Sculptured boabs silhouetted against red escarpments and blue sky signalled the beginning of the Kimberly.
Huge floppy
eared brahman cattle watched us with sorrowful eyes as we cruised past at
120km. They gather around watering points in the shade but have an
inevitable future – dinner plates
in Indonesia & the Middle East.
This is the land of the 19thC cattle
pioneers who took up large tracts of land on the tropical northern frontier,
under fierce opposition from the local Aboriginal people.
Victoria River and Ranges of Gregory National Park in the background
Kimberly Aboriginal people from around Argyle Station: Photo, Argyle Homestead Museum
The irrigated paddocks of the Ord looked like overgrown
orchards with a variety of small trees closely planted. They make up 60% of the
present Irrigation Area stage 1 and it’s sandalwood – a root parasite
cultivated on a variety of root stock. It takes 15 years for the large root
systems to mature, be ripped up and chipped for the production of sandalwood
oil, a valuable perfume fixative exported to France. The wood is also exported to an insatiable market in India.
A Sandalwood plantation: Taller trees are host trees whose roots
are parasitised by the Sandalwood
Parasitic Sandalwood root ready for chipping after fifteen years
The Ord River scheme has hade a chequered
agricultural history since the late 1960’s when the notion of intensive
irrigated farming in the north was conceived. The vagaries of climate, grain
loving birdlife and isolation from markets has challenged farmers as they have
experimented with a wide variety of crops including sugar cane, rice, tropical
fruit, vegetables, cotton and sandalwood.
Lake Argyle dam wall across the Ord River valley
Dethridge wheel to measure and distribute irrigation water
There seems to be a tension between
the remaining food producers and industrial crop growers – a green bean farmer
was employing a large team of backpackers to grade his freshly picked crop
ready for transport to Perth, 3000km south - melons, mangos and pawpaws are
similarly treated.
Some other produce produced by bean farmer
An important RAMSAR wetland near Wyndham
Parrys Lagoon is an Eden-like billabong just below the ruins of
a World War I naval communications base, 15km south Wyndham. A short
boardwalk led to a roomy bird hide where we proceeded to tick off the feathered
highlights. There were brolgas among the reeds and the often-elusive reed
warbler warbled and displayed for us.
Clamorous Reed Warbler
A lone darter opened its beak wide
revealing a sound we have only heard by waterways at night as a giant egret and
pied cormorant walked into the frame of my camera viewfinder. Snapper’s &
twitcher’s heaven!
A trio of wetland birds
A trio of grebes followed a salt-water crocodile along the
length of the lagoon. Perhaps the swishing tail disturbs vegetation
morsels from the bed of the waterway, saving precious energy in having to dive
for their food. Now that’s a better example of commensalism than moss growing
on trees!
Hoary-headed Grebe close up
The Rainbow Bee-eater swished past…and that is definitely a
whistling kite perched, practising its tell-tale tune often just heard as an
outback etude filtering through the coolibahs. Too far away to photograph, but
the “Jizz” of a small bird with flayed toes gently walking on the water-lily
pads identifies the “Jesus Christ” bird or small Jacana. Heaven in a pool. And
why come to Western Australia if you don’t spot the Blue-winged Kookaburra, not
laughing, but showing off its azure wing accents nevertheless.
This magical hour demonstrated the value of stopping-a-while and taking the road less travelled.
The small settlement of Warmun (Turkey
Creek) beckoned. We had planned a visit to the school and had faint hopes of
investigating some family history connections of the Irish Macales – descended
from Gary’s great-great-grandfather, Walter Macale who emigrated from the
village of Eyrecourt, Eire in the 1850’s. Much was to be revealed!
Warmun has a strong artistic tradition. Lena was the artist who went to Paris recently as her design now graces the roof of the Quai Branley Ethnographic Museum highlighting traditional cultures. Here she is working on a painting based on a Barramundi theme
Ngalangangpum School serves the Warmun Community ably led by
their principal, Leanne, seen below trying to escape Gary's lens.
It is part of the WA CEO school system and was originally
established by the Josephite Order in the late 1970’s. It is well resourced and
staffed by a dedicated team of teachers and support staff. A new early
childhood centre prepares the early learners for formal school. The obvious
challenges of geographic and professional isolation are dealt with on a daily
basis as the staff strive to implement a relevant, culturally sensitive
educational program with their Aboriginal students.
The school vegetable garden is a wonderful initiative by the
‘Edge of Nowhere’ (EON) organization who aim to support isolated communities to
cultivate and eat their homegrown fruit and veggies. The secondary students were
really enjoying their afternoon in the garden on the day we visited. For those
students who wish to complete the final two years of secondary school, there is
the alternative opportunity to attend boarding school, or remain at Warmun, if
separation from family would be too difficult.
It transpired that two of Gary’s great-great Macale bachelor
uncles had settled in the Turkey Creek district and Walter (the older brother) eventually owned
Greenvale Station, later amalgamated into Bow River Station in 1945 and now
owned and run by the Juwurlinji Community. We had the privilege of meeting with
Kevin Macale, who is the grandson of Richard Macale, the younger of the two
Macale brothers. He was delighted to tell Gary that they were therefore
‘brothers’ from an Aboriginal kinship perspective!
Kevin Macale and Gary Schoer - Kevin's Great Grandfather is Gary's Great Great Grandfather
The road to Broome was edged with an increasing variety of
flowering plants interspersed with areas of dry season burning.
Kimberly Rose - A type of Kurrajong and a Northern Rainbow Lorikeet
Kapok flower. The fluffy seeds were used as a filling for pillows
Mulla Mulla: A common dry country flower.
There are 83 species in Australia
Our first LPP (Little purple plant) Solanum dioicum a member of the Solanaceae family which includes chiles, tomatoes, capsicum and deadly nightshade. Note the prickles.
The grasses below grow over two meters tall in the wet season adding greatly to the dry season fuel load in the Kimberly.
30% of Kimberly burns every year, with most fires the result of lightning strikes
This sunset shot at Kununurra reminded us where we were...
Pearls, whales, the turquoise ocean and
some R&R in a B&B awaits us at Broome...
