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This is the northeastern end of the first of three tunnels on the abandoned Richmond Vale railway line. Originally private land, this section of the line is now part of the Stockrington State Conservation Area. The railway was built primarily to service coal mines in the Kurri Kurri area in the lower Hunter Valley. The line began at Hexham and stretched to Pelaw Main. Initial construction (to Minmi) began in 1856, but the section to Pelaw Main was not completed until 1905. This section of the line was closed in the 1950s.
There are no kangaroos in Austria. We're talking about Australia, the world's smallest continent. That being cleared up, let's dive right in! Australia is a sovereign state under the Commonwealth of Nations, which is in turn overseen by Queen Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. The continent was first sighted and charted by the Dutch in 1606. Captain James Cook of Britain came along in the next century to claim it for Britain and name it "New South Wales." Shortly thereafter it was declared to be a penal colony full of nothing but criminals and convicts, giving it the crap reputation you may have heard at your last cocktail party. This rumor ignores 40,000 years of pre-European human history, especially the Aboriginal concept of Dreamtime, an interesting explanation of physical and spiritual reality. The two biggest cities in Australia are Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney is more for business, Melbourne for arts. But that's painting in very broad strokes. Take a whirl around the panoramas to see for yourself! Text by Steve Smith.
