It was now Monday 29th November 2021 and Marija and I headed to the Bordertown Bakery for some coffee and some egg & bacon rolls. It was a beautiful morning, so we sat in Tolmer Park opposite the bakery and enjoyed our breakfast.

Tolmer Park takes its name from Alexander Tolmer, a South Australian Police Officer who led numerous Gold Escorts along the Gold Escort Route from Victoria to Adelaide. Tolmer used this spot as a stopover on the gold escort route due to the permanent water supply. The creek in the park has been widened and filled. There are a number of interpretive signs in the park.

We then headed to the Bordertown Wildlife Park which was established in 1968. You can find Bordertown’s famous White Kangaroos in the park. They were first introduced in 1980. Various other wildlife can be found in the park including wallabies, Bush Stone Curlews, Emus, Black Swans, Peacocks, and ducks.

Our next stop was the Tatiara Visitor Centre and the Bob Hawke Gallery. Bordertown is the birthplace of Australia’s 23rd Prime Minister, Robert ‘Bob’ James Lee Hawke. Unfortunately, the famous gold jacket which he wore during the America’s Cup win in 1983 was on loan to the Adelaide University. We did get to see a collection of photographs, news clippings, cartoons, paintings and various other memorabilia. This included a Panther motorcycle which is believed to be Hawke’s 1939 British Panther.

We then headed to the Bordertown silos VK-BRN5 for an activation for the Silos On The Air (SiOTA) program. The silos are located in Brown Terrace and are alongside the Bordertown-Wolseley railway line (Melbourne-Adelaide railway). The silos are operated by the company Viterra.

We set up in Possum Park on Power House Road, in close proximity to the silos. We were very pleased that there was no man-made noise at all at this location on the 40m band. Unfortunately, we did experience strength 6 noise on the 80m band. There was no noise on 20m, but the Over The Horizon Radar was present on 20m once again.

Marija and I spent about 50 minutes at the silo and we made a total of 23 QSOs to VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, and VK7.

We had at least one very interested onlooker during our activation. Marija took the time to chat with the lady concerned and explained to her the hobby of amateur radio and the SiOTA program.

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2BYF/p (Thirmlere Lakes National Park VKFF-0486)
2. VK4NH
3. VK5FANA
4. VK5HS
5. VK3PF
6. VK3OHM
7. VK7JFD

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK2BYF/p (Thirmlere Lakes National Park VKFF-0486)
2. VK5FANA
3. VK3PF
4. VK2VW
5. VK2HFI
6. VK4NH
7. VK3OHNM
8. VK5HS
9. VK7JFD

I worked the following stations on 80m SSB:-

1. VK5HS
2. VK5WG
3. VK5IS/m
4. VK5FANA
5. VK5CZ

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK2VW
2. VK2HFI

References.

1. Tatiara Visitor Guide.
2. Wikipedia, 2021, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tolmer>, viewed 7th December 2021.