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I was in one of the best locations anywhere for a clear, dark sky view of Halley. I was jackarooing on Alroy Downs on the Barkly Tableland. We were in a stock camp which was about 30km from the actual station and also about 30km north of the Barkly Highway (which was also on Alroy Downs! Area = 9018km^2). At night we could see the glow of the headlights of the road trains and, if there was a gentle SE breeze, we could hear the road trains....from 30km away. There were so many stars that, even if I knew the constellations it would have been very difficult to make them out. Sadly, although I had this thought in the back of my mind that I was curious to know more about astronomy, I didn't even have binoculars with me. So all that I got to see was a smudge in the sky.
One of the aboriginal stockmen, Rex, a very big (as in lean and muscular) and very black man about 25 years old I guess who was a really nice bloke, came to me one morning and said:
Rex: "Hey, Tooey" (the aborignals seemed to have a big problem pronouncing the letter S, so I was always Tooey). I been thinkin' Tooey. It been warm in the morning lately. I reckon it dat comet makin' it warm mate."
Me: "nah, Rex, that comet's pretty small and it's a real long way away and it's made of ice! I don't reckon it's the comet"
Rex: "Nah, you wrong Tooey, it dat comet mate!"
Rex and I were good mates, so I let it go at that, didn't see the point in arguing my point. I'd like to see Rex again so I could let him know that he has now appeared in IIS forum.
The only constellation that the aboriginals seemed to talk about was the Plains Turkey which I suspect was just the Milky Way as it stretched from one side of the sky to the other.
Please note that referring to Rex as very black is not a racial insult, it's just a statement of what is. The aboriginals referred to themselves as black fellas if they were black, or yella fellas if they were brown and to us as white fellas. Just a statement of fact.
Regards
Tooey
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