State Library of South Australia

Signs at the Pink Roadhouse, Oodnadatta [B 74343/5] • Photograph

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Summary

Assorted signs and local information outside the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta. The photographer writes about the Roadhouse, "In January 2013 whilst exploring the outback of South Australia, I made my way back into the Painted Desert to the historical town of Oodnadatta for the second time. After about three hours of travel I finally reached the junction with the actual Oodnadatta track which is just a short distance outside the township of Oodnadatta, I turned left and was greeted by one of the Oodnadatta progress associations signs which declares that you are now in Australia's hottest and driest town (to my understanding that title belongs to Marble Bar in Western Australia). Oodnadatta is a small one street town with the Transcontinental Hotel, the closed General Store and the Pink Roadhouse on one side and the old railway line and the fascinating Railway Museum on the other side. You can walk from one end of town to the other in less than five minutes. The Pink Roadhouse is the social heart of the town with a continuous buzz of people coming and going all day long as they go about their daily business. When I was in town for the first time in early September 2012, the owner of the Pink Roadhouse Lynnie Plate, had lost her husband Adam two weeks before in a car accident and the whole of the South Australian Outback community was still in shock. Adam was a pioneer in the true sense of the word, he was a maverick who refused to conform. There are hundreds of 44 gallon drum lids and signs across the outback, secured to star droppers all with the Pink Roadhouse emblazoned across them as well as other insightful pieces of local knowledge of otherwise unknown history about the location. These rustic, handwritten unauthorized signs are now a tribute to Adam, and remain as a testament to the outback spirit that he embodied and are a constant reminder of the character who opened this region up. I returned for the second time in January 2013 once everything had settled down a bit, I made my camp directly behind the Pink Roadhouse in a dusty, and very hot block of land that has been turned into a Caravan Park, this allowed me to move in and out of the Pink Roadhouse and gain a feel for the place during different times of the day. When I entered the roadhouse I was greeted by three Irish Back packers who where running the kitchen and register whilst Lynnie Plate ran the Post Office. I found that trying to work with Lynnie was an extremely challenging thing to do due to the fact that everyone in the roadhouse felt it their duty to shield her from any outsider and I was forced to wait two days before I was granted an audience with her early one morning at day break. It was a very somber affair with Lynnie sitting crying as she drank her morning coffee explaining to me how the roadhouse had lost its soul since Adam's death. I sat quietly and listened to her story whilst making images as the morning sun slowly illuminated the interior of the roadhouse. I found myself staring up at the rafters which have dozens of old horse shoes hanging from them as Lynnie told me that the Pink Roadhouse's name came from a cement truck company which was called 'Think Pink', she also went on to explain how when her and Adam had first come to town there was nowhere to have a cup of coffee and a sandwich so they set out to change that and started the Tuckerbox and as they say in the classics, the rest is history. The Pink Roadhouse is here to make you smile said Lynnie, the store has expanded to include heavy transport, roadside assistance, mail deliveries, a caravan park and post office and most importantly a toll free phone for travellers trying to deal with misfortunes.

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Physical description

1 photograph : colour

Dates / Publication details

September 2012

Photographer

Clark, Darren

Collections

Part of Darren Clark Collection
Part of Oodnadatta Collection

Subject

Pink Roadhouse (Oodnadatta, S.A.)
Oodnadatta (S.A.)

Catalogue record

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Digitisation information

Date

15/04/2015

Format

image/tiff

Resolution

4,440 x 2,960 pixels (13.1 MP)

Size

78.89 MB

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