The Metal Tree by Kay W

Coober Pedy is an opal mining town in Outback South Australia.  It is located on a stony desert plain and until 1985, when a desalination plant was built, the town had no fresh water supply.  All water for cooking and drinking had to be brought in by truck.  Even today water is still very expensive so there are few gardens or trees in the town.  It does, however, have its own haunting beauty.

In a little park overlooking the town is a large metal tree.  There is a sign at its base which reads:

" This tree represents the burnt out remains of one of the first trucks reaching Coober Pedy in the early 1950's.
 Once featured on page 1 of the National Geographic Magazine, it was the first tree in Coober Pedy."

My quilt is from a photograph I took when I visited in 2000.  That was a time when Lake Eyre was full of water and the desert still had a green tinge from the rain it had received.