OLD BROOME: FIVE GREAT STORIES THAT BRING BROOME’S HISTORY TO LIFE
On 7 February 2007, the feature of our first meeting of the year was a showing of the DVD produced by the Broome Historical Society. The DVD features five stories of historical significance gathered from places of interest in the town, and is available from the Historical Society for $25.00. The Broome Historical Society was able to produce this collection of stories with the aid of a grant from the WA Lotteries Commission (Lotterywest).

The first story features the area known as Winyirr Park. The park surrounds the town of Broome and is a very important area to the local indigenous people as it forms part of a song cycle. The meaning of Winyirr is “birthplace” or “creation place”. The park includes the area from Willie Creek, north of Broome, the Broome peninsula area of town taking in Cable Beach, the Turf Club, Golf Course and extends east as far as Crab Creek. Young indigenous people are being trained as tourist guides for the walk trails through the various areas so that they can learn about their own heritage and to keep the knowledge for the coming generations. The segment included interviews with a number of Broome’s indigenous residents.

The second story is about the Chinese stores (once known as Jap Town) situated between Carnarvon Street and the foreshore. Originally known for its Japanese residents, the precinct became known as Chinatown after Chinese migrants settled into the area and quickly became very successful business people. The stories were recounted by a number of the descendents of the original families who operated the stores and restaurants in Chinatown, and they were accompanied by historical photos and movie footage of Old Broome. At the outbreak of World War II many of the European population left Broome and moved south and the Asian population far outnumbered the Europeans until after the war when the pearling industry picked up again.

The Broome Court House is the third story. Built in 1889 as Cable House it was the first north west link to the rest of the world, the cable entering the ocean at Cable Beach. The building was pre-fabricated in Britain and shipped to Singapore and then to Broome. The labourers brought from Singapore had to drag the prefabricated sections across the mud flats to the building site where it was reassembled. It served as the Cable Station for 25 years before closing in 1914. The cast iron work was manufactured in Glasgow. The story of the building was told by a number of speakers including Kathy Watson JP, Antoine Bloeman (a court judge) and Tim Willing who was the gardener at one time and who also started the Botanical Society. Again there were historical photos together with more recent ones showing the damage done by cyclone Rosita in 1984. Also shown were the Courthouse Markets. At the time of inception, when stalls were run by locals and the monies went back to the community groups, the event was the only one of its kind and the concept was adopted by a number of other towns.

The next story was about Streeters Jetty. Neil McKenzie, Doug Fong, Stephen Albert and others related stories of its history accompanied by old photos and film footage. Built in the 1890s to service the pearling industry, which, at its peak, had up to 400 luggers anchored offshore, the jetty accommodated numerous dinghies that took on water from the nearby fresh water wells and off-loaded pearl shell that went on trolleys to the sorting sheds. The Indigenous and Asian residents used the jetty for swimming and fishing as this was the only town area they could use for this purpose. World War II had a devastating impact on the pearling industry, which had to shut down, and many of the luggers were confiscated. The industry did not start again until the 1950s when new crews of Kopanger, Chinese and Japanese divers arrived to work.

The last story is about the Sun Picture Theatre. This theatre has been in operation since 1916 when it was built on the site of the old Japanese Emporium by Ted Hunter and introduced a new entertainment to the residents of Broome. With the screen situated outside in the gardens, it was a three sided structure made of corrugated iron with jarrah floorboards. The seating was segregated with the Europeans sitting in cane chairs with cushions and the Asian/Indigenous population seated in a separate section without the comfortable seating. In the 1980s, with the introduction of TV and VCR’s, the picture theatre was forced to close and fell into neglect. More recently the theatre has been restored, taking three months to complete. Unfortunately the 45-year-old projector “died” but happily an exact match was found to replace it. The major problem now is that the theatre is under the flight path of the Broome airport and the sound is ruined by jets passing overhead! Once again the stories are told by descendents of the families involved and with the addition of old footage and photos it adds life to the history of Broome.

Susan Clarkson

TIME TO SHINE: ELLENDALE DIAMONDS
On 4 April 2007, Miles Kennedy (Chairman, Kimberley Diamond Company) spoke to the Kimberley Society about his company’s involvement with exploration and diamond mining in the Kimberley. Despite being a lawyer, rather than a geologist, he was involved in the exploration from the outset and, in 1993, he formed the Kimberley Diamond Company. As one of only two diamond producers in Australia, the company comes second to Argyle, which has one of biggest mines in the world.

Miles explained that every diamond is unique and, as well as being at least 3,200 million years old—as old as the earth itself—they are valuable because they are hard to find. They occur in the diamond stability field, 200 kilometres below the earth’s surface, and can be accessed only if a volcano passes through and brings them up to the surface at 600–700 km/hr in what is known as a diamond pipe or lamproite pipe.

The search for Kimberley diamonds began in earnest in 1967 and a syndicate, in which CRA (now Rio Tinto) was involved, discovered some at Ellendale in 1976. The discovery of the Argyle alluvial diamonds in the East Kimberley followed, with the rich AK1 pipe being located in 1979 and brought into production in 1983.

The Kimberley Diamond Company owns the Ellendale Diamond Field some 100 kilometres east of Derby. The first 70 kilometres of access is easy, on the sealed section of the Gibb River Road, before 40 kilometres of unsealed road to the Roberts Road turnoff which takes drivers 24 kilometres south to Ellendale. The difficulty of exploring that area and then building the mine can be imagined because, even now, the road needs to be raised so that the mine won’t be marooned for four months every year.

Miles Kennedy and his team started their exploration work in 1994 and lived in tents at Blina, which is adjacent to Ellendale, for four years. They traversed 140 kilometres in their search for the volcanic pipes in the northern section of the Blina tenements and dug thousands of holes. At the first camp, a cement mixer was used for sifting for diamonds. The plant was upgraded in 1999 and diamond treatment plants of greater size were built.

While all of that was going on, the company was engaged in an acquisition program focused on the Ellendale Field. The relationship between the two fields is such that Blina Diamonds NL, in which Kimberley Diamond Company holds a large interest, controls a 1,350-km2 tenement package that covers and surrounds the central core of the Ellendale Field. Within that tenement package are fifty identified lamproite pipes and some diamondiferous alluvial channels.

In 2001, Kimberley Diamond Company reached agreement to purchase the Ellendale Project for A$23.25 million and, in mid-2002, it began commercial diamond mining there. The Ellendale mining lease covers 124 square kilometres, and Kimberley Diamond Company has spent A$200 million developing it. Most of the diamonds are exported and the company now has an office in Antwerp for direct tendering. In production, the Kimberley Diamond Company has over 8.9 million tonnes processed to 28 February 2007; 637,000 carats sold; and sales revenue exceeding A$149 million as of 31 March 2007 and about to quadruple. Production is conflict free, unlike that in some parts of the world.

At Ellendale, where up to 500 people have been employed on the mine and in construction, workers stay 14 days before flying out for a week at home. Sixty-one per cent of the workforce are from Broome, Derby and Fitzroy Crossing, and about seventeen per cent are company-trained Aboriginal people. The Kimberley Diamond Company has an agreement with the local Aboriginal people: reached after two years of negotiations whereby the company pays them $150,000 per year, or 5% of any dividend derived from the mine, and provides training programmes. The money is paid into a trust for nine different tribal groups.

Today, at Pipe 9, where the company mines one lamproite pipe, the camp is six to seven kilometres in size and accommodates 440 people. Twenty kilometres to the south of Pipe 9 is a new big pipe. This new plant, Ellendale 4, was successfully commissioned in September 2006 at a cost of A$51 million for plant and infrastructure.

For every tonne of rock processed, the Ellendale mining operation requires a tonne of water. Diamonds are 3.2 times heavier than water: Sp. Grav. = 3.2. In the processing, the mine uses gravity separation to access the diamonds. The mined material is passed over an x-ray and the diamonds are seen to sparkle and fluoresce. There is a huge subterranean aquifer and they have big dams to recycle the water. The revegetation process is an ongoing environmental requirement for the mine. For every hectare disturbed, the mine is required to lodge a bond of A$15,000 with the Western Australian Government to revegetate. The pipes will become lakes when the mining company has finished with them because the water table is only 30 metres underground.

The diamonds at Ellendale are $150 per carat. Argyle pink diamonds are the most valuable in the world and, at the Ellendale mining operation, the diamond production is 30% yellow and 70% white. Miles explained that carat is a measurement of weight and is based on the weight of an individual carob seed (a carob seed is always a precise weight, namely, one fifth of a gram) and hence "carat" is derived from "carob". The Ellendale diamonds are not industrial diamonds and are all gem or near gem quality diamonds, making Ellendale the second highest price per carat of any hard rock diamond mine in the world. A total of 650,000 carats will be produced this financial year. The Kimberley signature stone is a Fancy Yellow Diamond (rare and highly valuable).

Miles Kennedy gave a most interesting, informative and enjoyable address and accompanied his talk with a PowerPoint presentation of photographs, geological maps and a Kimberley Diamond Company promotional film. We thanked him enthusiastically for his time and goodwill.

A POSTSCRIPT TO THE KIMBERLEY DIAMONDS TALK

Kimberley Diamond Company has been in the media spotlight since Miles Kennedy’s presentation to the Kimberley Society. Months of speculation about a possible takeover ended on 19 July 2007, when the company’s board unanimously recommended acceptance of a 70 cents-a-share cash bid by UK-based Gem Diamonds Ltd.

Gem is said to be ready to pump $30 million into Kimberley Diamond Company as part of what is described as a ‘friendly $300 million takeover’. The timing and feasibility are linked to the need for expansion of the Ellendale project, which has been impeded by cost increases and the rising Australian dollar.

Towards the close of the takeover negotiations, Miles Kennedy lost his long-time business partner and friend, Graeme Hutton, who died in Broome on the night of the 18th. It was Mr Hutton who convinced Mr Kennedy to hunt for diamonds and then worked with him to prove and develop the Ellendale field.

ECOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL VALUES OF THE ORD AND FITZROY RIVERS: LINKS AND LESSONS
On 6 June 2007, Dr Andrew Storey spoke to the Kimberley Society about the Kimberley’s biggest rivers. Andrew is a freshwater ecologist who works as an adjunct senior lecturer in the School of Animal Biology at the University of Western Australia. Before embarking on his PowerPoint presentation, he mentioned that, despite the government-appointed Appleyard Committee’s findings, many people still think water should be exported southward from the Fitzroy or the Ord. That thinking reflects an erroneous belief that the water, which comes from wet season (summer) rains, goes to waste by flowing into the sea. Yet, as Andrew showed, the water serves important local functions and forms an integral part of the Indigenous people’s culture.

The Fitzroy River is one of the country’s few unregulated major river systems. It carries abundant water during the wet season and, at that time, an essential linkage occurs between the river and its floodplain. Without that linkage, the associated biodiversity and ecological balance cannot be maintained.

Surveys have shown that, overall, the riparian (riverside) vegetation of the Fitzroy River valley is in ‘relatively good’ condition. High livestock impact in some areas has produced patches of extensive weed invasion and areas of bank erosion, but, notwithstanding that, numerous riparian species have survived, including one, Acacia gloeotricha, which is on the state government’s Declared Rare and Priority List as a Priority Species.

In other surveys, a sampling of aquatic macroinvertebrates (predominantly gastropods, crustacea and larval stages of aquatic insects) has shown that the Fitzroy River is of relatively high ecological ‘health’. In that work, which forms part of the 2000 State of the Environment reporting, using the Australian Rivers Assessment Scheme (AUSRIVAS) models, the prevalence and diversity of insects and invertebrates allowed ecologists to classify the river catchment as grade B. The grades are A (good/pristine), B (low disturbance), C (medium disturbance) and D (heavy disturbance).

Thirty-five species of fish have been found in the Fitzroy River, with 18 of those species endemic to the Kimberley. The fish, which come from 21 families, include Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis microdon), Dwarf Sawfish (Pristis clavata) and Freshwater Whipray (Himantura chaophraya). Each of those three species has been listed as vulnerable or endangered by the IUCN, and the critically endangered Northern River Shark has been found in King Sound. That sighting was most unusual—the first known sighting of the species in the Kimberley waters—with the next closest sightings in coastal Kakadu waters. The system also supports the well known freshwater and estuarine (saltwater) crocodiles and numerous waterbirds.

On the Camballin floodplain, where an earlier attempt to grow irrigated crops failed to produce the expected commercial returns, about 67 different species of waterbirds have been recorded, and the area would qualify for listing under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. Such wetlands are named after the town of Ramsar in Iran where the first international conference on the conservation of wetlands and waterfowl was held. In addition, many of the waterbirds at Camballin are listed under the Japan-Australia (JAMBA) and/or the China-Australia (CAMBA) Migratory Birds Agreements. The Western Australian Priority Species found there include the Freckled Duck.

Some of Andrew’s research came about in response to a 1998 proposal to dam the Fitzroy River. The Western Australian Department of Water manages and allocates the state’s water resources and, in 2000, it funded a qualitative field assessment of the environmental values of the Fitzroy River and its major tributaries. That work, done in conjunction with anthropological work by Sandy Toussaint, Sarah Yu and Patrick Sullivan, involved collaboration with Indigenous groups at Bayulu, Djugerari, Jarlmadangah, Kupungarri, Looma, Mimbi and Yakanarra communities along the river. The two studies assessed water dependent ecological values, associated cultural values, and the links between those two types of values.

Andrew cited anthropological findings to show that water is a major focus of the Indigenous people’s culture as well as the basis of many of their Dreamtime stories. He also told how, in accompanying those people to places such as fishing spots, he became conscious of the river providing settings in which they share memories and history and pass their knowledge from one generation to another.

The two studies showed that the Fitzroy River and its riparian zone offer the Indigenous communities food, medicine and other resources. The aquatic fauna in the river and billabongs—fish, frogs, crocodiles, prawns, turtles, and waterbirds—are obvious food sources but riparian plants, eg the fringing Pandanus Palm (Pandanus spiralis), also contribute. The palms yield edible nuts while certain other trees have leaves and bark that provide flavours in cooking. Specific aquatic fauna and riparian plants provide medicinal remedies, eg slowly cooked river mussels produce a milky liquid that alleviates cold symptoms. The Freshwater Mangrove (Barringtonia acutangula) has anaesthetic properties and its pulped bark and leaves can be used to capture fish by reducing the oxygen content of water. Other riparian plants yield timber for rafts, bark for containers, lightweight shafts for fishing spears, and smoke for ritual healings. The seasonal occurrences of flower and fruit on the plants are also important, with their cultural links to the lifecycles of the aquatic fauna providing a guide to the best hunting and collecting times. Those links, as Andrew, Sandy and the others found, form part of ‘a strong association between Indigenous culture and the ecology of the river system’.

The permanent pools in the channel of the Fitzroy River are part of what the Indigenous people describe as “living water”. In the dry season, the pools allow the aquatic species to survive. In the wet, the surging waters clean the pools and generate a significant exchange of nutrients between the channel and the floodplain. That process also restocks the floodplain billabongs with barramundi (Lates calcarifer) and other aquatic fauna. The seasonal floodplain inundation is thus essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological balance in the river valley.

By comparing the Fitzroy River valley and the lower Ord River valley, Andrew showed the type of changes that can occur when the natural flow of a north Australian river is impeded. The Ord River system was modified through the construction of the Kununurra Diversion Dam (1963), the Ord River Dam (1972), and the subsequent raising of the latter dam’s spillway to provide greater hydraulic head for a hydroelectric scheme (1996). Those modifications changed the river’s hydrology irrevocably but they also contributed to the creation of Ramsar wetlands above the dams (Lakes Kununurra and Argyle). The hydrological changes, reinforced by constant releases of water for irrigation and hydropower generation, include loss of the seasonal inundation of the floodplain as well as simplification and narrowing of the downstream riparian zones. The density of the riparian vegetation has increased greatly, with plants such as Cumbungi (Typha domingensis) increasing in density to the point of being a nuisance because they limit access to the riverbanks and reverse the manner in which sediment is deposited. Because the big pre-dam floods no longer occur, the river does not get flushed, and the depth of the river and its tide-affected mouth are decreasing. The dams also form a barrier to the upstream migration of some species of fish and crustaceans, most notably the barramundi. As a result, a suite of species is now missing from Lakes Kununurra and Argyle. However, steps are being taken to restore some scope for fish migration by incorporating a fish-way into the Kununurra Diversion Dam.

The modification of the Ord River, as well as affecting the ecological values, also undermined cultural values. Places of significance were drowned, as were tributaries and pools in which Indigenous people fished. Dry season crossing places were also lost, thereby affecting people’s scope for moving about the country on foot.

The impacts resulting from the regulation of the Ord River provide insight into the possible consequences of damming the Fitzroy River. Some such impacts have been felt already, in connection with the barrage built for the failed Camballin Project. The resulting re-direction of water flows increased inundation on parts of the floodplain, causing erosion as well as ecological change. The barrage itself also interrupted upstream migration of species that include fish and the Cherabin prawn.

On the basis of the work mentioned above, Andrew and others concluded that the Fitzroy River and its floodplain still support substantial ecological and cultural values. They recognised the strength of the linkage between the ecological values (e.g. biodiversity) and the cultural values (e.g. “living waters”), and they noted that many of the cultural values are dependent upon ecological values (e.g. plant and animal species). It follows that, if changes to the hydrology and morphology of the river system affect its ecological values, those changes may also affect cultural values.

Andrew acknowledged that there is still much to be discovered with regard to the biodiversity and ecological processes in the Fitzroy River. He believes, however, that the Fitzroy River should continue to be managed in a way that maintains the natural flow regime of dry periods broken by floods. He also feels, partly because unregulated floodplain rivers are becoming increasingly rare worldwide, that the concept of the “triple bottom line” is particularly applicable to the Fitzroy, ie any new developments need to be economically viable, socially (culturally) acceptable and ecologically sustainable.

Selected reading
Morgan, D.L., Allen, M.G., Bedford, P. and M. Horstman, M. (2004). Fish fauna of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia—including the Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Ngarinyin, Nyikina and Walmajarri Aboriginal names. Records of the Western Australian Museum 22: 147-161.

Storey, A.W. (2006). Ecological values of the Fitzroy River with links to indigenous cultural values [in] Kimberley Appropriate Economies Roundtable Forum Proceedings (eds) R. Hill, K. Golson, P. Lowe, M. Mann, S. Hayes & J. Blackwood. Published by the Australian Conservation Foundation, pp. 47–49.

Storey, A.W., Davies, P.M., and R.H. Froend. (2001). Fitzroy River System: Environmental Values. Unpublished report by The University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University to the Water and Rivers Commission, Perth.

Storey, A.W. & Trayler, K.M. (2007) Allocating for the future of the Lower Ord River: balancing ecological, social, cultural and consumptive water requirements. [In] M. Leybourne & A. Gaynor (eds) Water: Histories, Cultures, Ecologies. University of Western Australia Press, Perth, W.A. Chapter 12, pages 146-170,

Thorburn, D.C., Peverell, S., Stevens, J.D., Last, P.R. and A.J. Rowland. (2003). Status of freshwater and estuarine elasmobranchs in Northern Australia. Unpublished report to Environment Australia, Canberra.

Toussaint, S., Sullivan, P., Yu, S. and M. Mularty. Jnr (2001). Fitzroy valley Indigenous cultural values study (a preliminary assessment). Unpublished report by Centre for Anthropological Research, University of Western Australia, to Water & Rivers Commission, Perth.

RETRACING THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE EARLY WEST KIMBERLEY EXPLORERS (AND THEIR ROCK ART FINDS)
On 5 September 2007, Dr Hamish McGlashan, President of the Kimberley Society, spoke about expeditions on which he and others have seen rock art and other interesting things recorded by explorers. His summary of the talk, which included PowerPoint slides with impressive “then” and “later” images of rock art, appears below.

The tracks of six explorers were traced from their books or journals, in time ranging from 1838 to 1926. They were George Grey, T C Sholl, Joseph Bradshaw, Fred Brockman, the Rev R Love, and J C de Lancourt. Their paths criss-crossed the Kimberley, as did those of our groups of friends who have backpacked over the routes with a particular interest in rock art.

The first European Kimberley explorer to penetrate inland was George Grey, an outstanding colonial administrator in Victorian times. He later became the Governor of South Australia, New Zealand and The Cape Province, obtaining a Knighthood and a peerage on the way. A great linguist, naturalist and writer as well, he started his prominent career in Western Australia by leading two expeditions at the age of twenty-five. Both narrowly escaped disaster and were recorded in his Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery, an original edition of which was presented to Perth City by Queen Elizabeth. His first journey from Hanover Bay near the Prince Regent River was to explore the North West of the continent and hopefully walk to Perth finding a great inland sea on the way! He was speared by Aborigines of the Worrorra tribe and did not get far, but he recorded finding two caves with remarkable rock art and a “carved” head. Over many years, people tried to find these sites: Brockman in 1901 found at least one but it was not until 1947 that both were revisited by a European, Howard Coate, who received a commission from Sydney anthropologist A P Elkin. Coate, who died a few years ago in Derby, spent 18 months searching with a group of Aborigines and a team of donkeys before he was successful. He had a copy of Grey’s journal but not his map. He did not find the “carved” head.

Our involvement with Grey, Coate and the Kimberley started in 1983 on the expedition phase of an Australia and New Zealand Schools Scientific Exploration Society. (Four of the participants were at the meeting.) We studied Grey’s and other maps beforehand, and five bush innocents were dropped by helicopter close to where we thought Grey’s 26th March cave might be. Next morning, triumph! And a little later triumph again when the second cave was found, but not the “carved” head. (Pictures were shown of Grey’s original drawings and our photographs.) We then walked out to Pantijan Station to be picked up by Dick Roberton in his plane.

Five years later on a trip organised by Kevin Coate, Howard’s nephew, we retraced Grey’s entire trip from Hanover Bay (probably the first to do so) again walking out to Pantijan Station. It had, and still has, an Aboriginal presence which waxes and wanes over the years, as does the state of the station.

On the first day we found a length of chain, deemed too heavy to carry, which we thought must have been left by Grey as it was at the site of his store depot. We left it on top of a rock in burned out country. This time Peter Knight found the “carved” head, a coup in view of all the previous failures: it proved to be a natural flaking of the rock, untouched by human hand. Grey was suffering greatly from his spear wound when he saw it.

Some years later we attempted to retrieve the chain on a day walk from Port George the IV to Hanover Bay, but we were defeated by the terrain, and the long grass. Interestingly, this was the same walk that the Rev. Love took when he first arrived at Port George the IV mission in 1914 … and he too noted the impossibility of progress with long grass which had not been burned. Love was a farsighted missionary whose views were ahead of his time. He was also a great linguist and ornithologist.

Also on Grey’s route, two of us climbed Mount Trevor. Both Brockman and Love had climbed it before and both had seen a cairn of stones and a quartz pillar, which it was surmised had been put there either by a Wandjina or T C Sholl coming from Camden Harbour. On reaching the summit as marked on the map there was no cairn to be seen but through the binoculars it could be seen on an adjacent peak, which we then ascended to find the cairn and pillar. The summit was wrongly placed on our map and disappointingly is still in error on a new edition.

Although Grey was an accurate recorder (apart from his estimations of latitude and longitude) he was deceived as to the fertility of the country that he traversed, partly because of an exceedingly heavy wet season. His glowing reports led to the disastrous Camden Harbour settlement in 1865 when deaths of both settlers and livestock were heavy. Exploration by T C Sholl from Camden Harbour proceeded south to the Walcott Inlet. He named the rivers and hills of this area, often after his companions who had died at Camden Harbour and he also identified Panter Downs (now Pantijan) as a suitable place for the raising of livestock.

Joseph Bradshaw was a pastoralist from Victoria who journeyed from Wyndham to assess a land allocation he had taken up on the Prince Regent River. On 16 April 1891 he noted some rock art, different in nature to that he had seen previously and of evident antiquity. This art has been subsequently referred to as “Bradshaw Figures” or Gwion Gwion. If finding the Grey figures had been difficult, the Bradshaws were even worse and many expeditions over the years had failed, including one of ours. Eventually Mike and Wendy Cusack felt that they knew the place and discussed it with Grahame Walsh who announced two weeks later that he had found the site, just a few days before a Cusack trip that was also successful.

Brockman’s journey, already discussed by Mike Donaldson at a previous meeting, was notable for its extent and for the mapping and naming of Kimberley rivers. He, or at least the naturalist Dr House on his team, was the first to photograph Aboriginal art at Bachsten Creek. Changes due to repainting and flood damage were shown.

The final explorer to be considered was J C De Lancourt, who was in the Kimberley in 1926 while walking round the coast of Australia for a bet. Fred Easton, who ran Avon Valley Station (later known as Munja) was taken by a crocodile while trying to cross Walcott Inlet to reach De Lancourt. He related this in his despatches to the Western Mail, as well as sending interesting notes on cave paintings and Aboriginal burial customs in the area, before embarking on an arduous journey to Port George the IV Mission and then to Kalumburu.

Further reading
Bradshaw, Joseph. Journal, 1891 (Mitchell Library, copy in Battye Library); and ‘Notes’ (Proceedings of the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, vol. 9, part 2, 1892).

Brockman, F S. Diary of Kimberley Expedition, 1901 (Battye Library).

Brockman, F S. Report on Exploration of North-West Kimberley, 1901 (Battye Library).

de Burgh, W J (ed.). On Australia’s Rim: JC de Lancourt’s Travels in Australia 1924–1929. Hesperian Press, Carlisle (WA), 2006.

Grey, George. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39. T. and W. Boone, London, 1841, Hesperian Press, Carlisle (WA), 1983, facsimile edition, vol. 1.

Love, J R B. Stone Age Bushmen of Today. Blackie and Son, London, 1936.

McKenzie, Maisie. The Road to Mowanjum. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1969.

Sholl, T C. Letter re expedition, 1865 (State Records Office of WA, AN 365/1, Acc 193, Item 14).