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Following Giles & Eyre - Part 2 - The Great Australian Bight to Ooldea

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Israelite Bay sits at the western end of the great arc of beaches, sand dunes and cliffs that make up the Great Australian Bight. For Eyre they were a huge challenge; it was no different for the LOE crew as they head eastward.

Suddenly the sand went spongy and I just knew that underneath that seemingly firm covering of white sand there was an unknown depth of soft, clasping, wet and rotten seaweed. I slapped the gear lever back into second and floored the Cruiser, the growl from under the bonnet letting me know that the V8 was doing its bit in trying to get us through. I grabbed the radio handpiece yelling a warning to the others who were following in a long conger line along the beach. I bounced up over a wall of dry banked up seaweed just above the normal wave washed mark of the sea and ploughed through the tangled mire of weed, trying to get to the narrow rough strip of soft dry sand that lay between the beach proper and the close inland scrub.

With my speed quickly heading towards zero I grabbed first, the Cruiser really struggling to pull through the bottomless weed. I sought low ratio and dozed on, a round bale of seaweed building up under the chassis in front of the rear wheels. A small depression of sand amongst the weed offered some form of salvation and I headed towards it and dropped off the weed onto the firm pack, where I stopped and had a chance to back up and get off the round bale of fettuccine like seaweed that had built up under the truck, like stubble is rolled up into bales in a bailing machine.

A couple of times during that day we were forced off the beach and we then followed a track that parallels the beach and which ducks between samphire covered flats and occasionally across dry shallow billiard table flat lake beds. This track was initially established for the crews maintaining the old overland telegraph line and occasionally we came across a forlorn wooden pole or a single strand of wire that was once the only regular connection between the west and east coasts of Australia.

Later that day as we pushed north along the long sweep of sand north of Israelite Bay, the same beach that Eyre and Wylie had staggered along so many years before, the sand became firmer and the weed had vanished and we cruised effortlessly over the clean hard pack.

 

 

Close to where the Wylie Scarp meets the sea just west of Point Culver, the Bilbunya Dunes crowd up to the near sheer escarpment. The prevailing southerly winds have built these white masses of sand into the tallest dunes in Australia, their peaks sitting atop long, sinuous, almost sensuous, ridges of steep-sided sand. They were mind blowing and we couldn't drive past. We wound our way in from the beach along a low gap in the dunes and camped just a few hundred metres back from the beach at the base of these wind blown mountains.

Next morning with the early morning sun colouring the dunes we dodged our way amongst tall dunes and then through scrub to find our way up the Scarp. Rubber belting has now been laid down on the steep soft climb to assist vehicles climbing the scarp and in fact, makes the whole deal a bit of a doddle. The view from the top of the cliffs is a beauty though with a strip of white sand and turquoise water rimmed by dark blue water stretching away far to the south.

 

 

 

For the next day we were subjected to the slow torture of the cliff tops. For Eyre these cliffs had proved to be a great challenge with their waterless tracts of country but to our small group of adventurers the cliff tops were another challenge all together. The narrow and rough limestone studded track wound incessantly amongst the thick mallee and tea-tree scrub and it was slow going, even when we weren't bugged by the wider tracked, soft-tyred Hummer getting a puncture.

Near the miniscule Toolina Cove, with its patch of sand tucked in amongst the high walls of the Baxter Cliffs we stopped to camp for the night. The soft sand and weed along the beaches and slow tracks along the cliff tops had us slipping behind time and ahead we knew there was more of the same. The Baxter Cliffs stretch for another 110km east to Twilight Cove, named after an 1867 shipwreck, and from near the cove big dunes bound away for over 130km to the east forming the Nullarbor's largest dune system. The Eyre Sand Patch as it is known, where Eyre had found life saving water became the site of the Eyre telegraph station, which is now the Eyre Bird Observatory, lies just 25km east of Twilight Cove. A few years ago we had entered the big dunes from the beach near the old station and pushed west. Now, while I wanted to push along the cliffs and thru the dunes to the historic site of Eyre we had another more pressing engagement.

 

 

 

 

 

Two days later after a short drive along the fantastic beach at Eucla we were on a long flat track kicking up plumes of red dust as we headed across the Nullarbor Plain. That evening we camped amongst the dunes just north of the railway line at Ooldea.

 

 

 

 

  

Ooldea Soak had long been an important water source for the Aboriginal peoples of the Nullarbor and nearby desert country. Covering an area of about five hectares the sand hill surrounded depression that contained the soak supplied permanent water from a number of points. The first Europeans to discover it were two well sinkers from Fowlers Bay in 1868 and Giles used it in 1875 for the start of his exploration west across the Great Victoria Desert.

This soak with its permanent water became the focal point for any expedition passing through this arid region and in the early 1900s, with the building of the Transcontinental Railway Line, it became a ready source of water for the steam engines plying the route. Such a demand for water meant that 50 wells were sunk and over 45,000 litres of water a day were pumped from the aquifer. By 1926 the soak was salty and unusable!

Earlier, in 1919, the indomitable Daisy Bates had arrived at Ooldea as a self-proclaimed 'Protector of Aboriginals' and over the next 16 years played an important, but often controversial role in helping the local Aboriginal peoples. Known to the people as 'Kabbarli', or 'Grandmother', she later wrote an acclaimed book, The Passing of the Aborigines.

Today beside the railway line on the north side is a monument to Daisy Bates while a short distance away the wreckage of the old bores can be found. We spent a few hours searching for the soak amongst the dunes a little further north and in a depression stumbled across a small but relatively deep limestone sinkhole that was once, by the old buckets and pots we pulled from it, an important water point. Had we found the 'real' Ooldea Soak? Further research once we got back home has indicated we probably didn't as the soak is supposedly some 7km north-north-west of the railway siding while any maps of the area and names of wells and bores are just adding to my confusion. It just means I'll have to go back to find the real one, which a couple of years ago was 'handed back' to the local Aboriginal people.

But the coast and the sandy tracks of Eyre and his band of men were calling so our small party headed south out of the desert for the challenges of the far west coast of SA. Over the next few days it was to build to a crescendo!

     

 

Eyre’s Incredible Journey

Edward John Eyre's expedition across the Great Australian Bight from Port Lincoln to Albany was one of the most remarkable feats of endurance in Australian exploration history.

Setting out from Port Lincoln in late 1840 the party of experienced men led by Eyre established a depot near Streaky Bay. Pushing through thick scrub and travelling past today's Ceduna and Cactus Beach they arrived at Fowlers Bay in mid November. Waiting to be resupplied by ship Eyre tried vainly to push west to the Head of the Bight (the coast had been mapped earlier by Flinders and others) only to lose three of his best horses to thirst in the process.

Still, in late February 1841 with three Aboriginal guides, his trusted lieutenant, John Baxter, 10 horses, a few sheep and a dray loaded with food and water he struck west, sending the rest of his party back to Adelaide.

By the 2nd March they had reached the Head of the Bight where today whale watching is the main attraction during winter, but these high cliffs have no water and the next stage west was fraught with the real danger of dying from thirst.

Pushing on they only just made it to the next patch of sand near Eucla where amongst the dunes they found some small soaks of water. Resting there for nearly two weeks Eyre tried vainly to push west but in the face of the long stretch of waterless country the party only just made it to Eyre where today's Bird Observatory is based. Once again they found water amongst the dunes but Baxter was reluctant to carry on.

On the 26th March they headed on but a few days later, west of Twilight Cove, along the stretch of cliffs we now know as the Baxter Cliffs, two of the Aboriginals shot Baxter, stole most of the provisions and lit off for parts unknown.

Eyre and his Aboriginal companion, Wylie, were now on their own with hardly any food or supplies, but a few of the horses still remained. They walked on, the horses too weak to carry hardly anything and on the 3rd May they reached the end of the long stretch of cliffs at Point Culver. The Wylie Scarp stretches away to the south-west but once again the dunes provided a few native wells of water. Marching along the long stretch of beach north of Israelite Bay they got to Pt Malcolm on the 19th May, where they rested and fed on the bounty of the sea.

Heading for Cape Arid they pushed on through relatively easier country but the poor diet and lack of water was still taking its toll. Luckily in early June as they rounded a headland near today's Rossiter Bay they discovered a whaling ship anchored just offshore. The French ship, Mississippi, with Captain Rossiter on board soon had both Eyre and Wylie living in luxury.

Rested and resupplied they continued their trek westward on the 14th June, arriving at the European outpost of Albany on the 7th July. So the barrier of the Nullarbor had been crossed. It would be another 30 years before anyone else would try it again and just a few years later, in 1877, an overland telegraph line was established following much of Eyre's route with repeater stations built where Eyre had found water.

Pic courtesy of State Library of SA; SLSA:B2924.

 

 

 

 

Outback Ideas Flag & Pole
Having a tall flag fitted to your vehicle is a great safety feature whether you are in the Simpson Desert, on the CSR, or cruising the beaches of Fraser Island, Robe or Sandy Cape. We fitted our lead vehicle with an Outback Ideas flag and pole just in case we came across anyone unexpected along the way. The 3-section pole is a beauty and allows you to make the flag as tall or as short as you would like. See them at your nearest TJM store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Cross Swag
Over the years I've used a lot of different swags but this one from Southern Cross Canvas is the best one by far. You can just throw it on the ground and unroll it like a basic swag, or if you want you can take a minute to erect it. Like a tunnel tent there's plenty of room inside and it is without doubt the best tent I've used in the rain and during inclement weather. It was tested regularly in strong winds and rain and passed with flying colours. There's plenty of ventilation with screened windows at each end and with the large canvas side flaps rolled up you can look at and enjoy the stars overhead. Better still the mattress is even supportive and comfortable for my tired old bones!

Priced around $540 these swags aren't cheap but the high quality and durable materials used will ensure you'll get years of trouble free service. It's the swag I use all the time now!

For more details go to www.southerncrosscanvas.com.au, or ph: (03) 9729 5056. They have retailers around Australia.

 

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