Canowindra - Ballons, Bushrangers & Breakouts

                       Canowindra                        

                             "Balloons, Bushrangers & Break Outs" by Barry McKnight

We had just purchased a new Winnebago motor home and were thinking about where we would go for its first run. Our Sydney Video Club’s end of the year awards night was still quite a few months away but we had nothing planned for the main “Video of the Year” competition.  Maybe we could kill two birds with the one stone, as the saying goes, and take the Winnebago on its test run and film something worthy of an entry for the competition.  It had been on my mind for some time to do something on hot air balloons, as they had always fascinated me with their graceful, silent, flight. On doing a bit of checking we found that the western New South Wales town of Canowindra held a three day Balloon Fiesta in April. That seemed an ideal  opportunity to get our cameras working and give the Motor Home its first test run, so we phoned through to book a site in the local Caravan Park.

                             
Unfortunately this was unsuccessful and we were told that Canowindra was entirely booked out for the period of the Balloon Fiesta, and were advised to try the other nearby Caravan Park at Cowra thirty kilometres away.. Of course with the fully self contained Winnebago we could have just camped out anywhere, but as it was just new and we were not sure how everything worked, we wanted to get into a Caravan Park. Besides it was safer there than out on the open road somewhere. Fortunately Cowra Caravan park still had some vacancies so we booked in there for a few days. One of the first things that we learnt about Canowindra was that it was not called “Can - o- windra”, and must always be referred to as "Ca-noun-dra."  The town normally has a population of seventeen hundred, but this swells to between thirty to forty thousand for the duration of the Festival. Our arrival in Cowra, on the eve of the Festival, was greeted with blue skies and a promise of more fine weather to come. Everything worked well in the Winnie, and we managed to cook our first dinner without any problem. The next day we were up early and drove the short distance to Canowindra to catch the balloons taking off in the early morning sunshine. Not early enough however, for the balloons had already taken off and disappeared before the sun itself had hardly risen.. "They were lovely" said one of the other visitors, "You should have been here". Though somewhat disappointed at missing the morning flight, we took consolation from the fact that there was a later afternoon flight scheduled. By a coincidence it was also Anzac Day, a sacred day of remembrance for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers killed during a disastrous battle at Gallipoli in World War 1. Although we missed the balloon flight here was an opportunity to obtain footage of the Anzac Day procession through this very historic town. Apparently Canowindra was also visited by the notorious bushranger Ben Hall in the 1880's. We checked with one of the locals about the time of the procession and were  look around before it started. These things never start on time anyway!. We walked about, taking shots of the town, and then went in search of Ben Hall's monument. It was not where it was supposed to be, and when we arrived back just before 11 am, the procession was well under way and was approaching the gates of the Memorial Park. We dashed, running, carrying tripods, cameras and accessory bags, and just managed to capture one shot as they approached and entered through the gates. It seemed that it was the service that was at 11 am. The march started half an hour earlier. This day was not going very well for us at all! After the service we went to the town's small museum and it was here that we learnt about Canowindra's involvement in the Cowra break-out towards the end of World War 2, when a few of the Japanese prisoners of war escapees actually made it as far as Canowindra.

Canowindra

                            
In the afternoon the weather changed and a strong wind sprang up, causing the afternoon flights to be cancelled. The next day, determined to get the balloon footage we wanted, we rose well before dawn this time, and travelled the thirty kilometres in the pre dawn darkness. As we approached Canowindra the first faint rays of dawn were beginning to light up the eastern sky. The small town was eerily quiet as we drove through it, but in the distance we could see that the first of the balloons were already lifting into the rapidly brightening sky. It was indeed a beautiful sight. We quickly parked our vehicle, grabbed our equipment and hurried through the showground gates to the field beyond. It was an incredible scene that greeted us. Colourful balloons were scattered everywhere, some laid out on the ground, some half inflated and gradually filling out, while one or two others were slowly rising above the tree tops. All around was the roar of the propane burners as they breathed life into the seemingly flimsy fabric of the multi - coloured balloons. Handlers stood on either side of the bases of the balloons holding them open to receive the fiery breath of the burners which incredibly were bringing them to life. However to the onlookers the shooting flames seemed to threaten to  devour not only the balloons, but their handlers as well. People, with their children well wrapped up for the early morning chill, wandered about gazing in awe at what appeared to be organised chaos, as one by one the balloons slowly took shape and rose to tower above them. Once the basket was stabilized the passengers eagerly clambered aboard and with another mighty roar of the burner, the balloon slowly ascended with much waving and calls of encouragement from the crowd below. This was great stuff and at last we were recording it. After all the balloons had gone we went back to the Winnie in the car park and cooked ourselves a large breakfast.

The Balloons

 Later in the morning when the balloons returned they were collected, folded up and packed away in their trailers, to be taken back into the town for their appearance in the afternoon's Mardi Gras Parade. This was a slightly bizarre event with the trailers carrying the propane burners arranged in such a way that they could emit great bursts of flame as they travelled down the main street. The procession was led by groups of school children dressed up in colourful costumes, followed by vintage cars and assorted farm machinery. The balloon vehicles came at the rear with their burners lashing the air with great tongues of flame like a line of fire breathing dragons!. Of course the crowd loved it and cheered them on. The balloons were scheduled to go aloft again later in the afternoon, so we decided to be there again, on the field for some more shots of the pre-flight preparations and book ourselves in for a flight the next day. The afternoon flights now took the balloons westward towards the setting sun. Unfortunately their striking colours were now lost in the back lighting but they still looked very beautiful in the sunset sky.

At the showgrounds the action still continued, with a circus for children and various other attractions for adults. Several groups entertained the crowd on a makeshift stage singing Aussie folk songs. During one of the most popular numbers, just on twilight, many people got up and danced. There was just sufficient lighting to record the dancing but by now a strong wind had sprung up making the sound recording that little bit more difficult. The highlight of the evening was a "Balloon Glow" where all the balloons are lined up along the edge of the field and the burners switched on and off in sequence while the band played appropriate music. This gives the watching crowd a spectacular light show, as all the balloons are lit from inside, resulting in a display of vivid colours against the dark night sky. The sudden variation from blackness to brightness made the cameras auto focus useless, so the focus setting was quickly changed to manual. "The Balloon Glow" was supposed to be followed by a fireworks display, but unfortunately a sudden storm hit and the resulting rain sent everyone running for their cars, and home.

The next day the weather had changed for the worse, not so good for us, but good for the farmers as the area which was in the middle of a lengthy drought. Naturally all balloon flights were cancelled for the day so this left us without actual aerial footage from a balloon which was a bit of a disappointment. However we set about exploring both towns, Cowra and Canowindra. Canowindra’s most famous, or more correctly infamous visitor was Ben Hall, the bushranger. In 1863 he held up the village and ordered everybody into the local pub where they had a party. They all had such a good time that he and his gang returned a few weeks later and held up the village again. The pub was once more chosen to house the hostages and the town’s policeman was again locked up in his own cell. However, this time the party lasted for three days. As before the gang paid for all the party expenses and reimbursed the hostages for their inconvenience. Hardly the behaviour for a gang of supposedly blood thirsty killers!!. Apparently Ben Hall was not in the habit of killing people but liked to taunt the police. His twice takeover of Canowindra must surely have had that desired effect.

The Cowra break out was a much more tragic affair. It was the largest prisoner escape of World War 2 and occurred on August 5th 1944. Five hundred and forty five prisoners, mostly Japanese escaped from the Cowra prison compound at 2am in the morning killing four guards in the process. The death toll of guards would have been much higher but for the quick thinking of Private Ralph Jones who, with his mate Private Benjamin Hardy, had manned the machine gun to defend the facility. Before they were over run by the escapees and killed, they managed to hide the bolt of the gun, making in inoperable, thus saving many of their mates lives. For this courageous action both were posthumously awarded  the George Cross.  A total of 231 prisoners died and 108 were wounded with many of the Japanese committing suicide. The story is told in the form of a Hologram at the Cowra Visitor’s Centre. In Canowindra they tell of one escapee who decided to commit suicide by lying down beside the railway line with his head on the track. What he did not know however, was that the train would not be passing over it for another two days. Cowra today has a Japanese War Cemetery and a Japanese Garden in remembrance of the tragic event.

      Back home and watching the footage that we had shot, it was realised that while we did not have enough information for a Hot Air Baloon documentary, we did have enough information to put together a short portrait of an interesting New South Wales country town in festive mode. There was a story there so the challenge now was to write a script and put it all together in the editing. There were a few problems with wind noise, but nothing that could not be overcome. We ended our movie with people dancing and having a good time which seemed appropriate for the good citizens of Canowindra. When completed it was entered into our Sydney Club's annual "Video of the Year" Awards where it won the prize for "Best Documentary". The “Camera” magazine also published this story under the title of “Hot Air” in their April, 2004 issue…..

Video - Canowindra Hot Air Balloon Festival

A Traveller's Journal Part 15