Sunday Selections # 726

 Long ago, Kim of Frog Ponds Rock, (who no longer blogs), dreamed up a meme called Sunday Selections. 

A place where those who were willing could put up photos they wanted to share, new, old, good, bad or indifferent, any photos you please. 

Nothing rude or vulgar though.

And we don't mind at all if other bloggers care to join us.

The meme is now continued by Elephant's Child and I join in as do a few others. Andrew is one.  Messymimi is another. Drop in to their blogs and have a look.

Wisewebwoman has also been joining us more often.

**Elephant's Child is taking a break for the month of February**

Continuing our road trip, today sees us in Snowtown, a small place 100km north of Adelaide.

The welcome sign has an original windmill and the new wind power generators which we saw in a recent post along the hilltops for several miles.

a painted water tower

the infamous "bodies in barrels" bank which is no longer a bank

All Bank signage was removed a long time ago and the building is now owned by two men and here is a little information via Google:

"The town is not a scary place,” says Snowtown resident Rob Vanderveen. He and his partner, Kryss Black, bought its infamous former bank building in 2012 – decades after bodies were discovered hidden in barrels in its vault.

“It’s nice and quiet,” he says of the South Australian wheat-belt town that became known around the world after the murders were uncovered.

Snowtown is a small place, its population hovering a bit over 400, but there’s an IGA, a soldiers’ memorial, a newsagent and a pub.

“We don’t have peak hour and we’ve got everything here,” Vanderveen says.

“Every day we get tourists. Every day. It doesn’t worry us. We know it gets people into town. We’ve got the pub next door. There are a few shops in town.

“We actually open the bank on weekends and public holidays. To sell bric-a-brac … There’s information, people are interested.”

 

*In May 1999, police found dismembered bodies in barrels filled with hydrochloric acid in the bank’s vault.

John Justin Bunting, Robert Joe Wagner, James Spyridon Vlassakis were convicted over the murders, and Mark Ray Haydon was convicted for helping to cover up the crimes.

Eight of the 11 killed were found in those barrels, and a twelfth death was linked to the killers.

Most were murdered in the outer suburbs of Adelaide, more than 100km away – just one was killed in Snowtown.

Investigators initially thought the men’s motive was simply to take the welfare payments of their victims, but a more complicated picture gradually emerged.

The court heard Bunting was the ringleader, and that he hated various groups including homosexuals, drug addicts and paedophiles. The murders were “often ritualistic and humiliating” and targeted people connected to the men. Bunting was found guilty of 11 murders, Wagner 10, and Vlassakis pleaded guilty to four murders.*

 Moving on we saw this on a side fence:

At first we thought it was someone watching to see who comes to gawk, but on closer inspection found it to be a cleverly made wooden ornament.

some Christmas themed cutouts were still in the wondows of a thrift store

Rocking horses aren't seen much these days

a row of teddies dressed for work hung in a window

and a couple of colourful chickens in another window.

Back to the Chihuly exhibit now:

a giant lime green glass tree

these next few pictures are blown glass flowers

in the lily pond

in the Sunken Garden

this was a very popular exhibit

with dozens of people crowding around to get photos

I spent quite a bit of time there waiting for clear shots

before moving on to this, my final shot for the day, though there are still some I haven't shown you yet.

More next week.