Sojourn in Western Australia

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.