14 March 2008
DAY 15 Pilbara – Kimberley Trip
TO AND FROM MEEKATHARRA - MT GOULD
Slept in this morning – no birds to wake us.
Onward we travelled towards Meekatharra on what is known as the Miner’s Pathway between Sandstone and Meekatharra. Not far from our campsite we went past several areas that had garbage bags layed out in rectangular patterns. Then we saw a notice referring to a vermin fence. Was it bait?
Then, as Frank in Kalgoorlie had told us there is ‘Ayre’s Rock’ along the road. I didn’t get a good photo of it. The rock formation is extremely reminiscent of Ayers Rock. It is Barlangi Rock. The interpretative sign describes the site as ‘when space and earth collide’. A very apt description as it is the site of a meteorite/comet crashing into the earth 1,000 million years ago. Bourlangi Rock is a remnant of rocks that were melted by the impact. The rock is found in Yugunga – Nya country and I wished that there had been a local Aboriginal story about the rock included in the site description. Some kangaroos hopped across this ancient landscape. I would have thought they were the red kangaroos but later found out that they were Bigurda or Euros, often referred to as common wallaroo.
Along the way there were many signs of recent rain. We saw a fuel truck turn into one of the stations along the way. Then a second large formation came into view – Mt Yagahong. The dirt roads here in WA so far have been absolutely fantastic. Maybe our timing is right as they are all well graded. Sorry to say but SA dirt roads are the worst we have experienced.
After a while tall electricity poles come into sight - a sign of civilisation. This raises the question regarding what would the early settlers have considered as signs of approaching civilisation whilst travelling through this great expanse?
Finally we hit Meekatharra. It is the biggest centre in the Murchison. I was a little disappointed as I thought it would be somewhat bigger. A strong reminder too that everything stops for lunch – everything closes between 12.00 and 2.00pm. Shopping hours have not been deregulated in WA so most things close Saturday lunchtime and not reopen till Monday as well. It is a hot topic here as we have heard a lot of debate on the topic on the radio. Bad luck if you’re a tourist and need provisions. You need to sit there and wait.
We looked round the town. The museum at the Shire Office was very interesting. There was a beautiful pictorial quilt made for the town’s centenary in 1994 ‘The Centenary Quilt’. I tried to find out more about it and the only information I could get was that it was made by two ladies who have now left the area. A pity the quilt label did not include information about the makers. There were also beautiful examples of crotchet, embroidery and knitting samples made by Anne Brown, her daughters Florence Head and Lill Mickle and Florence’s daughters covering work made from early 1900’s to late 1960’s. There were rate books, trophies and many interesting photos.
We lunched in the park at the start of the Meeka Rangelands Discovery Trail. The park had an exhibit of several interesting pieces including an Ore Crusher. The park was at a permanent billabong site on Meek River with water fed from an abandoned mine. The interpretive sign described water as ’liquid gold. . . accelerator of what is this landscape – and we must now learn just how far and fast we can develop and still survive’. Makes one think.
As we were eating our lunch three little Aboriginal boys joined us. Two were visiting the town and one was a local. An interesting chat was had by all.
After a stop at outpatients to check out a bite on my foot that has stayed swollen for three days and been getting progressively worse we continued on with antibiotics to hopefully take care of the problem. A reaction to the cream used for the bite not the actual bite. Just my luck.
We left Meekatharra following the Kingsford Smith mail route. In 1924 Charles Kingsford Smith and his mate Keith Anderson bought a truck, established the Gascoyne Transport Company and started a mail run between Carnavon and Bangemall Gold Mines near Mt Augustus. The landscape on this route is constantly changing as it was yesterday, but very different. There is so much to see – you look to the one side and miss something on the other side. Cannot believe how green it was for a large portion of the road – the range of different green grasses. Small termite mounds litter the landscape. A large group of emus were in the scrub. There were more cars on the road here than we’ve seen since leaving Kalgoorlie. You see them coming from miles because of the dust. A few ghost gums were seen along the way.
Yalgar and Murchinson Rivers had water. We repeatedly commented that we could not believe how green it is. The road whilst good had some wash outs and these places were marked with witches hats.
At Murchison River there was an old time fuel bowser. Due to fuel shortages a charcoal shaker was used. To get the charcoal they would burn mulga, take the charcoal and shake the sand out of it then load it into a big burner in vehicles. The question would have been how many mulga trees to the mile. What difficult times they were. Whilst here we are now travelling with diesel powdered cars, solar panels for power, fridges and so on. How times have changed.
We are camped in the scrub at the base of Mt Gould near the ruins of the Mt Gould Police Station and Lock Up near a dry creek bed.
Serious offenders ie sheep thieves, were taken to Carnavon – 450 km from here on foot whilst the police travelled on camels. You’d think they would have served the sentence just through the walk!!
There is a well, a windmill and tank that are still drawing water. We used some water to cool ourselves as it is still hot – hit 40 at about 4.00pm AGAIN.
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