Midwest, Goldfields, Wildflowers Trundle - Part 6 - Niagra Dam & Karalee Rock - Western Australia

 Hello dear blogging friends. I hope you and yours are doing well. I thought before the year finishes I better finish off our Wildflower-Midwest-Goldfields Trundle. But I see now there is going to be two posts to finish this off. If you didn't see the last post you can revisit here - Part 5 - Leonora, and Gwalia, Western Australia

We are going to be free camping for the next few nights. Here is the map again - we have just left Leonora and are heading south through the goldfields area towards Niagra Dam and then passing through Kalgoorlie to Karalee Rock on the Great Eastern Highway before turning north to Beringbooding and Elachbutting Rock before returning home via Bruce Rock. 

Niagara Dam is located about 83 kilometres south of our last stop, Leonora, and 191 kms north of Kalgoorlie via the Kookynie Road. It is a great place to stop for a picnic, or to free camp overnight or for a few days. We discovered this little oasis years ago and have camped here several times. There are plenty of places to set up camp and we have found it to be a quiet camp. As we didn't have a long way to go from Leonora, we had a lazy get up and arrived at Niagra before lunch-time. 

The 30,000,000 gallon Dam was built in 1897 with cement hauled on 400 camels from Coolgardie by the Afghan cameleer Abdul Waid. The Dam was to provide water for the now abandoned goldmining town of Niagara, the surrounding district, and for the steam locomotives using the railway linking Kalgoorlie, Menzies and the northern goldfields. John Alway pegged the first gold lease in the Niagara area in January 1895, followed rapidly by other mining leases.

Underground water was found at Kookynie soon after Niagara Dam was completed, and the Dam proved unreliable due to intermittent rainfall.  Named after a nearby waterfall which proved to only flow after heavy rain, Niagara was a little different to its gigantic namesake.

There are two walk trails – the Round the Dam Trail (1150 metres) and the Breakaway Trail (1600 metres). The walks are relatively easy and are well marked with steel marker posts approximately every 70 metres letting you explore and learn about the landscape through the interpretive panels. The path takes you across the dam wall - no jumping or diving. 

These rocky outcrops are called breakaways - Breakaways are a notable feature of inland Western Australia. Softer soils have gradually eroded through the repeated action of wind and water. Only those areas with a hard laterite (ironstone/granite) top have resisted this reshaping erosion.

There was a gorgeous display of the Tall Mulla Mulla - Ptilotus exaltatus which is prolific through midwest and northern Western Australia. It always signals to me when we travel north that we have travelled out of the south west. They are one of my favourites. There are around 100 varieties of Mulla Mulla. I have added a few more to my photo list since I wrote this post in 2017. 

And some birds - we think the one on the left is the Grey-headed honeyeater and on the right is the Cockatiel weiro (often a household pet as it responds well to people). 

It was a beautiful still, quiet night and we toasted marshmallows over our campfire. 

The next morning we headed south to Kalgoorlie, passing through Menzies around 60kms from Niagra Dam. There is an interesting story to read on my blog about the Menzies Town Hall clock here - Menzies - Town hall without a clock. As you can see it now has a clock - but didn't have for around 100 years. 

We only stopped in the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie briefly before heading west to our next stop Karalee Rock - around 372km from Niagra Dam - arriving early afternoon. 

Located not far off the Great Eastern Highway 177 km west of Kalgoorlie, we have camped at Karalee Rock several times over the years, and it is one of my favourite free camps.  We decided to stay for two nights. 

There is plenty of places to set up with lovely shady camp sites suitable for caravans, camper trailers and tents. The only disappointment was that the toilets weren't operating. It is a popular site to camp so I hope they fix them soon. 

There are walk trails around and over the rock. And plenty of opportunity to take photos of wildflowers, including orchids in season. Orchids can particularly be found in the rock gardens were water collects on the rock. We enjoyed pointing some of these tiny orchids out to some other visitors to the rock. 

Below you can see, clockwise from top left - Thelymitra antennifera - Lemon scented sun orchids (I love their little faces), we think is the blue Cyanicula amplexans – Dainty Blue Orchid, Prasophyllum gracile - Little Laughing Leek (so tiny), and the Caladenia roei - Clown orchids (I love their stripy trousers). 

Karalee Rock is one of the stopping points along the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail which follows the 560 kilometre Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline, and is one of a number of rain water rock catchments built in the 1890s to service the steam trains on the Eastern Railway from Perth to the Goldfields. The rock's history goes back thousands of years to when Aboriginal people camped here and collected water from the rock’s gnamma holes and soaks.

When the railway between Southern Cross and Kalgoorlie was completed in 1896 a series of rock walls, an aqueduct and 48.3 million litre dam was constructed at Karalee to collect rain water off the two granite rocks and provide water for steam trains en route to Kalgoorlie. 

Six kilometres of granite slab walls up to a metre high, all cut from the rock itself and laid by hand, surround Karalee Rock forming a rain catchment. 

These walls direct rain water to flow off the rock into the dam via a large semi-circular steel flume aqueduct, which was hand riveted at each joint.  The water was then pumped 3.6 kilometres south to the railway siding. The construction was an enormous achievement of both manual labour and horsepower.  

And more wildflowers - it really is a lovely place to stop and relax, walk or just sit and read under the shade. 

You often see Ornate Dragon lizards darting across granite rocks - you need to be quick to get their photo

And last year when we were camped at Karalee we came across a Tiger Snake slithering across the rock. Deadly poisonous - you don't want to get tangled up with one of these. Stand still and back away slowly.

I hope you have enjoy this part of our Midwest, Goldfields and Wildflowers Trundle. Next time I will take you to Beringbooding and Elachbutting Rocks for the final part of our tour. 

These are free camping spots with basic facilities, be self-sufficient: gas BBQ, fire rings, bins, long-drop toilets, chemical toilet dump point. Bring own firewood and be aware of fire bans. Please be respectful of other campers. Please take away your rubbish. 

You might also like:

Perth to Kalgoorlie Pipeline - the need for water on the goldfields - 2013

Menzies: Town Hall without a clock - 2019

Camping at Karalee Rock - 2018

Is there a snake in your camp - don't get bitten!  -2018

Midwest, Goldfields, Wildflower Trundle - Part 5 - Leonora and Gwalia - 2024

Camp food - Western Australian wheatbelt granite outcrops -2012

For the love of Mulla Mulla - 2017

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying my continuing tour.  I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

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ThroughMy Lens 
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My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

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Until then, enjoy your day... it won't be back. 

Menzies Town Hall without a clock, Western Australia

Whenever we travel we always pick up curious little stories about towns, people, places. They add interest to the history and fabric of the places.

This one - the town hall without a clock - we discovered in the town of Menzies, 130km north of Kalgoorlie in the Western Australian goldfields, when we travelled through Menzies last September on a circuit tour to Cue, once the centre of the Murchison goldfields. I blogged about it here - Cue, Queen of the Murchison

 There are many of these little towns scattered throughout the goldfields regions, which were once booming towns in their heyday of gold discovery. Some of them are now abandoned with only a few scattered bricks remaining.

In 1898 a town hall was built in the booming gold town of Menzies, in the Western Australian goldfields, however for many years the clock tower didn’t have a clock. This caused confusion between the residents as there was telegraph time, set many kilometres away, and mine whistle time, which was always twenty minutes earlier than telegraph time. 

This photo was taken of signage in the Menzies main street.

 

Finally in 1904 the Town Clerk was instructed to purchase a clock which was shipped from London on the steamer SS Orizaba. However in February 1905 the Orizaba ran aground off the port of Fremantle due to poor visibility caused by heavy smoke haze over the ocean from a month of bush fires along the coast. 

Within hours there was twenty feet of water in the engine room and the captain sent word to Fremantle via an Italian fisherman. By 7pm three tugs and three barges were alongside and started salvaging the cargo. The passengers, their belongings, and the mail were transferred to Fremantle. 

Six days later the captain and crew left the ship when it started breaking up. About 900 tonnes of cargo was recovered from the ship and several months later winter storms sent the rest of her to the bottom of the ocean. 

 The fate of the Menzies town hall clock is not known – whether it sunk with the ship, or was salvaged and sold – but the clock never reached Menzies. Nearly one hundred years later Menzies was still without a clock. 

In 1999 the Shire of Menzies allocated $16,000 for the purchase of four clocks, designed and built by Perth clockmaker, Derek Morrison, to fit the four faces of the town hall tower. The clocks were unveiled on New Year’s Eve 1999. 

In a final twist to history, recent research indicates that the original clock may not have been ordered as there is no record of the order or that it was on the Orizaba.  One theory is that the Attorney General used the ship sinking as an excuse not to pay for a clock for a town whose population was declining.  Or was there a Menzies clerk feeling relieved that his oversight was never discovered? 

 Menzies is a lovely little town to visit and explore some of the local historical gold-rush history if you are in the goldfields. They have a very neat caravan park in the centre of town. 

Gold was discovered in Menzies in 1894.  The population of 10,000 peaked in 1905 and the town boasted 13 hotels, 3 breweries and 3 banks. By 1910 the population had fallen to less than 1,000, due to the decline in gold production and further hastened by World War 1.  Population today is less than 200.

My article, which you have just read, was published in the November-December 2018 issue of On The Road Magazine. 

Recently I discovered that the Orizaba was indeed ill-fated. In 1889 there was a smallpox outbreak on board and the ship was quarantined in Melbourne. Late in 1889 it collided with the Clan Mackay en route from India. In early April 1903 a crew member was found to have the the plague and he was off-loaded in Egypt, but the ship was treated as an "infected ship" by health authorities when it reached Plymonth. In 1904 an explosion in the engine room killed six crew members. 
From "The Way We Were", Western Australian newspaper, 1 December 2018.  

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little story about the Menzies clock. Travel can be so fascinating! To find out more about Menzies click here - Menzies

Old ship photos borrowed from the Internet. 
Photo of the town hall without a clock taken from heritage signage in the Menzies main street.
For more information on the Town Hall: WA Government Heritage council. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.