Warwicks Wander Our Great South Land: June 2019

After attending the little Lutheran Church in Boulder and having morning tea with them we headed back to the van for lunch. As it was raining we weren't sure what to do for the afternoon. Looking at the map we decided that we would drive out to the old Boulder Pioneer Cemetery before going on to the Mt Charlotte Lookout, which is the end of the 560 km pipeline that delivers water from Mundaring Weir near Perth to the Goldfields.

We had to cut our visit to the cemetery short because the rain became heavier but not before being able to explore most of it. The sombre greyness of the sky became my feeling as I wandered around the cemetery. The children’s sections were heart-breaking, showing just how hard life was (at least from the perspective of our much lower infant mortality rate) for people at the end of the nineteenth century in these rural areas.

Presbyterian Section

Baptist Section

Disciples of Christ Section

She is gone like a flower, cut down in full bloom
From the sunshine of earth to the shade of the tomb
But death cannot sever the chain of our love
Or steal the fond hope, we shall meet her above.

Church of England Section

The Superpit Mine behind the Church of England Section

A stately gum

Methodist Children's Section

Though only a few graves have any monumental work, there is an abundance of grave-site markers
in Methodist Children's Section

Methodist Children's Section

Methodist Section

One of only three graves I saw that have had a recent commemorative plaque added

Here follows the historical information that I gleaned about "Old Boulder":

Both neglect, with the whole area becoming overgrown, and vandalism have led to the present state of this cemetery, though the council has now erected a fence around the property to prevent vehicles entering and causing more damage.

The first burial was in the Church of England section on 9^th September, 1899. The first Methodist burial was on 4^th October, 1899 and five days later a burial took place in the Roman Catholic section. The Presbyterian section was first used on 19^th December, 1899 and over the next four and half years there were almost 800 burials, which averages one burial every second day. Because of the excessive cost of grave digging the ironstone sections and the inadequate road access, a new cemetery was established closer to Boulder, with the last burial here being on 30^th May, 1904, when this cemetery was officially declared “closed”. Of the 797 burials the following statistics are available: Methodists 36%, Church of England 28%, Roman Catholic 24%, Presbyterian 8.5% with the Baptists, Disciples of Christ and others accounting for 3.5%. An interesting fact is that following its closure there were 46 removals to other cemeteries. Only 62 graves, which is barely 8%, had any monumental work, which indicates the economic circumstances of the early Boulder families. In the Methodist section, Block 21 was opened as a Children’s Section (for still-born babies through to about 12 years of age) and over the two years from its opening, 73 children were buried here. The Methodists, with 289 burials, were the largest denomination and this has been traced back to the early preaching of John Wesley in the mining districts of Britain where many in Wales and Cornwall were converted to the truth of Jesus Christ. Though the Presbyterians were the smallest of the four main Boulder denominations, the Scots brought many of their traditions with them so that with their Caledonian Societies, the Highland Pipe Bands and their kilts they were a prominent part of life in both Boulder and Kalgoorlie. Their Caledonian sports, first run in 1896 and held annually for many years, drew large crowds to watch events like running and cycling and ‘tossing of the caber’. The first Secretary of the Boulder Cemetery Board was Rev. Stanley S. Read, minister of St George’s Presbyterian Church in Boulder. Though only arriving in Boulder City in 1899, and quickly becoming popular with his people, he applied for leave of absence in 1900 so he could accompany the West Australian contingent to the Boer War. He was granted permission to go, only to be killed in action in the Transvaal in October 1901.

To finish off this blog entry here is a panorama of Kalgoorlie from atop Mt Charlotte Lookout:

For those of you who are part of parkrun, my introduction will make more sense as we have now been on the road for four parkruns: Timboon and Mildura Weir in Victoria, Yeldulknie Weir Trail in SA and now Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA.

Koala along the Timboon parkrun course

Yeldulknie Weir Trail parkrun

And while our proposed expedition has a number of purposes—to visit our PIM padres, to meet with fellow Christians in small rural churches and to participate in parkruns—it is still our retirement trip.

Communion Table, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Original lighting, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Organ pipes, Noorat Presbyterian Church

Even after we had been on the road for only a couple of days I was beginning to feel more relaxed and less stressed than I have for such a long time. However, I must admit that I was a fair bit stressed yesterday in trying to park the van in the Goldminer Tourist Caravan Park here in Kalgoorlie, as I struggled to get it into the spot we chose with a tree and a skip bin being too close to where I was trying to manoeuvre the car. I ended up getting the van beside the concrete slab, but not as close as others have done.

Beaufort RV Park, campsite

Lake Bolac campsite

Lake Lascelles, Hopetoun, campsite

Wirrulla campsite

Ten Mile Rocks campsite

I guess the real lowlight of our trip so far, and a lowlight that I’m sure will continue for the rest of our journey, is the amount of litter beside the roads and scattered around many of the rest areas. I’ve taken to picking up a few bits and pieces at most areas where we’ve stopped for lunch, a break or for the night, but what is that little compared to what is lying around. I even thought of writing to all our premiers/chief ministers to suggest that they impose a litter tax of 1¢/litre of fuel for an independent body to supervise the collection of such litter. But, knowing me, I’ll never get around to following up on that idea. Another lowlight was the stretch of road between Madura and Cocklebiddy with a far higher rate of road kill than any other section of road we have thus far travelled. There were so many dead and decaying kangaroos, but at least they were food for the ravens and wedge-tailed eagles to feast upon. What a magnificent sight to see these majestic big birds soaring effortlessly on the thermals as they searched for their food.

It was sad to see so many rural towns where many businesses have closed up. In some communities there were rows of shuttered and vacant buildings—but this is part of our modern rural life due to factors like the droughts, young ones moving to larger towns for employment, the farms becoming larger and more mechanised so that there is the need for fewer workers and cheaper prices in bigger centres.

Maldon

Lascelles

Of the highlights there are many. There is our meeting with fellow Christians in the Noorat and Mildura Presbyterian churches in Victoria and the Cleve Lutheran church in SA. We have been warmly welcomed in each place. Then there are the parkrun events in which we have participated. I’ve managed a couple of age-grade records and even a first place at Yeldulknie Weir Trail parkrun, which is not a bad achievement for a 70-year-old runner—but the younger, faster runners were absent that day because of a football match they had to travel to as part of their competition.

For many people, the idea of the Nullarbor being a highlight would not enter their minds. It would just be a place to travel through to get to the other side while paying much higher prices for everything from fuel to coffee to snacks and to accommodation. Yes, everything has to be more expensive because each of these isolated roadhouses, which are for the convenience of travellers, must generate their own power and desalinate their own water. While we did rush across the Nullarbor to get to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun we intend to take our time when we head east in a few months so we can enjoy it more thoroughly. There is so much beauty in that region—beauty that is found in the almost endless expanse of saltbush, the variety of trees from area to area, the wonderful colours on the horizon at sunrise and sunset and they way the rising and setting sun changes the colours of the trees as well as the bird life just to mention a few things. This trip afforded us our first sight and photos of the Australian Bustard. I fell in love with these vast stretches of land and we are so looking forward to our return trip to spend more time around the different rest areas when we make our next crossing. I must add that again we’ve had rain while driving on the Nullarbor, though not the enormous downpour we had near Cocklebiddy on one return trip.

Australian Bustard

Rainbow across the Nullarbor

Salmon Gum, Ten Mile Rocks

Many towns have such wonderful architecture that has remained untouched by modernisation. These older buildings have a beauty that modern buildings, at least to my eyes, cannot approach. They are grand old ladies indeed—but grand old ladies that have lost some of their charm because of power and lighting poles, traffic signs, etc. We did enjoy out wander along Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie and Burt Street, Boulder admiring the old buildings, some of which are still occupied though others have been closed. Some of them, housing totally new businesses, have retained older signs to remind people about the original business that had operated from that site. We also drove to the Superpit Lookout and were overawed by the sheer size of this open cut it. Way below us, heavily laden dump trucks slowly inched their way up the inclines to transport their cargo to its destination. They almost looked as small as ants from where we were standing.

Ex-Welsh Congregational Church, Maldon

Maldon

Scotch Pie House, Maldon

Curdies River Railway Bridge near Timboon

Midnight Oil house, Burra

When we pulled up last night, having set up the van, walked the Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun course to familiarise ourselves with it and do some shopping—including a jar of honey, it’s amazing what you want when you can’t have it because it can’t be brought across the SA/WA border—we have travelled exactly 4,000 km and our average fuel consumption is 16.4 litres/100km.

Other photos that took my fancy: