group had a similar premise and yet another ant pun for a title (“Getting Antsy”), both groups had different predictions. Emily and Katy’s group hypothesized that ants would interact more frequently in the morning while Dick and Marni’s group took what Dick called the “remix” approach and predicted that ant interactions would increase as the day progressed. Although both groups had generally inconclusive data, they both observed odd little ant gatherings. Emily and Katy termed these gatherings ant “conventions” while Dick and Marni called them “fire drills.” When these gatherings occurred, mass amounts of ants would either evacuate their ant hill in an orderly fashion similar to a fire drill, or smaller groups of ants would mysteriously gather together away from the ant trail and touch feelers for up to five minutes.

The last group to go was my own, which observed the male and female interactions of Orb Weaver spiders, one of the more sinister looking crawlers found around our accommodations at Kinchega. Although this spider doesn’t run and hop like Sydney’s Huntsman spiders, the Orb Weaver gives the Huntsman a run for its money due to its size, white clown-like coloring, and sheer numbers. It seemed like everywhere we looked there was an Orb Weaver looming above in a giant community of golden webs. Luckily for me, my group spent all morning in the dark corners of the wool shed staring up at these eight-legged menaces. Believe me when I say spending three hours observing spiders as large as my palm touched a full range of emotions. Before heading out to observe the spiders, our guest biologist Derek informed us that the largest of the Orb Weaver spiders are females who have eaten their male counterparts after mating. This is why our test subjects were given identifying names such as “Man Eater” and “Hungry Hippo.” Similar to the way the three ant groups devised puns for their presentation titles, we took creative license in naming our spiders. The names included Merriweather Lewis, Shake n’ Bake, Queen Latifa, Mad Max, Houdini, and Ice T. After sharing our presentations we all hurried to pack up our bags to head back to Broken Hill. The drive out of Kinchega was as beautiful as the drive in – as left we stared out at a landscape speckled with kangaroos and emus as well as a flock of the elusive “Budgie,” a rare and stunningly bright green bird. Tex, our trusty bus driver, revealed that this was the first flock he had seen in about a decade and that their appearance foretells good seasons to come.

Tuesday was spent visiting historically important sites around Broken Hill. Our first stop that morning was to Broken Hill’s School of the Air (SOTA), a “distance school” designed to provide education for primary students in remote areas of Australia who would otherwise not have access to education. The SOTA teachers use a two-way satellite system to broadcast lessons to students three times a week for half an hour lessons. SOTA, which is funded by the state government, is not only free of cost to students but also provides them with a computer, printer, scanner, and camera. At home, where they are supervised by a parent or governess, students see a live video of their teachers in Broken Hill and are able to go on air to respond and participate in the lesson. You can think of the SOTA satellite system like a fancier and more interactive version of Skype, which I know all you parents are familiar with. At the end of our information session we listened in on a half hour lesson of SOTA’s kindergarten students. The two kindergarten teachers addressed their kindergarteners with enthusiasm and patience, even when the connection was unclear. Although it came from humble beginnings in 1956, Broken Hill’s SOTA currently caters to 85 students spread across the Australian outback, and at its peak in the 1980s it spanned a distance of 1.3 million square kilometers and reached 200 primary school kids. As the school’s motto appropriately states, “The sky is the roof of our school.”

The rest of our excursions for the day were focused on the history of mining around Broken Hill. Although we stopped at several historical landmarks, the most intriguing stop of the day was at the Day Dream Mine, a famous silver and lead mining operation. We were lucky enough to take a surface tour of the area as well as an underground tour. Not only were we outfitted with our own helmets and battery powered head lamps, but we descended three levels of the underground system, finding ourselves nearly 300 feet underground. Although it felt like we saw an extensive section of the mine, we still only explored 10% of the total mining system. As we hunched and crouched our way through the underground labyrinth we learned about the grueling working conditions in the mine. Most workers labored 12 hours a day for six days a week and spent so much time in the mines that flecks of mica became lodged in their throats, causing them to cough up blood. To ease of the pain of their coughing, many workers forced themselves to sleep upright at night and many even died from breathing related complications.

After touring the mine we settled into our seats on the tour bus and mentally prepared ourselves for a five and a half hour bus ride back to Southern Australia. To pass the time we watched not one, but two Mad Max movies (the original and Road Warrior, the latter being one of my personal favorites). Although I know some people were confused by the eccentric characters and bizarre plotline, it still felt special to be driving through the same land that the movies were filmed in. Even though we were traveling in a tour bus instead of Mad Max’s Interceptor and weren’t wearing leather uniforms or wielding mirrored boomerangs, given the fact that we traversed three Australian states in one day as well as braved flooded roadways in a huge tour bus, I think we all qualify as Road Warriors in our own way. At eight o’clock that evening we ended the day in Southern Australia at Chowilla, a sheep shearing station outside of Renmark. We plan to spend the next few days learning about sheep shearing as we enjoy more of the beautiful, rural landscape of Australia.

The "Ant Anteractions" group diligently observing their
ant hill in front of the Kinchega wool shed
with help from Derek, our guest biologist.

Sara and Drew observing "King Richard III" and "Man Eater," two

of the Golden Orb Spiders inside the wool shed.

A few lyrics from the School of the Air's school song:
"Parted but united is our school motto, And pride of our heart,
And we sing as we listen to many tape recordings, All
joining in though we're many miles apart"

Looking up at the impressive Browne Shaft which
plunges a staggering 1520 feet below ground. This was
one of our many quick stops around Broken Hill
before visiting the Day Dream Mine.