Graham Howle – Crumbling Stones (Mp3)

We pulled onto the side of the road on The Alpine Way to take in the desolate rugged view. I sat on what I thought was a pile of stones but then saw it was the remains of a small cottage. Why on earth would anyone want to live here? GOLD.

Down in a gully across the road there seemed to be old, old diggings. Further on we saw a small, neglected cemetery and there was a cot frame among the half a dozen broken headstones and markers. They came looking for a better life and totally unprepared for the hardships ahead of them. Many are buried in unmarked graves or in the diggings and their families and friends back home in Europe, the UK and China would have no idea where they lie or what happened to them.

I met Graham at a Golden Guitars after party and we discussed our love of writing and especially songs about Australia. As I worked on Crumbling Stones I thought Graham would be the ideal co-writer and was delighted when he agreed to join me.

P.S. 1839. Gold was first discovered by Paul de Strzelecki in the Alpine region at the time he ascended Mt Kosciusko. By the 1850s there was a full blown Gold rush in the area, many of the miners came from Northern Europe (brought skiing to the mountains) and Chinese who walked from Adelaide because of the strict regulations brought in by Victorian Government at Port Melbourne.