Wittenoom the doomed country town
Wittenoom is a ghost town 1,106 kilometres (687 mi) north-north-east of Perth in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the site of Australia’s greatest industrial disaster. The area around Wittenoom was mainly pastoral until the 1930s when mining began in the area. By 1939, major mining had begun in Yampire Gorge, which was subsequently closed in 1943 when mining began in Wittenoom Gorge. In 1947 a company town was built, and by the 1950s it was the Pilbara’s largest town. During the 1950s and early 1960s Wittenoom was Australia’s only supplier of blue asbestos. The town was shut down in 1966 due to unprofitability and growing health concerns from asbestos mining in the area.Today, eight residents still live in the town, which receives no government services. In December 2006, the Government of Western Australia announced that the town’s official status would be removed, and in June 2007, Jon Ford, the Minister for Regional Development, announced that the townsite had officially been degazetted. The town’s name was removed from official maps and road signs and the Shire of Ashburton is able to close roads that lead to contaminated areas. We drove around the eeerie town (or what is left) and to see undergrowth on the streets and houses starting to fall apart.Over 50 houses were demolished when the town was deserted and power was also dismantled A very sad reminder of daysgone by when health was not a big issue
Mount Magnet to Newman WA
We are heading towards Newman a mining town in the Pilbarra and that is EXACTLY what it is !! Populated mainly by miners all walking around in either orange or lime green work suits ,most of them fly in from Perth for a few days then return home for RnR afore doing the process all over again (financial remuneration is high which is evident in the high charges for rental accommodation,we stayed in a blank, bleak camp site and cost $38for an overnight stay and I for one will NOT recommend this place) Newman sits on what was originally regarded as marginal cattle country. It was built in the 1960s by the Mount Newman Mining Company, following the discovery of rich iron deposits on nearby Mount Whaleback. The discovery marked the start of the resource boom in Western Australia in the 1970s Next Blog we visit Wittenoom ghost town that once mined the deadly asbestos that killed so many especially in Australia
Perth to Mt Magnet
It is located 573 kilometres (356 mi) northeast of Perth via the Great Northern Highway. Only a few mines are still worked, including Hill 50 which started operations in the 1890s. The area once had three separate townsites – Mount Magnet, Boogardie, and Lennonville. Boogardie has since been swallowed up into the open cut mining operations at Hill 50. Lennonville was abandoned at the start of World War I, and the foundations of the bank and train station can still be seen.
Unusual for such a large mining community, Mount Magnet has never had a public battery. The nearest battery was built 5 km west, in Boogardie. However its gold-rush heyday can be seen in its very wide main street with three hotels, a race course and a golf course complete with oiled greens.
Surrounding the town are remnants of old mining operations, and to the north east are significant Aboriginal sites being preserved jointly by the local community and the West Australian Museum. Today Mount Magnet is primarily a service town for the surrounding pastoral district which supports very large sheep stations.In the evening we were very lucky to attend an Astronomy Exhibition held only once ayear and we were lucky enough to be there !! Some of the telescopes were enormous and just to view the moon thru one of these marvels of science was an absolute thrill and the moons surface seemedincredibly close (no sighting of the msn on the moom tho !!) We are moving on towards central west australia and may not be able to post due to having NO computer dongle reception
Farewell Perth as we head North
It has been a pleasant stay here in Perth,we have caught up with friends .Annie has visited her family and our last day tomorrow will be in a Midland restaurant with son Adam.Highlight of course was the birth of my fifth grandchild Charlie Oliver (mum and baby are doing very well) We had the pleasure of my 5 yr old grandson Will staying with using our bus whilst he awaited the arrival of his new brother BUT such hard work !! We have visited our old place of work and sadly the once ,village< has been turned mainly into offices with lots of the residents moving to new homes within the community.I have visited lots of my old haunts including Fremantle,home of the world famous Cicerello.s fish n chips,still delicious but pricey !! I also visited Trigg Beach and watched the surfers and a Helicopter circling above the sea .The utter stupidity of some people is beyond belief and apparently the Helicopter was filming a shark feeding frenzy BUT the surfer ignored warnings and still awaited the elusive wave !! Perth is now a very busy and populated and is nearer to Bali than other state capitals !! I believe we had made the correct decision by moving to the quieter more docile Hervey Bay that caters very well for we Seniors We were treated to a HUGE breakfast at The Beach Shack for our birthdays this month(Thanks Jayne,Paul,Will and Charlie) Goodbye to Perth,it has been good tome in the last 30yrs,hello to the Top End
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Coolgardie on the way to Perth
Almost forgotten to do a Blog on the small town out of Kalgoorlie on the way to Perth.There is a lot of early day buildings here circa mid 1880,s from Wikepedia…
Coolgardie was the site of a gold rush in the early 1890s, prior to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder gold rush.
For the prospectors who had rushed here to find their fortune, one challenge was to extend the life of their perishable foods — hence the invention of the Coolgardie safe.The safe was invented in the late 1890s by Arthur Patrick McCormick, who used the same principle as explorers and travelers in the Outback used to cool their canvas water bags: when the canvas bag is wet the fibers expand and it holds water. Some water seeps out and evaporates, especially if it is in a breeze, cooling the stored water.This technology is commonly thought to have been adopted by explorer and scientist Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, who had observed the way some Aborigines used kangaroo skins to carry water.
30 yrs ago when we arrived in this country we traveled thru here and actually saw a pig running out of a Butchers Shop! to this day it is my eldest daughters (6 at the time) an mine an insignificant but everlasting memory !!
Meet the latest Family addition Charlie Oliver
Main reason we came to Perth was for the birth of our Grandson ( and other family members too) Well done Jayne and Paul for bringing Charlie into our world
Will,Charlie,Grandad Geoff,Nanny Annie
Perth 2013..Pokies and other things
We are here for a while awaiting the birth of my daughters baby.In the meantime we are having a good look around the Perth area and we are amazed at the large volume of traffic,the massive build up of new houses and the way they are built in close proximity to each other.On arrival there was a HUGE bush fire in the hilly Bakers Hill area (luckily NO life loss) and a couple of days later is now under comtrol. Annie has had quality time with her daughters and we are having time with grandson Will (5 next week!) Although Perth is a lovely place we are both very happy with our move to Hervey Bay.Calling in at our local RSL Club we were greeted by lots of our lovely pals and of course we won a meat raffle prize!!.I had some sort of infection that numbed the side of my left face and Annie shuffled me off to Swan Districts Hospital.Extensive test were done for heart attach and Strokes ,X Rays were taken and a head scan also performed and took exception when told there is nothing there !!.The staff are brilliant and is also the place of my daughters profession as a Registered Nurse’Naturally i did what I always do after a bit of unhealthyness and treated myself to a new toy (a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab) Annie will get her present in the near future and Im think Dolls House Construction Kit.Summing up …Perth you were great BUT my future and heart now belong to Hervey Bay Queensland.We visited the Crown Casino for alook at the new building and was in awe at lots of people pouring money into pokies ( one armed bandits for the Brits) The machines are illegal in any other establishment throughout Western Australia in all other states they are NOT.Sadly for WA lots of pubs and clubs prosper in these states due to finances raised by the machines
Kalgoorlie and the Completion of the 18 Hole Nullobor 1365 metre Golf Challenge
Today we finalize our Golf Challenge and I will dedicate a blog just for this event. We have 2 holes to play on the Kalgoorlie newly made $20 million golf course and IT was spectacular !! !0 minutes into play and the heavens opened up ,even the Kangaroos were sheltering but we soldiered on ! The rain was fierce and on the way back to our motorhome we fot caught up in a Flash flood and the water ran blood red with the disturbance of the ochre coloured soil. We showered on return and went to collect my now published book from my good friend Traudi n Keith who are professional printers and have their own business.The book is very good and we were introduced to their son Issac (sorry) and we made arrangments to meet in their local pub The Abion.Its a longtimr since ive drunk so many pints BUT it was very enjoyable and we had a very pleasant evening ( for a small bloke Keith cant half knock em back) Sleep came very easy that night and next morning we met more very nice travellors who were parked next to us.We are now back on the road heading towards Perth
Good friends in Kalgoorlie
Traudi n Keith
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 