Prairie Hotel, Parachilna

Parachilna - Outback

In the heart of the semi-arid back country or Outback region of Australia, the vast desertlike plains come to an end at the foot of the majestic Flinders Ranges, whose purple projections continue all the way to the banks of the dried up Lake Callabonna. A favorite spot for hikers, the mountain chain contains a great many paths and trails ideal for discovering the local fauna and the sumptuous landscapes of the Australian bush. The region, once the property Adnyamathaha aborigines and taken over in the 19^th century by the first European settlers who came here to exploit mines and create animal breeding farms, is full of rock paintings and engravings bearing witness to the presence of prehistoric man in these hostile lands.

The entrance to the Flinders, namely the small village of Parachilna would go unnoticed if the railroad tracks linking Port Augusta and Leigh Creek did not pass through here. A few buildings, a train station, a landing strip and a hotel are the only remaining vestiges of the city’s former activity.

On ancestral aborigine land

470 kilometers north of Adelaide and facing the steep relief of the majestic Flinders Ranges, the Prairie Hotel dominates the desertlike landscape of the famous Australian Outback. The hotel, a vestige of the time when Parachilna was a thriving village thanks to the Ghan, the legendary train that ran between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Completed in 1906, the Prairie has undergone a great deal of renovation under the supervision of the site’s owners, Jane and Ross Fargher. Out of this old establishment and the only hotel in the village, where farmers and miners would get together, the Farghers built a trendy hotel renowned for the quality of its traditional cuisine consisting of kangaroo meat, camel sausages, emu paté and wallaby hocks all washed down with beer brewed by the Prairie itself. Rock paintings and aborigine engravings decorate the walls of the common areas, around the favorite themes of traditional aborigine art: dreamtime, mythology, time and the former presence on these lands of the Adnyamathanha people. Entirely designed by architect John Maitland, the ecological rooms reflect the typical atmosphere of the Australian bush, and offer guests an authentic life experience in the heart of the Outback.

The beauty of the site and the remote character of the Prairie Hotel attracts a great many artists in search of inspiration. Several filmmakers have used the site for certain scenes in their films. Actors Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel stayed here during the shooting of “Holy Smoke”, directed by New Zealander Jane Campion.