Month: August 2023

We left our roadside camp and headed North. The industrial scale of the mining in this area is staggering. We passed one mine, Thunderbox, whose mullock heaps ran for 5kms alongside the road. At almost every turn there is another vast mine beside the road all the way to Leinster. Leinster itself is mining town set up by BHP for its Nickel mining operation nearby. We refuelled and then decided to head on up to Wiluna.

Wiluna sits at the western end of the Gun Barrel Highway and is the point from which Alfred Canning and his party set out in 1906 to map the longest stock route in the world.

An even more interesting story is the one associated with an aboriginal couple…

WARRI and YATUNGKA (1909-1979) (1917-1979)

Warri and Yatungka were believed to be the last of the Mandi djarra tribe and were perhaps Australia’s last desert nomads leading a traditional lifestyle. Long after the Mandildjara people (known also as Martu) had gravitated to urban settlements this couple survived for decades on their own, living on traditional hunting and fruits such as the Quandong

Warri and Yatuncka met in the 1930’s and fell in love but tribal law Toroade them from marrying decause they were the wrong match according to ‘skin group’ law. The consequences for going against this could have resulted in severe physical injury or even death. so the star-crossed lovers ran away together in the middle of the night. Living in their country in isolation, the couple had three children, one daughter died young, her two brothers survived their parents.

Despite the couples defiance and departure the MandildMarra elders had not forgotten them nor had they stopped worrying about them. In 1977 when a severe drought had dried up the waternoles elders anxious for their welfare asked for help to find the last of the nomads. Led by local elder Mudjon and white explorer Stan Gratte and party, after several weeks in the Gibson Desert the couple were found, still inseparable but close to starvation. They agreed to come in to Wiluna although they feared that they might still be punished; but the elders had forgiven them.

They stayed in Wiluna and passed away within weeks of each other in 1979.

Their deaths marked the end of a tribal lifestyle that has stretched back more than 40,000 vears

We had lunch in the town and returned on the road we had come up on, passing JWD Mines Matilda Pits, Mt Pearce Mine, construction of a vast complex at Sir Solomon. We refuelled at Leinster again and headed out along the Agnew Sandstone road to set up camp at Munjeroo East Rest Area (and pray that there is no rain tonight or we could be in a spot of bother)

We covered a lot of new ground today. We left Niagara Dam camp and headed back to the Goldfields Highway to up to Leonora from where we moved North East to Laverton approximately 190 kms toward the Warburton and The Great Central Road which stretches to Alice Springs. It’s a very active mining area with one of the biggest Nickel Cobalt mines processing ore in the middle of nowhere. The town itself is mainly an aboriginal settlement with some mining support services. It has variety of dwellings, many older types and a lot of boarded up houses. The town has a particularly sad history as there was a massacre of aborigines in the area in 1910 but all those implicated were acquitted by the white court system. It seems unfathomable that such a thing could occur a little over a hundred years ago.

We made our way back to the highway and went and visited the ghost town of Gwahlia, situated next to the vast Gwalia gold mine. We had an interesting tour through the museum and Hoover House (yes it was once occupied by a 24 year old Herbert Hoover who went on to become president of the USA) before heading North again and setting up camp on the side the road.

We left Menzies and headed out to the Inside Australia Sculptures at Lake Ballard. On the way we stopped at Menzies’ Cemetery to take in some of the tragic stories of the hard lives people led in this remote area with little medical assistance and poor sanitary conditions.

Lake Ballard didn’t disappoint, the road is now sealed from Menzies to the viewing area (53 kms) which was largely unsealed only seven years ago. Jenny and I climbed two thirds of the way up the hill but we chickened out on the last steep bit! We returned to Menzies for fuel and a feed before moving on to Niagara Dam and Kookynie.

The dam was built to provide water for the construction of the railway line and all the cement was bought in by camels. It was a pointless exercise as shortly before its completion, gold was discovered at Kookynie and the mine at that site required constant removal of water which was used locally.

We checked out Kookynie which is listed as a living ghost town, but it only had a few buildings remaining interspersed among the more recent houses (who seem to all enjoy collecting scrap metal). We returned to Niagara Dam to free camp for the night.

Turtle went in for its wheel alignment while we waited at camp. The job was completed just before lunch so we refuelled the vehicles then made our way North in blustery conditions to make our camp at h\the Menzies’ Caravan Park. It is packed with caravaners which came as a bit of a shock. Fortunately we had pre booked so our sites are secure. We plan to go out for dinner tonight at the pub.

After a cracker night at Newmans Rock watching a glorious sunset and then the full moon rising and sitting around the fire watching the stars, we rose for our first true morning in the Western Australia time zone. After having breakfast we took off early and headed onto Norseman where we refuelled and did some grocery shopping before striking out towards Coolgardie.

We had lunch on the side of the road then cruised the streets of Coolgardie admiring the old buildings. We headed up the last forty odd kilometres to Kalgoorlie and set up camp at Centennial Park (free camping for 72 hours). Bob has booked Turtle in for a wheel alignment on Monday afternoon so we’ve booked a bus tour for Monday morning. I have to chase up a new lock for the motorhome’s side door.

We made our way along the Eyre Highway heading west. The wind was bad again this morning and there was heavy truck traffic. After a roadside stop for morning tea we continued battling the wind and light rain until we reached Border Village where we were searched by the Quarantine Officials. After getting the all clear we headed into Eucla to top up fuel ($2.389 a litre) and have lunch before making our move onto Moodini Bluff Free Camp.

Very windy here again after travelling in very strong gusty winds for the last few hours. Looks like no fire again tonight.

Turtle’s part arrived in Ceduna this morning so Bob was straight up to the autoelec’s to get it installed. All running to plan so we headed out along the Eyre Highway after refuelling in Ceduna and made our way through strong winds toward the Western Australian border, stopping at Nundroo Roadhouse just to top up with fuel (so we don’t have to refuel at Nullarbor Roadhouse where diesel is well north of $2.00 a litre). We moved onto a freecamp at 222 km Peg Rest Area where we could camp amongst trees to get out of the wind.

We thought we might be lucky and be able to have a fire but the wind didn’t let up. Still it was a mild night and we celebrated the full moon with a few drinks.