Prospector and Dreamer

We found a beautiful campsite just out of Mount Magnet, beside a thicket of cool and shady pepper trees, in the ghost town of Lennonville.

We camped on the other side of these pepper trees

It seems William Louis Smith had loved it too. Under the trees in the dense shade was a plaque remembering him: 1910 - 1996, loved father and grandfather, prospector and dreamer. The camp has a freestanding fireplace and hearth; the rectangle in the picture. There are wires strung up on which to hang shadecloth, a comfy chair and tables made from heavy machinery parts.

Camp for dreaming

Above in the trees was an occupied bird of prey nest; we heard the young calling to the parents. I think they were whistling kites. My bird book describes them as scruffy gingery birds. At sunrise three birds sunned themselves in first warming rays. (And a happy camper in William Louis Smith's camp could do the same.) 

Whistling kites 

Lennonville was established in 1898 when gold was found there. In it's heyday it boasted five pubs, and a railway line servicing the population of up to 3,000 people. The Welcome Gold Mine, just two miles north of Lennonville, produced nearly 5,000 ounces of gold.  

Mining ruins

One strike there was particularly rich producing up to seven ounces of gold to the ton of ore. The story goes that a favoured Sunday outing for people was to go to the mine to marvel at the dazzling display of gold in the richest veins. I can just imagine ladies in long skirts and gentlemen in dapper duds ooing and aahing in the heat and dust. 

The only thing left standing in Lennonville

From 1905 the town and gold dwindled in tandem with each other. A fire in 1909 destroyed the main part of town hastening it's decline into a ghost town. 

Lennonville railway platform

As to William Louis Smith, we know nothing more. 

But it surely helps to be a dreamer chasing gold out here; it is a tough environment. 

Then again, perhaps all prospectors are dreamers?

Twisting vine

A flash of gold

I can't believe how time has slipped by - it's nearly a month since I last posted. We've been having plenty of rain and cloudy weather but today we had some lovely sunshine which enlivened the birds in the garden.

A special treat was hearing a male golden whistler calling insistently from the bush next door. I grabbed my camera and hopped through the fence. There he was, up high in the marri canopy, flying from branch to branch and whistling loudly - presumably trying to impress the female who was much closer to the ground.

Female golden whistler

The female was much happier to get close to me - but the male kept his distance - hence the less than wonderful photograph. But isn't he a wonderful colour - his voice is equally impressive.

Male golden whistler

Another fascinating find this weekend was the nest pictured below. The nest had been hidden under a dead banksia and was revealed after I burnt the bush to encourage the banksia cones to release their seeds. It was made of densely woven grasses and looked fairly recent. On looking around I found another older nest under a nearby shrub. It seems that it may be the nest of a banded rail, which is amazing as the site is close to the house and quite a distance from the creek line (dense and damp bush being their favoured habitat). 

So the buff banded rail I saw back in January was probably nesting. Fantastic. Apparently they have a clutch of six or so young that leave the nest soon after they have all hatched.  

Finally, a new holland honeyeater in the sunlight on one of their favourite shrubs at the moment, a beaufortia. The birds fly in and swing off the tall slender branches as they chase the nectar. Their necks are as wispy as the feathery red flowers. 

Our winters are warm

Our summer is hot
And water is precious

These words are written on the town water tank on the top of a hill overlooking Marble Bar. Marble Bar has a reputation for being hot and is surrounded by low hills in the middle of the Pilbara, I suppose it is not surprising. All that heat absorbed by the bare rocky ground and then trapped in the hills. They have a record of 160 consecutive days over 38.7C (the old 100F) from the summer of 1923-24. However we had cold nights and warm days whose maximum didn't go over 30C.

Early morning shadows on the water tank

I climbed the Water Tank Hill a couple of times. At dawn I was fascinated by the rich blue shadows on the tank cast by the early golden sunlight. The distant hills glowed orange red with deep purple shadows.

Overlooking Marble Bar town

Speaking to a Queenslander enjoying the warmth, who had plans to stay a while hunting for gold, she said the locals told her "You'll be gone by the end of August - it'll be too hot for you!" She thought she might last a bit longer than that. I know I'd certainly be hightailing it out of there before the heat set in.

Government buildings Marble Bar

Gold was found here in 1891 and the town was established in 1893. The Government building, still being used for government services was completed using local stone in 1895. It is undergoing some renovations at the moment. If you look closely at the photo the scaffolding is just visible.

Banded jasper or 'marble'

Marble Bar is named for the banded jasper which crosses the Coongan River just out of town. The reds, blacks and creamy white stripes reminded the pioneers of marble. It is quite startling where it is visible, although most of the bar was covered in a layer of dried mud when er were there. A few hardy bodies splashed in the pool of water there, but it looked a little unappealing to me, muddy and greenish.

Pippunyah solar diesel power plant - solar arrays

There is a state of the art solar diesel power station just out of town. It supplies power for both Marble Bar and Nullagine. A few stats: it saves about 223,000 litres of diesel and avoids 600 tonnes of CO2 emissions by supplying 1150mwh of  solar energy per year. Quite impressive.

Grevillea flowers

Every now and again we would come across these grevilleas in flower. The birds just love them for their nectar and there are always a variety of honeyeaters to be seen and heard near by. In the water courses the eucalypts were heavily in bud. From the top of the hill you could track the water courses by the lines of trees snaking their way through the hills.

View from Tank Hill in early morning and walker in blue

There's gold in them thar hills

(and iron ore and manganese and ... )

From Punda we headed for Nullagine further inland and in the heart of gold country. Part of the road to Nullagine was being upgraded and it was very dusty, staining the roadside vegetation a rusty red. Visibility was often reduced to no more than a car's length when passing the ever present trucks servicing the mining and exploration boom. Bulldozed mining tracks criss-crossed the hills as we passed Cloud Break Mine (iron ore) and Hancock Prospecting Roy Hill project.

Dust on the Marble Bar Road to Nullagine

It is beautiful country. The ancient hills have been eroded down to stubs of orange and pinky brown, studded with creamy white. The vegetation is sparse lime grey spinifex dotted with straggly blue leaved acacia and gnarly white trunked eucalypts in the gullies that drain the hills. As we moved into the gold country the termite mounds changed from dark chocolate red to soft grey brown. 

Nullagine is a pretty spot, surrounded by low hills with big trees lining the 'river' running through town. The river sported a small pool of water lined with bulrushes on the edge of town. In the late afternoon a group of children played in the sand heaps beside the caravan park, sliding down the slopes on scraps of wood and tin. I remember doing the same when I was a child.

Contorted tree on the Skull Springs Road

We met a prospector there who had been out with his metal detector on the hunt for gold. Him - "you out looking for gold?" Us - "no, we've got a detector here 'cause someone said it'd be a good idea, but we haven't taken it out of its box." Him - "Oh, so you're here for the scenics? ... do you want to see what I found?"

Prospector on the Skull Creek Road

He reached into the deep recesses in his 4wd and pulled out an old 35mm plastic film container, tipping out some minute flakes of gold  - "That's about two hundred dollars worth there ... just a day's work. I've been checking out some spots. I'm taking a party of prospectors out in a couple of weeks and they need to find something - to keep them happy - otherwise I'll be out of work."

Low hills with acacia on the Skull Springs Road

I couldn't imagine trolling up and down over the ground for hours listening for the golden beeps from a metal detector. But there is always the lure of that 'big find' that gets people excited. Later on in Marble Bar we met a couple who had spent the last ten days "wandering aimlessly up and down" for five hours a day each. They showed us a nugget of just over one ounce that they had found. A bit more impressive I must admit - but it took about a hundred hours of trolling to find it. I think I'll stick to the 'scenics'.

Rocky outcrops

Travelling along the Skull Springs Rd out of Nullagine the road negotiated a series of steep gullies draining the low hills. The road was closed to vehicles over four tonnes, I expect due to the sharpness of the dips. Further east we took a detour down to the Woodie Woodie manganese mine. Here were huge stockpiles of mine spoil with giant trucks traversing the top of the spoil heaps, dwarfed by their surroundings. As a reminder that this is station country, there were cattle grazing at the foot of the heaps.

Cattle feeding below one of the Woodie Woodie spoil heaps

Along sections of the road where the traffic rate is high, and especially on unfenced sections, there is an ever present parade of cattle carcasses in various states of decomposition. Once we came across the poignant scene of a cow standing beside her now dead calf, not yet ready to leave. The only good to come from these deaths is the feast it provides for the crows and wedge tailed eagles. It is a common sight for them to be sharing the repast.

Australian bustards

Just out of  Woodie Woodie we came across this pair of bustards crossing the road. Mark took this photo as they headed into the spinifex. Australian bustards grow up to 1.2m high and can weigh in at 14kg with a wingspan of up to two metres. I must admit I have never seen them fly. Their habitat of choice is tussock grassland adjoining some denser vegetation to provide some protection for the single egg they lay on the ground. It is always a thrill to see them. They are not as common as they used to be and their range has reduced as well.