By Kel RichardsAussie
for food24 Australian Geographic
There are a number of distinctively
Aussie expressions for food.
Most people will have heard of a
“brown sandwich” – that’s a bottle of
beer. But what about a “seven-course
meal” – that’s a six-pack of beer and a
meat pie. Also on that subject, there
are all those delightful expressions for
meat pie in Aussie English – such as a
“rat coffin” or “maggot bag”.
With the same display of exquisite
good taste Aussie English has nick-named the vanilla slice either a
“snot block” or else a “phlegm
sandwich”. By the way, in both
Perth and Brisbane sandwich shops
you should order a “round” of
sandwiches (a round being one
sandwich). But in Tasmania that same
sandwich would be called a “four
pointer”. And Aussie English has a
nice description of someone who is a
little too fond of their tucker: a fatty
is called a “salad dodger”.
PHOTO CREDITS: CHRISSIE GOLDRICKI
F YOU’RE LUCKY enough to zip up
through the Red Centre of
Australia in the air-conditioned
comfort of the sleek, silver modern
Ghan, spare a thought for those
who rattled along in its original
namesake. The Old Ghan railway
lies some 150km east of the
modern line with its termite-proof
concrete sleepers and state-of-the-
art rolling stock, and while the
modern Ghan keeps strictly to a
published timetable, the Old Ghan
was notoriously unreliable.
Construction of the first track,
The Great Northern Line, began in
1878 when a narrow-gauge line was
laid between Port Augusta and
Oodnadatta. The first service was
known as the “Oodnadatta NightTrain” and it took another 50 years
for the line to reach Alice Springs
(then called Stuart). It became
known as The ’Ghan, reputedly after
the Afghan cameleers who plied a
similar route on their equally
temperamental ships of the desert.
The fortnightly service was
unpredictable and plagued by
washouts of sections of track,
especially near the boggy shores
of Lake Eyre. The line followed the
north–south route established by
explorer John McDouall Stuart in
1862 and was an epic engineering
project. The southern segment
passed through the Pichi Richi Pass
to Quorn and today this section is a
working rail museum. Restored
steam trains run here on weekendsbetween March and November.
William Creek Station, 180km
north-west of Marree, opened in
1885 and was an important
watering and service point for the
trains. You can visit a disused rail
bridge just to the south of today’s
settlement and see other remnants
displayed around the famous hotel
and campsite, including its restau-
rant, which is built from old sleepers.
Modern diesel engines were less
dependent on water and a new
standard-gauge railway line was
built along the more direct and dryer
route from Tarcoola to Alice Springs.
The last train on the old line left
Alice Springs on 26 November 1980.
In 2004 the new Ghan line was
extended all the way to Darwin.Traces
SA
The Old Ghan bridge south
of William Creek: relics of the
old rail days are scattered
around the William Creek
campsite (le ).The William Creek Hotel
restaurant (see p106) is built
from sleepers repurposed
from the old railway track.The Old Ghan line at William Creek, SA