From 20 August to 17 September, Belinda
and I visited our daughter Dana and her husband Jord on the family farm at
Merredin in Western Australia. Our visit coincided with the spring wild floral
display, which I quickly realized was something very special. The wildflower
collection in Western Australia is the largest on Earth. With more than 12,000
species, over 60% of which are found nowhere else on Earth: they
colour the landscapes from the coast to the bush and the outback. Although
Merredin had some wildflowers, the wheat belt had been cleared of native bush
long ago and converted to cropping lands, so it was fairly muted in terms of
these. However, when we later visited Peak Charles and the Fitzgerald River
National Park, we were treated to a stunning display of exquisite flowers and
plants.
The geology of Western Australia is
extraordinary. The Yilgarn Craton is a gigantic craton that constitutes the
bulk of the WA landmass. This essentially is a vast buried bedrock of granite
that is rich in minerals and the reason the state has such abundant reserves of
gold, iron, nickel, rare earths and other minerals. In addition, it breaks the
landscape in a series of unusual rocky outcrops such as those at Merredin, Bruce
Rock, Wave rock, Totagin and many other locations. Further south it reaches a
climax in the spectacular mountains of Peak Charles and Eleanora in the Great
Western Woodland.
We did a road trip part way through our
visit in a borrowed Nissen Patrol 4.2lt, knobbly-tired truck. First, we went to
Kalgoorlie to see this iconic mining town, then south to Norseman and diverted
off the main road to Peak Charles, accessible on a 50-kilometer 4WD track. Peak
Charles is 651meters high and along with nearby Peak Eleanora rises above a
rolling sandplain that is the southern edge of the Great Western Woodland. The
woodland occupies a transitional rainfall zone where the cooler, wetter coastal
plain of the south-west meets the hotter, drier interior. This ‘interzone'
features a remarkable array of flora and fauna.
In the midst of the woodland, the two
peaks are giant rock islands pushing skyward, to host unique communities of
plants and animals, not found elsewhere. The woodland is remarkable too in that
it is the largest Mediterranean climate woodland on Earth. Covering almost 16
million hectares (an area the size of England), this continuous band of native
vegetation is a rich tapestry of woodland, mallee, shrubland and salt lakes.
More than a fifth of Australia’s native plant species (over 3000) are found
here, including 20% of Australia’s eucalyptus species (more than 160).
Historically, for thousands of years,
Peak Charles has been a meeting place for the Ngadju people and neighboring
aboriginal tribes and a connecting point of Dreaming Tracks or Songlines,
stretching north and south.
We camped here for 2 days and during
that time we scrambled up orange granite rocks to the summit. The prospect
opened with great affirmation - of endless woodland, stretching to the horizon
in all directions, vast salt lakes and no signs of humanity. There was a
fantastic diorama of wildflowers, the constant hum of bees and a curious aerial
display by an escadrille of large white butterflies as I sat on the flat
summit, in the sunlight, in an aura of transcendence. 2 eagles glided past on
thermals and vanished. For a long time, I stared in awe at this wild, mystical
and splendid power of nature.
We drove on south to Esperance on the
south coast, a lovely town of character fronting the Southern Ocean. Offshore
is the Recherché Archipelago named by Rear-admiral Antoine Bruni
d’Entrecasteaux in 1792 during a French expedition in search for the vanished
navigator Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de Laperouse. The name was from his
ship “Recherché”. The town is named after the second ship, “Esperance”.
To the west was Fitzgerald River
National park and we spent a few days here climbing East Barren peak, camping
at Hamersley Inlet and later at St Mary’s Inlet. We were lucky to see a pod of
Southern Rights Whales in the bay at Point Ann.
We went to the annual wildflower
display in Ravensthorpe, which was outstanding. There were hundreds of
wildflowers collected from the surrounding countryside and carefully cataloged.
We then drove on a 4WD track to the lookout on the Ravensthorpe Range and
continued on to camp one night in the bush. There was a profusion of wild
flowering bush different again from the other regions that we’d seen.
From here we took the road to Hyden and
stopped there at Wave Rock. This is a natural rock formation like a breaking
ocean wave about 15 meters high. Hyden rock is part of the Yilgarn Craton and
the ‘wave’ has been caused by eons of weathering and erosion. A small wall has
been built around Hyden Rock about halfway up to collect and funnel water into
a storage dam. This is a common technique of the other inselbergs that we
visited. The rock has cultural significance to the aboriginal Ballardong
people, whose dreamtimes tell the story of the Rainbow Serpent that formed the
rock by dragging her swollen body over the land, consuming all the water.
Acknowledgments: to Dana and Jord for
sharing their abode with us for nearly a month and driving us from and to
Perth. To Peter and Jen Lynch for their hospitality and kindness during our
stay and lending us their Nissen Patrol.
To Martin, who showed us the sights of Merredin on a special tour. To
Murray and Bren for showing us around their farm near Bruce Rock. To Alyce and
Leanne Meldrum who looked after us in Esperance. We missed Ryan who was on his
way home from America … next time maybe.
