Old Tailem Town

Old Tailem Town at Tailem Bend, on the Murray River, in South Australia is different to the other Pioneer Villages. Firstly, it is privately owned. Secondly, it is at the larger end, claiming over one hundred buildings, although some are as small as the bike shop above.

Many of the were transferred from a previous Pioneer Village at Hackham, many others are railways buildings that have gone through a "rebirth" to be something else, such as a police station, and many again have been built on site.

There are various sub-collections around the site, two of stationary engines and other material varying from beer cans to cotton reels. I am probably fortunate to have missed the one that is a tribute to Princess Di - I would find it difficult to see where that fits in a pioneer village - possibly it should be described more as a "Collector's World", with but one of the collections being buildings?

Maintenance is obviously a challenge - here, for example, is a group of tractors, although there are more under cover:

With some exhibits, the most polite thing that can be said is that they are used to store rusting junk. This is a real challenge for all heritage Villages, where so much material is offered that maybe would have been better going to landfill.

You can see more photographs on my Heritage Village set at Flickr, although not all are uploaded as yet.