Whim Creek, Western Australia Part 2

A few more photos of the Whim Creek area in Western Australia.

Doesn't matter where you go you always come across a flower or two.  The above flowers are called the Sturt Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa and creep along the ground.  The flower below is called the Purple Mulla Mulla, Ptilotus exaltatus though covered in red dust it's not showing it's best.  These two plants were growing near Whim Creek.

This is us settling for the night and the truck below along with a few photos of the sunset in order of the sun going down on that day.

Whim Creek, Western Australia

A place not to be forgotten is Whim Creek in Western Australia it's 4,877km from home, it's a long way from home.

Whim Creek is a very small town in the Pilbara region in Western Australia and once had a Post Office known as 'Whim Well'.  The town is located between Karratha and Port Hedland or two and half days' drive north of Perth.  In 1887, with the discovery of gold and copper, the town was born. In it's day Whim Creek had two hotels, a blacksmith, a general store, stables and horse track, plus many more local businesses.  After nearly a century, mining activity ended in 1986.

On our visits there only one hotel, no houses, no shop, nothing!  The Whim Creek Hotel that is there was closed at one point, reopened in 2015 and that's when we had lunch there and stayed in front of the Hotel sleeping in our caravan, there was only a truck driver who slept in his truck cabin parked well in front of us.

It's a hot dry area, even on this day the temperature in winter is 37 deg C.  It is however prone to cyclones in the season.  The weather there, well it can rain, and rain it did in 1898, 747mm fell in just 24 hours.  In 1924 there was just 4mm for the whole year!

Back in the day the Whim Creek Christmas Tree, a structure being two metres high and one metre wide.  It as made from the rip-top tabs of beer stubbies and was said to be the most expensive Christmas tree ever created.  It was estimated that it took $25,000AUD worth of stubbies to make the tree and it took two years to collect all the tabs.

Another odd thing is there was once a camel who was an alcoholic and it used to steal patrons beers.  The camel was apparently moved south to Wiluna suffering from cirrhosis of the liver,  There was also a large phyton (snake) that used to live in the wooden rafters of the pub.  It's eventual fate, unknown.

In 2011, the pub was shut down indefinitely after it was bought by Venturex Resources, a mining company which had acquired the old Whim Creek originally a copper project.  The Hotel in 2013 was bought by the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation and Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation, who plan to restore and re-open the Whim Creek Hotel.  The Hotel has again closed in an arrangement of handing the hotel to the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation in 2018.   To this day I have no idea whether the Hotel is open, or not open.

What is a 'Stubby'?

Answer:  A short squat beer bottle, especially one with a capacity of 375ml.  The bottle is stubby (short and thick) in comparison with the tall and slender 750ml beer bottle - in Australia.

We sat here and had a drink, it was rather hot.

The front of the Hotel.

 

Husband's lunch, I didn't take a photo of mine.

The marker on the map is where Whim Creek is. That day we had driven down from Eighty Mile Beach

Camel Racing, Australlia

Several towns in Australia have Camel Racing and have done for years. This link is to just one place that has the Racing. 

The first camel to arrive in Australia was brought here by a Mr. Horrock in 1840 from the Canary Islands. The next major group of 24 camels came out in 1860 for the ill-fated Bourke and Wills expedition. The first time explorer Giles used camels, he travelled 220 miles in 8 days without giving water to the camels.

However, in 1838 research tells that Joseph Bruce and John Gleeson brought out 18 of the first 'Afghans', who arrived in (the colony) South Australia.  More camels arrived from British India as well.

Camels were used to carry all kind of goods and men in the outback of Australia.

Before the building of railways and the widespread adoption of motor vehicles, camels were the primary means of transporting goods in the Outback, where the climate was too harsh for horses and other beasts of burden - so says my research.

There are currently over one million feral camels in the rangeland ecosystem of Australia.  Feral camels are causing significant damage to the natural environment as well as to social, cultural and economic values across their extensive range.

The places that I know of that have Camel Racing are marked in blue.  We have been to these areas but not to the towns.

Near Port Arthur, Tasmania

Down Port Arthur way there is a little walk as well as big ones, this one was a little one whereby you can see the Great Southern Ocean and of course it goes beyond.  What is known as the Pillar in the second photo with many of them, only a couple can be seen here. The sea washes and roars as you watch it on a calm day as it was when these photos were taken.  I remember standing there in awe at these sea photos.

There were boats sailing along in this area above, but I missed them as they were going fast.

The Penitentiary at Port Arthur. This building was constructed as a flour mill and granary in 1845 in an effort towards a self-sustainable settlement, the area where the bad convicts were sent.

Tasmania with the red icon and Antartica at the bottom of the map.

The Wattle

 It's Wattle time once again, so off we went to find some in flower which wasn't very hard to do.  All the wattle isn't out as yet and we were only about 10 to 15 minutes west from home.

The wattle in the photos is known as Acacia pataczekil, commonly known as Pataczek's wattle or Wally's wattle, is a rare leguminous species of flowering plant endemic to Tasmania, Australia.  An attractive evergreen shrub to small tree grown ornamentally outside of it's native range, it is believed to be the most frost hardy of all the Acacia.

The Lake is called Trevally Lake and you can see the wattle across it on the other side.

In another area close by there is another place to have a picnic, the loos above and the shelter below with a fireplace and a chimney with wood provided along with table and chairs.

As we were driving through the neighbourhood where the houses are we came across this peacock wandering around as if he owned the place.

Couldn't help myself!

Well, I just had to do this post, and post it.  Queen Mary of Denmark and Ariarne Titmus the swimmer.  The women are from Tasmania.  Queen Mary of Denmark was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, went to school there and so on, later meeting Prince Federick of Denmark in Sydney when at the 2000 Olympic Games.  They met in a place called the Slip Inn, the rest is history.

As we might recall Ariarne (born here in Launceston, Tasmania, Australlia) has done well in the Paris Olympics, and it was there that the two hugged after Ariarne and her teammates had won their gold medal in the 4 x 200 metre free style.  It was Ariane's 4th Gold Medal at that time.

The above photo was taken well after the last Olympics.  One of the pools named after Ariarne Titmus here in Launceston.

Ben Lomond, Tasmania

  This is the view from the dining room and family room windows.  It snowed on Ben Lomond but most of it was gone the next day.  It takes about 56 minutes to get there from home here.  The mountain is 1572 meters above sea level, southern end.  

Snow doesn't fall there every year but of course most years, there is a snow making machine up there as well and a little village.

The above photo is of Jacobs Ladder on the way down Ben Lomond taken several years back on a warm summer's day.

We used to take Sasha with us in the caravan in Tasmania.  This is him in his basket at home here, then in the caravan with his full coat of long hair which I used to brush everyday if not more.

 Sasha the Shih-Tzu.  Long gone but wonderful memories.  He had been outside so hence he is a little wet. It had been raining, I guess.

The Outback

 We have visited and stayed in the outback town of Bourke a few times way back.  Bourke is on a bend at the Darling River and it about 800 kms (500 miles) northwest of Sydney the capital of New South Wales (NSW).

The first British explorer to explore the river was Charles Sturt in 1828 who bane it after Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales.  Having struck the region during an intense drought and a low river, Sturt dismissed the area as largely uninhabitable and short of any features necessary for establishing reliable industry on the land.

Further exploration of the area did not occur until 1835 when the colonial surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell conducted an expedition.  Following tensions with the local people (the Aborigines) Mitchell built a small stockade to protect his men, and name it Fort Bourke after then Governor Sir Richard Boure.  British pastoral settlement failed to occur for many years in the vicinity due to the large distances from the colonized areas and the strong resistance from the local Aboriginal population.

Eventually the first British pastoralist to appropriate land around Fort Bourke was Edward J Spence in late 1858, but it was Vincent James Dowling with his head stockman, John E Kelly, who successfully established the Fort Bourke Cattle station and homestead in 1859.  Dowling clashed with the resident Aboriginal population, receiving a spear through his hat and his horse being wounded by a boomerang. However, he was able to come to terms with the Indigenous people, who became a cheap source of labour or his run.  {Wikipedia}  More to read

An area further north 10km actually was chosen for the town of Bourke in 1862 as Fort Bourke was prone to flooding.

The caravan park off the Kidman Highway north of Bourke, NSW

The Police Station in Bourke.

The Post Office

Cameras at the intersection in Bourke, they are there for the Police to see what is happening in the street, mostly for the Indigenous people.

A Camel Caravan on the way to Bourke in 1900.