No need to rush

The town of Mogo, 10 minutes’ drive south of Batemans Bay, was born with the discovery of gold in the 1850s. The boom didn’t last long, and the place declined until a group of artists and craftspeople resurrected it in the 1980s. Architecturally sympathetic buildings were put up to complement the surviving miners’ cottages, and some of these were converted into art galleries, specialty shops and cafes. The Original Gold Rush Colony on the edge of town was developed as a tourist attraction, and close by - if a little incongruously - is the small but world-famous Mogo Zoo, renowned for its white lions, gorillas and breeding programs for endangered species. In town, the weird and wonderful is commonplace. Today's blip is a detail from a tall sort-of totem pole that stands outside the Clock Tower Arcade. This bit of carving depicts the gold mine; elsewhere, a variety of Australian flora and fauna have been worked in, and there are Aboriginal influences too.