Historic Pilbara Towns

The caravan park we stayed in at Port Samson was probably the best we have stayed in - large sites, modern roomy amenities and walks to the beach, port and town centre ( a park, shop and tavern). It was probably what we hoped Broome would have been. Unfortunately only 3 nights were available.

Morning church at the Wickham Anglican Church  was interesting. Held in the Community Hall the Service featured the presentation of Club Colours to two local members of the Saints Motor Cycle Club by the club President who was visiting from Brisbane. He also gave the message. The service lasted two hours, which was a bit too long, but was obviously very significant for the people involved and for the Wickham congregation. The Saints members in Queensland see their ministry as reaching out to the outlaw clubs, which is a big challenge, and the local chapter, which includes members from Roebourne, intend to minister to prisoners in the Roebourne Regional Prison.

Over the next few days we explored several Historic towns.

Roebourne was the first town in northern Western Australia. On the banks of the Harding River, many of the old buildings are on the North West Coastal Highway and are still in use. It was a major centre from the late 1800's and until the 1960's was the centre of a huge sheep industry.  In a book I read about the Karratha Sheep Station, Roebourne features prominently as the centre for shopping, regional meetings and social events, such as the Roebourne Races. In the 1950's, Race week  included a Ball, cricket games, perhaps a gymkana and of course two days of racing. It was actually Roebourne Cup day the day we arrived. We enjoyed the museum in the old Gaol, two aboriginal  art centres (didn't buy anything - the ones we really liked cost over $5,000.00 - we have good taste!), driving around the streets, the view from a lookout  and a Classic Magnum - special treat because I had been good. Roebourne seems to be growing, probably because of the major expansion of nearby Cape Lambert by Rio Tinto. Small blocks at a new subdivision were on the market for between 2 and 3  hundred thousand dollars.

At the mouth of the Harding River is Cossack, originally the port for Roebourne. The two towns were connected by a horse drawn tramway - later a small steam engine replaced the horses. Goods and passengers were shipped from Fremantle, there were virtually no roads, and wool was the main export. Over time as the ships got bigger and also because the river silted up, the Port was shifted to Point Samson, where we stayed. Most of the buildings fell into disrepair but a group of enthusiasts, assisted by prisoners from Roebourne Gaol, have restored several of the significant buildings and the whole area is now an historic site. The afternoon we visited there was an art show in the Bond Store with some great art work.

Between Roubourne and Point Samson is Wickham. Not an historic town but still quite interesting. Wickham is a company town built for employees of Rio Tinto who work at Cape Lambert where trains bring iron ore from Tom Price or Parabadoo for shipment to Asian Ports. The Port can handle 4 ships at a time. It takes 24 to 36 hours to fill a ship using extremely long conveyor belts. The Port facility is being expanded and the railway line duplicated so that handling capacity can be doubled. Consequently, 200 new homes are being built in Wickham, Rio are spending $250 million on redeveloping the town centre, a camp for 5,000 FIFO's is to be built and it seems a new gas fired power station is also almost finished. All mind blowing stuff to us simple country folk.  A worker we talked to at a lookout told us that he earned about $3,500 per week. Near our caravan park in Point Samson, the harbour was the base for the Cape Lambert tugs and we took great interest in their comings and goings.

Our third historic town was Onslow, two days later and 400km down the coast. Onslow is small at the moment (about 800 people) but humming with company 4WD's and mini buses. The caravan park was 80% accommodation for people wearing high vis clothing, because, 30km away there is going to be another huge natural gas project, new Port, processing plants ect. etc. A camp is being constructed for 500 workers who will build a camp for 6,000 FIFO's who will build everything else. The Wheatstone Project by Chevron  is going to cost billions. Time to buy some investment land in Onslow!

We are badly in need of a National Park fix which hopefully we will get at Cape Range N.P., although apparently it is hard to get in. We will need to be at the Rangers by 7.00am and the number allowed in will depend on the numbers leaving. I wish some of the grey nomads would go home!