MITCHELL PLATEAU - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

On 3 February 1999, Kevin Kenneally, our President, opened the first meeting of the new year with 87 members and friends present. Five speakers gave cameos of 10 minutes each on the subject of the Mitchell Plateau: Pat Vinnicombe - Aboriginal History; Joe Smith - Mining & the Campsite; Ron Johnstone - Birds; Kevin Kenneally - Plants; and Richard Hammond - The Future. People involved in the exploration campsite had been invited to bring slides, photographs and memorabilia, and these were displayed after the talks.

Dr Pat Vinnicombe

Dr Pat Vinnicombe, a retired anthropologist cum archaeologist and honorary research associate of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia, began by outlining the history of the Aboriginal people, the Wunambal, who lived on and around the Plateau. The family with custodial rights to the Mitchell Plateau are the Kandiwal tribe, members of the Wunambal language group. They believe that their land was created for them by their ancestral spirits and that they have been there forever.

Archaeologically, the earliest date so far obtained for Aboriginal presence on the Plateau is 6,170 years, based on an excavation by Bruce Veitch in a painted rock shelter. Since the dated sample was not from the lowest level of the deposit, however, first occupation of the shelter could be a lot older. There are also Gwion paintings (Bradshaws) in the shelter and the earliest Gwion images are estimated to be 17,000 years old.

The Wunambal traversed and lived on the Plateau and surrounding coast until 1942 when, because of the threat of Japanese invasion, they were moved by the government into missions at either Kalumburu to the north, or Kunmunya to the south, where their movements could be supervised. A group of Wunambal people that included three Kandiwal brothers, went back to their homeland with staff of the W.A. Museum in 1981, almost 40 years later, to conduct a heritage survey. The survey, in which Pat participated, was organised by Ian Crawford and financed by the mining company that had commenced exploration of the bauxite deposits on the Plateau in 1965. The vehicle tracks that had appeared since the Aboriginal people had last been there initially astounded and somewhat confused them because the tracks followed the ridge tops rather than the watercourses and valleys which were the favoured access routes in traditional times. Very soon, however, the Wunambal people used the vehicle tracks to good effect, and unerringly relocated the accessible sites of importance to them. Returning to their traditional country with their wives, children and grandchildren after so many years was extremely emotive for everyone.

Pat showed some interesting slides of their life on the Plateau. The Aboriginal people constructed small huts for shelter during the wet season, using bent saplings covered with grass. Circles or lines of anchor stones at the base is the only evidence of these structures still visible. There was a photograph of Wilfred Goonak, the senior custodian, making stone tools and grinding stones from locally available material. The sea faring Wunambal had an expert knowledge of the currents and tides, and exploited the offshore islands on rafts of light mangrove wood similar to those used by the Bardi in the Buccaneer Archipelago. The seasonal food resources were varied and plentiful, and included the hearts of Livistona palms. They dug for yams in the vine thickets, fished for bream and long-necked turtle in the creeks, speared dugongs and turtles in the sea and kangaroos and bush turkeys on the land. Wild beehives were chopped out for honey, leaving scars in the process which can still be recognised. Vast numbers of molluscs were collected from the mangroves, and some of the resultant piles of discarded shell have been excavated by Ph.D student Bruce Veitch, who has dated the lower levels of the middens to between 2000 and 3,500 years.

We also saw illustrations of the Wandjina site at Camp Creek—excavated by Bruce—where the Aboriginal people performed a ceremony when they visited the Plateau in 1981. The site contains paintings of a Wandjina with mythologically significant freshwater turtles (Emydura sp.). For the ceremony, the participants painted themselves with red stripes round their eyes, similar to the markings of the freshwater turtle, sang the rain song associated with the Wandjina, and stencilled the hands of their youngsters on the rock shelter wall.

Some of the shelters have burial material in them, with many of the bones rubbed with red ochre. After a death, stones were piled over the corpse, and the bones were later collected and taken to a final resting place in a rock shelter. The stone mounds in which the bodies were desiccated are roughly oval in shape with scattered stones inside, a feature often encountered on the Mitchell Plateau.

Indeed, on one of the last occasions that the Kandiwal brothers traversed the Plateau, their mother died and was covered in such a mound of stones. The intervention of the war meant that the final ritual of removing the bones to their appointed resting place was never carried out and the brothers were keen to put this right. Ian Crawford therefore flew with them in a helicopter in an attempt to identify the stone mound from the air, but without success. However, one of the sons of the deceased woman dreamed that the spirit of his mother had reached him in the helicopter, and he subsequently composed a song which had the effect of settling her spirit in the right place. The traditions of the Wunambal people on the Plateau are alive and well. Their land claim is being held at present.

Joe Smith

Joe Smith worked at the camp as a field assistant/mechanical plant operator from 1970-73 and again in 1978-79 (over the wet season). He was interested in the natural history of the area and made useful observations and collections for the WA Museum. He planted trees of African mahogany in 1970 and a trial plantation of native cypress (Callitris intratropica) to investigate its potential for timber export. Joe illustrated his talk with interesting historical slides. Camp Creek provided the original water source. For drilling they had a Fordson tractor on which was constructed an extension for shade due to the intense heat. A few of the men went up to Cape Bougainville to dig ore and transport it across to the crusher at Mitchell Plateau. They dug trenches and scraped down to the basalt on one of the scree slopes so that they could examine the geological profile of the ore body. Their supplies all came from Darwin by sea (on a barge) and were trucked in from the coast at Walsh Point.

Joe explored up the Lawley River in a dinghy and found good fishing there. In Rail Creek, which meanders through dense mangroves, he saw enormous crocodiles. He had slides of Surveyor's Pool in the wet, of balancing rocks and of three plants - Xanthostemon, Crinum (a large white lily), and a pink Gossypium related to cotton.

At the meeting, Joe was pleased to meet the visitors from early days on the Plateau, some of whom he hadn't seen for 30 years!

Ron Johnstone

The third speaker, Ron Johnstone, the Assistant Curator of Birds at the WA Museum of Natural History, was introduced to the Plateau by Joe Smith in 1970 when Joe offered his notes and sketches of birds, but no names. Ron told of going up with Laurie Smith in January-February 1972 on what he regards as his most important field trip ever. They collected more than 22 vertebrate species new to science, mostly reptiles and frogs and many new sub-species in what was considered ground-breaking natural history exploration.

Many of the birds found on the Plateau area were rare or had not been recorded since 1910 and details of their distribution, relative abundance, habitat preferences and breeding were poorly known. Some of the more interesting species were confined to the rugged sandstone areas including the black grasswren, sandstone shrikethrush and white-quilled rock pigeon and others such as the rainbow pitta, orange-legged scrubfowl and yellow figbird were confined to rainforest patches. Rail Creek on the Lawley River got its name from the four pairs of chestnut rails discovered there. The mangal at Port Warrender was one of the richest sites in the world for mangrove birds with 25 species of bird recorded! These two zoologists also collected and recorded the reptiles and amphibians while there.

Mertens Falls was named after a famous herpetologist, Robert Mertens. Several skinks new to science were found and one named Carlia amax after the mining company who had done so much to make this survey possible, and another, Carlia johnstoni after Ron himself by Dr Glen Storr. Carlia gracilis has a green head. They found large geckoes common in sandstone caves and one Gehyra xenopus, an expert at hang gliding in fig trees at night. Varanus mertensi, known as the water monitor, was common along the creeks. Pseudothecadactylus cavaticus was 20 cm long with large suction cups on its feet.

A new and still rare python was discovered, Python carinatus, on a sandstone overhang. The frogs were numerous and an unusual one was Litoria cavernicola found deep in sandstone caves. The zoologists recorded the adult calls, which are most diagnostic, and searched for tadpoles. They also recorded osprey, frogmouth, partridge pigeon and great-billed heron. The latter are declining worldwide. The nest and eggs of the black grass wren were undescribed at that time and have only recently been discovered. The final count was 219 bird species, which is incredibly rich, especially in the rainforest patches which are unfortunately being destroyed by fire and trampled by stock.

Kevin Kenneally

Kevin Kenneally, Scientific Coordinator of CALM’s LANDSCOPE Expeditions and a world authority on the Kimberley flora, spoke about the plant life of the Mitchell Plateau. He conducted botanical research trips to the Plateau in June 1976, May 1978, February 1979 and several times in 1982. Europeans first explored the area from the sea during the voyages made by the hydrographer Phillip Parker King. The botanist accompanying King, Alan Cunningham, made the first plant collections from the area and these are housed in the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.

Kevin had excellent slides to illustrate his talk, starting with a map of the area showing the bauxite deposits that lie over Carson Volcanics surrounded by sandstone. The map, produced by AMAX, which began its operations on the Plateau in 1965, showed a township that was proposed but never eventuated at Lone Dingo at the northern end of the Plateau. In other slides we saw a costain showing kaolin under the laterite; Percy the tame emu; fruit trees planted round the mining camp and rehabilitation planting—with African mahogany seemingly the favoured tree—on the disturbed land; and Dr Ed Schneider, from University of Southwest Texas, who had come out specially to collect Ondinea, a rare type of water lily found only in the Kimberley.

Weather towers were constructed on the Plateau and at Cape Bougainville to supply meteorological data. Accommodation dongas were air-conditioned, a big improvement on the tents used by the first group of men setting up the operation in 1966.

The most characteristic plant on the Plateau is the fan palm, Livistona eastonii, named after William Easton who led the Kimberley Expedition in 1921. His party included Charles Austin Gardner (later the Government Botanist) who made numerous collections throughout the area. He published a report of the vegetation but didn't mention the rainforest patches.

Kevin was on the Plateau in January 1982 when cyclone Bruno dumped 400 mm of rain on the area within a 48 hour period and closed the airfield for two days. The Mitchell River Falls were spectacular at that time and the campsite was flooded out.

Kevin said that the plant surveys conducted on the Mitchell Plateau demonstrated how diverse the botany of the Kimberley is and that the opportunity to collect both in the "wet" and "dry" seasons is essential for understanding the floristic complexity of this region. The Mitchell Plateau is a good example of the benefits of collaborative biological research and logistical support from the mining companies.

Richard Hammond

Richard Hammond, the Coordinator of the Recreation, Planning and Site Design with CALM’s Parks, Recreation, Planning and Tourism Division, was the last speaker. He has visited the Kimberley on numerous occasions and his topic was "The Future of the Plateau".

CALM currently has no land tenure on the Plateau but several new reserves have been proposed. These include a Mitchell River National Park, including the falls, Lawley River National Park, Laterite Conservation Park and Camp Creek Conservation Park.

Some of the key planning issues are:

• promotion of visitor awareness
• provision of appropriate access for vehicles and pedestrians
• provision of nature based tourism
• visitor safety
• Native Title
• protection of cultural sites
• understanding of all biological, social and cultural values
• provision of fire protection, water supply and effective management presence, and
• mining

The key to effective planning and management of visitors to the Plateau is knowledge. We must educate the public to protect this precious place because, with recreation and tourism increasing rapidly, the Plateau is at risk of being loved to death. Favourite activities include visiting the falls, fishing, photography, sight seeing, and exploring Aboriginal culture. Last year, when there were approximately 3,000 visitors to the plateau, toilets were installed and a semi-permanent camp established on Camp Creek. Roads and visitor facilities need further improvement.

A plan of management is essential for the protection of the important resource values. The current Management Plan for the area was prepared by the Mitchell Plateau Bauxite Joint Venturers in 1998. CALM is a minor player helping to implement recommendations made in the plan on behalf of the company. There are many other stakeholders including the Aboriginal community, DOLA, DOME, Bushfires Board, tour operators, the pastoral community and WATC as well as members of the public who visit the area. All have a stake in effective management of recreation and tourism on the Plateau.

Interim management guidelines for recreation and tourism development on the plateau are currently being written with specific suggestions for roads, walking tracks, camping sites, vista points and other special use areas. All stakeholders will have an opportunity to review the draft guidelines. Richard was optimistic for the future.

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All the speakers answered questions afterwards. It was a most enlightening and well-received account of the history, natural history and future of the Mitchell Plateau.

Daphne Choules-Edinger

LEAD / ZINC DEPOSITS IN THE KIMBERLEY

On 4 March 1999, the Society heard from Stuart Hall, who has worked as a geologist for 30 years in Africa and Australia and is now General Manager, Exploration, Western Metals Limited (WML). Western Metals Limited has existed in various names since 1986. In August 1994, when it was known just as Western Metals, $35,000,000 was raised through the issue of 70 million shares to purchase and develop the assets of BHP and Shell in the Lennard Shelf area of the West Kimberley. In August 1998, WML took over Aberfoyle, offering $3 per share in a bid valued at $300 million (debt and equity mix). This effectively doubled the size of the company and, hence, the spread of operations.

WML is one of the largest private employers in the Kimberley and, in particular, of people living in the Kimberley. Its Australian operations employ 850 people and, of the 420 employees in the Kimberley, approximately 50% live in Broome, Derby or Fitzroy Crossing. Ten per cent of the WML work force is female, about 6% is Aboriginal, and local contractors, e.g. CADENG (Broome) and Cockatoo Earthmoving, are also employed. The main commute is out of Broome and Derby. Staff work five days on and two off, miners work seven on and seven off, and the remainder work two weeks on and one week off. The wage bill for Lennard Shelf WML employees is approximately $16-18 million per year.

Stuart illustrated his talk with many excellent self-explanatory slides. One showed detail on the mining tenements in relation to the mining operations. In particular, it showed major faulting and the Devonian limestone in relation to the orebodies. There are nearly 100 kilometres of strike in the Devonian Limestones.

The Lennard Shelf geological feature extends some 400 kilometres east of Derby, although the company's operations are centred about 75 kilometres south-east of Fitzroy Crossing. Lennard Shelf carbonate orebodies typically occur in district clusters and produce clean, high grade concentrates which are in demand world-wide. Western Metals holds 2400 square kilometres of prospective ground in granted tenements on the Lennard Shelf. Historical and current ore resources and reserves are around 4,000,000 tonnes of contained metal. Approximately 20% or 800,000 tonnes of metal have been recovered since operations commenced in 1988.

The Lennard Shelf comprises the northern margin of the Canning Basin formed many years ago between the ancient blocks of the Kimberley and the Pilbara. Part of the northern margin is bounded by the Kimberley basement and to the south by the Fitzroy Trough (a sub-basin within the Canning), a major graben structure subject to subsidence and infill with 10 kilometres Palaeozoic sediment (Ordovician) - 450- 500 million years ago. In Devonian times, i.e. 350- 380 million years ago, coral reefs developed in the vast shallow sea on the margins of this Basin and were lithified into the limestones much in evidence around Cadjebut today. These became the host rocks of the lead/zinc mineralisation that forms the mines of the Lennard Shelf.

The faults were also active in this period along the margins of the Basin. Major ones in the area are the Pinnacles fault with estimated throws of 4,000- 6,000 metres and the Cadjebut fault with throws of up to 500 metres. These formed the major conduits for the metal rich brines that were forced up the faults to find the porous brittle limestones particularly good hosts and very receptive to the deposition of the metal sulphides that form the basis of mineralisation.

Since the Cadjebut mine closed in 1997 (the Cadjebut mill remained operational), Goongewa and Kapok have become Western Metal's main sources of ore for the Cadjebut processing plant, averaging around 18,000 tonnes of ore per week, grading 8% zinc and 5% lead. The Goongewa orebody occurs as a series of irregularly shaped pods located between depths of 100 and 250 metres below the surface.

The ore is mined using a room and pillar open stoping method followed by open stoping to extract the pillars. Underground access to the mine is by decline and the ore, broken by drilling and blasting, is hauled to the surface using articulated trucks. The ore body at Kapok is much narrower (typically 2.5 metres) and mining is by sub-level uphole bench stoping. The ore is crushed underground and brought to the surface via a 2,800 metre long conveyor system.

The Cadjebut treatment plant operates at a capacity of 0.9 million tonnes per year, sourced equally from Goongewa and Kapok. In future, it will be fed by new mines to be established at Kapok East, Kapok West and Kutarta (located between Cadjebut and Goongewa). The plant combines crushing, primary and secondary ball milling, flotation and filtration. Recoveries are typically 95% for zinc and 87% for lead. Zinc concentrates grade 60- 62% zinc, and lead concentrates typically 75- 80% lead.

Pillara mine and plant: The new stand-alone 1.5 million tonne per year Pillara mine and processing plant opened in 1998. Located 60 kilometres west of Cadjebut, the Pillara orebody comprised two main mineralised fault structures dipping towards each other at around 60° and extending to a depth of around 700 metres. Orebody thickness varies from 2 to 20 metres, averaging around 5 metres. The host limestone rock is very competent and allows low cost bulk underground mining methods. In addition to the two main fault structures, parallel splay faults are developed which are also mineralised to ore grades.

Underground access to the mine is by decline and 50 tonne trucks haul ore to the surface. The mining method is sub-level uphole bench stoping, similar to Kapok. The Pillara operation is already Western Metal's largest producing mine on the Lennard Shelf and will become bigger when it achieves full capacity this year.

The Pillara processing plant combines crushing and S.A.G. milling with conventional flotation, concentrate storage and loadout facilities. Metallurgical recoveries and concentrate grades are similar to Cadjebut. At full capacity, Pillara will produce 165,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 35,000 tonnes of lead concentrate per annum. Pillara will continue to mine ore for at least 10 years, taking WML into 2008.

In 1997, WML developed a unique barging operation at the Derby port. The Derby Export Facility incorporates a 20,000 tonne (currently being expanded to 40,000 tonne) concentrate storage shed and covered conveyor to load a specially designed 4,500 tonne barge. The barge uses the extraordinary 11 metre tides to transport the concentrates to ships waiting in the deep waters of King Sound. WML exports the bulk of its lead and zinc concentrates to smelters in Asia and the United States. Zinc is used mainly as a galvaniser and lead in batteries.

Stuart brought in, displayed and described four specimens of typical rocks found in the area and containing the precious metals, lead in galena, and zinc in sphalerite, a zinc sulphide. In fact, all the ores mined are sulphides. Other common minerals are marcasite = iron sulphide, same as pyrite, and calcite, calcium carbonate. There is also significant values of silver.

Overall, WML has plans for 10 years of mining. After the mining the area will be dehabilitated and the disturbed areas will be carefully revegetated. Stuart answered many questions put to him and was thanked in the usual way for a very interesting and well-presented talk.

Daphne Choules Edinger

KIMBERLEY ON CANVAS

At the meeting of 7 April 1999, our speaker was Belinda Carrigan, the General Manager of Collections for Heytesbury Pty Ltd, focusing primarily on The Holmes à Court Collection. Belinda has been with the company for four years and, prior to this, was Exhibition Coordinator with the Perth Institute for Contemporary Art for five years. As a community service she provides professional advice assisting with building a relevant art collection for Government House of Western Australia. She is also on the Visual Arts Advisory Committee for the West Australian Academy at Edith Cowan University.

The Holmes à Court Collection holds in excess of 5,000 pieces of art with several distinct focuses. Approximately one-third is Aboriginal art ranging from early barks and artefacts to late contemporary acrylic paintings on canvas. Another major focus is works on paper and includes early exploration engravings and important drawings and watercolours from all periods and the balance covers paintings from the late 19th Century to the work of contemporary artists.

The content of Belinda's talk was framed around selected contemporary artists who have lived and worked in the Kimberley region. Using slides of Aboriginal art works in the Holmes à Court Collection in association with slides of the region, there was a specific emphasis on relationships to the land, Aboriginal spirituality and the common tenet of ancient traditions in forming a living culture.

The 1980s were the boom years of Aboriginal art, especially from the community at Warmun (Turkey Creek), whose members generally originated from the Great Sandy Desert. The Warmun Community came into existence in 1974 after the introduction of equal pay led to widespread loss of employment in the cattle industry. Mary Macha encouraged artists from the Warmun community to use ochre and other natural materials and became Rover Thomas' sole agent for some considerable time, still holding much of their work. Now, of course, many artists use acrylics and canvases. Rover Thomas, born in 1935, always retained a strong connection to the desert in his work. He has become well known throughout the world and following his death the value of his work appreciated significantly.

Even though art from the Warmun community is most significant for the use of natural materials, work from the Fitzroy Crossing community is also important, the members of this community having been drawn north to the cattle stations for work. Artists of note from Fitzroy Crossing are Peter Skipper and David Downs. Peter uses abstract images to depict sandhill country and landscapes of sea, sand and clouds. David Downs has done carvings on pearl shells in the Broome area. He became a Christian later in life and this influenced the subject of some of his work.

Belinda showed slides of many paintings and gave interpretations of their meaning, although there may well be deeper, spiritual meanings which the artists choose not to reveal. There were also slides of the artists preparing their ochre, grinding it into a paste for use in painting and on their own bodies for adornment. They also used charcoal from their fires, chalk and kaolin from the ground, and sometimes non-natural products, in the case of Rover Thomas, such as toothpaste, sugar and black boot polish have been used.

During question time, Belinda mentioned that the Holmes à Court Collection is presently housed at the property at Keysbrook, but a dedicated art gallery will be opened in the new corporate office being built in East Perth. Nearly 2,000 of the works are on cyclic loan, some touring and others in exhibitions.

A question was asked about the earnings of the artists. It was evident that in the 1980s exploitation was widespread and there were buying sprees at the various communities, but now the boom has subsided, there is a raised awareness to the rights of the artists and many dealers and artists protect their interests. The auction system damaged the artists tremendously but there are many checks and balances today, and copyright provides protection on the use of images for 50 years following the death of the artist.

Kevin thanked Belinda for her most interesting and visually exciting talk and we applauded in the usual manner.

Daphne Choules Edinger

THE RUSH OF ’86

On 11 May 1999, the fifth regional meeting of the Kimberley Society took place in Halls Creek. The speaker, Dr Cathie Clement, was in town with Rosemary Rosario and Philip McAllister from the Perth firm of Heritage and Conservation Professionals. Working as a team, the three were preparing a conservation plan for the Old Halls Creek Post Office Ruins. Cathie’s illustrated talk about the 1886 gold rush in the Halls Creek area combined elements of one talk that she had presented in Perth in February 1995 and another one that she had presented at a conference in Newcastle in 1997.

Postscript

PERSPECTIVES ON PAST KIMBERLEY CLIMATES

At the meeting of 5 May, Dr Karl-Heinz Wyrwoll set the scene for past Kimberley climates by putting it in a world context: between 18,000 and 7,000 years ago the huge ice sheets over northern Europe and North America almost disappeared, persisting in Greenland. In the southern hemisphere Pleistocene glaciation only occurred in the south-east corner of Australia but of course persists in Antarctica. The melting of continental ice sheets and glaciers caused a massive rise in sea level from about 150 m below the present level, when the shoreline of north-western Australia would have been at the edge of the continental shelf, to near its present level.

Ice volumes increase and decrease with the changing orientation of the earth around the sun under the influence of various cyclical factors e.g. eccentricity (100,000 year cycles), tilt (41,000 yr cycles) and precession (20,000 yr cycles).

The Kimberley is currently on the southern margin of the Asian monsoon weather pattern, the other side of which is on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The climate is also affected by the south-east trade winds driven by the southern high pressure systems while the monsoon is partly driven by the hot water belt north of Australia. Weather patterns are intermittently modified by the El Niño system.

Dr Wyrwoll has studied in detail fluviatile and other fresh water deposits to clarify the nature of past climate in the Kimberley Over the past several thousand years.

Gregory Salt Lake, Dragon Tree Soak, the Fitzroy River and more recently the Ord River have provided evidence from geomorphology, cores of lake deposits, satellite images of old river courses, lake shorelines and dunes, evidence from the eolioan dunes themselves and the paleo flood record of the Fitzroy River. It is now at an exciting stage with computing ability available to reconstruct past climates from the mass of data.

From Dragon Tree Soak fibrous peat, plant remains and leaves enable a picture to be gained of past vegetation very different from the present. In Mandora Swamp wood, peat, charcoal and roots can be dated and pollen analysed. From the Fitzroy and Cunningham rivers an 11 metre thick sequence of flood deposits also has a story to tell. Gregory Lake when full in 7-10 m deep and 15 km across but satellite images of old shorelines show that the modern lake is much smaller than at certain times in the past. At its largest size rainfall would need to be double that at present to fill it.

Lake deposits can be dated in several ways: Radiocarbon techniques give good resolution to 12,000 years and useful results to 40,000 years before the present. Thermoluminescence dates range from 2.5 to 390 thousand years with limited resolution, problematic for the older dates. Dates from dunes give an age to 234 and lake deposits to 390 thousand years.

At about 300 thousand years ago the Kimberley was at least twice as wet as at present but around 20,000 yr BP, at a time of severe global cooling, there was a collapse of the monsoonal system in south-east Asia, with a corresponding decline in Kimberley rainfall. At that time the north coast would have had a rainfall of about 600 mm/yr compared with 800 mm for a present day drought year and a normal rainfall of 1200 mm/yr. Over the last 6000 years the climate has been relatively dry compared with humid phases of the past. There is no apparent record of El Niño in the past climatic records.

The sedimentary record shows that the Kimberley climate has changed extensively over the past 300,000 years with a number of fluctuations in temperature and rainfall over shorter time scales. The present climate has been fairly stable over the past 6000 years.

Loisette Marsh

THE EARLY 1960s ERA IN THE KIMBERLEY

At the meeting of 2 June 1999, well-known naturalist and tour leader Kevin Coate spoke on 'The early 1960s era in the Kimberley constructing the Gibb River and other beef roads'. Kevin is president of the WA Naturalists' Club and was a finalist in the Golden Guide Award presented on 11 June.

Kevin used slides showing the condition of the roads when he became involved in road construction in the Kimberley in 1961-1963. He also mentioned Frank Johnson who was with him in 1963 but was unable to attend the talk due to ill health.

In the 1960s, most of the roads in the Pilbara and the Kimberley had fords for crossing major rivers; the bridges we know now being built many years later. So for days and weeks all traffic stopped until flood waters over unsealed roads subsided, as shown for the DeGrey River north of Port Hedland after a cyclone, and the road across the Roebuck Plains to Broome.

The building of Beef Roads was proposed to stimulate the cattle export market through the ports of Derby and Wyndham. The Beef Roads Scheme was supervised by the Main Roads Department, which contracted to such companies as Perron Bros to provide the heavy earthmoving machinery. Kevin was employed to drive one of the large D9 machines. The upgrading and sealing of the Great Northern Highway between Broome and Derby was included in the Beef Roads Scheme. At that time the majority of the Great Northern Highway in the Kimberley was only one-vehicle-wide with many cattle grids, although comparatively fewer gates to pass through than in the Pilbara. The Fitzroy River low-level crossing was often closed for months, enhancing the popularity of the Crossing Inn!

The Gibb River Road was virtually non-existent before the Beef Roads Scheme, there being a winding track which forded the Lennard River and passed quite close to the King Leopold Range. Donkeys originally pulled wagons along the track, however when they were no longer needed they were released into the wild and so contributed to the current feral animal problem. The Gibb River Road opened up many areas where there were no tracks previously. Taking three years to build the 670 km of road, it was most difficult to construct because of the many cuttings through hills and the many creeks to cross, and of course not much work was done during the wet season. There was plenty of available stone but little soil to form the road. The cuttings, for example Inglis Gap, were formed using explosives. The country was tough on the machinery and even tougher on the men, the intense heat and isolation having to be endured. It was common for men to be known by nicknames, often because of previous trouble in other areas, and Aboriginal labourers were also employed. The men had tents set up on concrete pads, with steel stretchers and palliasses provided for sleeping, and, by lifting the sides of the tents, they had air conditioning along with less welcome visits from dangerous pests such as centipedes. Every week a ‘killer’ beast would be shot and cut up for meat on site and the camps always had good cooks. The men became used to drinking ‘Kimberley Cool’, ie hot, beer and every month they would go into Wyndham for two days, sleeping on the top floor of the Wyndham Hotel and generally making merry! Kevin's slides demonstrated the stark difference between the 91-mile camp in the early 1960s and the present-day Argyle Diamond mine camp facilities which are close to the site of the old camp.

Kevin showed a number of slides of the different earthmoving machines used, including one of himself strapped into the driving seat, and pointed out the ‘panic stick’ which was used to stop the vehicle very suddenly if necessary. In 1961 the men were paid well but they worked a very long day from 4 a.m. until 8- 9 p.m., earning one pound per hour for 6 days. Half of Sunday was used for doing vehicle maintenance. Burnt acacia stems often punctured the machine tyres, and some of the bigger tyres cost as much as a new Holden car. There was plenty of money available for the Beef Roads Scheme nonetheless.

In 1961 cattle were still being moved across country by drovers, but by 1963 the beef exports from WA trebled due to the better roads enabling faster transport. The trucks used for transport were considered giants at that time but are now even bigger. The Wyndham meat works operated from 1919 to 1985 but only for the months April to November. It would take the abattoir workers, "meaties", 14 days to get to and from Wyndham in the early days. The cattle came from 13 stations, and the meat was packed into cardboard cartons and exported to the USA for hamburger meat.

Among Kevin's slides were a number showing Broome and surrounding area, with Carnarvon Street in 1961 showing little resemblance to the thriving tourist mecca where Chinatown is now. Thirty-eight years has seen an enormous boom in tourism in the Kimberley, and the development of the Ord River Scheme and the construction of the modern town of Kununurra have all contributed to this boom. The Diversion Dam over the Ord River at Bandicoot Bar near Kununurra was commenced in 1960 and completed by 1963. Built with 20 steel radial gates, it was an engineering feat at the time.

Kevin completed his talk by sneaking in a slide of what he considers to be the ‘biggest Boab tree in the Kimberley’! It is on the Dunham River on Kingston Rest station and is 58 feet (17.6784 metres) in circumference at a height of 4 feet 3 inches. Any more challengers??

Daphne Choules Edinger and Bev Phillips

Editor's notes: For those who are not familiar with the search for the "World's Biggest Boab", Mike Donaldson started the quest in August 1995 when he nominated 'a particularly large and bulbous' tree with a circumference (at chest height) of about 16 metres. That specimen is at the junction of the Sprigg and Isdell Rivers, about 15 km east of Mount Hart Station. Ian Elliot waded in two months later with two historical references to trees, one on Kimberley Downs Station with a 67-foot (20.4-metre) circumference and the other at Camden Harbour with a 50-foot (15.2-metre) diameter, for which Ian claimed a 48-metre circumference. Ian hadn't been able to find the Camden Harbour Tree and asked whether anyone could confirm whether the Kimberley Downs tree was still alive. No-one came forward with information but, in April 1998, Mike reported the existence of a South African boab with a diameter of 46 metres, putting our trees in the shade. The same newsletter reported that the Three Mile Caravan Park at Wyndham boasts a tree which, weighing in with a circumference of 25 metres, is described as "Australia's largest Boab Tree in Captivity". Whether it is larger than the boabs to which Pat Lowe refers in The Boab Tree is unknown. Does anyone know the circumference of the 'old Grandmother' in the Logue River grove mentioned on p. 20?

ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES OF THE KIMBERLEY

At the meeting of 7 July, our President, Kevin Kenneally, introduced Barbara Jones, a linguist who has been involved with the Kimberley Language Resource Centre. The centre endeavours to publicise that there were many different languages in the Kimberley and aims to keep as many of them alive as possible.

Australian, or indigenous, languages all have some common features. They have affixes on words which allow words to be put in any order and yet say the same thing. Although it is difficult to define what is a language and what is a dialect, there were approximately 250 different languages in Australia. They can be divided geographically by a line from the Kimberley across to the Northern Territory. The languages south of this line are of the Pama-Nyungan family of languages and are very similar in structure. The Kimberley languages north of the dividing line are very different and are classed by grammatical differences. Meanings are placed on the beginning of words, rather than at the end, and the languages have very different sound systems. Some of them have complicated systems of noun classes. Examples of noun classes are the masculine and feminine division in languages like French. There are a lot of different languages in the Kimberley, in contrast to the languages south of the dividing line, and there has been a lot of discussion about this diversity. It may be that people living south of the dividing line spread much further because of the geographical and climatic conditions, and it may have also been a later migration of people.

It is difficult to make a map of language areas in the Kimberley and to mark distinct lines where languages occurred. It is estimated that there were 30 different languages in the Kimberley, and four main language families and areas have been determined. The Worrorran family of languages occurred in the area from Derby to Wyndham and some of the languages are still found in Derby and Kalumburu. The languages have several noun classes, for example there are classes for rocks, green things and people, and complex verb systems. The Jarrakan family of languages, which have masculine and feminine systems and very complex verb structures, occurred in the area from Wyndham to the Northern Territory border and down towards Halls Creek. There are two languages in the Bunuban family which occurred around Fitzroy Crossing. Another family of languages is the Nyulnyulan family, which occurred in the area from Broome to Derby. As well as differing in their grammatical structures, the meanings in the languages are very different because of the different cultures across the Kimberley. It is often very difficult to find an English meaning for words because of the different cultural context.

There has been a marked change in the continuing use of the different languages in the Kimberley over the last 15 years, for example the traditional language was used as the main form of communication in the school at Ringer Soak in 1986, but on a recent visit Barbara found that the students appeared to be speaking Kriol. When schools are visited, there are now very few places found where the children are growing up speaking their own language. Most children are growing up speaking the lingua franca, Kriol, although in some areas children can understand the language their parents are speaking but cannot converse in that language. There are still adults in their late 20s who can speak, or at least understand, their own language however.

The development of Kriol began when people moved into missions and, with so many diverse languages, a common language had to be found for communication. Kriol has a very strong grammatical system of its own, with some of the grammar and meanings of traditional languages and many words from English, and is growing as a strong language in its own right. Kriol in the Kimberley and Northern Territory is different to the creole languages in other parts of Australia, and when full Kriol is spoken it is not understood by non-aboriginal people.

There are a number of reasons for the decline of languages:

• English became stronger as the non-Aboriginal population increased.
• Children lived away from parents for schooling.
• Some parents thought their children would be better off learning English, and so Kriol was used in the home.
• Some schools did not allow the traditional languages to be spoken.
• The children of the Kimberley, like teenagers anywhere, want to follow the popular culture as portrayed on TV.

The Kimberley Language Centre was set up following a survey in 1984-5 because people said that they wanted to preserve their languages and teach them to their children. Some languages are stronger than others, particularly in the desert areas, such as around Balgo. Those at biggest threat are in centres where there is a big non-aboriginal population. The task of the Language Centre is to promote languages through school language programs, publications, word books, oral histories and language maps. Introducing languages into schools is ideal but very complex, because the adults who are still proficient in the language are not used to teaching in front of a class, and the languages are not structured for the school teaching environment. In Western Australia, it is not compulsory to teach in the traditional language, whereas in the Northern Territory there has been a policy on bilingual education, although the Territory government now wants to phase it out.

The ideal oral histories are written in the traditional language and Kriol, then translated into English. The Language Centre tries to involve the local communities in writing their own language and to produce story books, word books, and in particular using local illustrations. However the writing of languages that have not had a traditional written form is very difficult, and the only way to learn the language is to hear it spoken. The dilemma is that if a written version for a language is not developed, then the language may be lost.

Bev Phillips

A WALKING EXPEDITION IN THE KIMBERLEY

At the meeting of 4 August, Peter Knight gave an interesting insight into the joys and difficulties of undertaking walking trips in the Kimberley. Peter graduated from the University of Western Australia as a civil engineer in 1960 and his first job was with Christiani Nielsen and Clough, working on the construction of Ord River Diversion Dam at Kununurra. When he arrived at Kununurra his first job was to build more houses (there were only 6 there at the time) and an outdoor cinema! Six-day working weeks were the norm, however on Sundays Peter tried to explore the nearby country and in the process fell in love with the Kimberley. After two years in the Kimberley Peter travelled overseas and then spent time building a family and career. It was many years before he returned to the Kimberley.

Between 1983 and 1999 Peter has undertaken eight walking trips in the Kimberley, these being the ANZSES (Australian and New Zealand Scientific Exploration Society) trip to Walcott Inlet, retracing of Grey’s 1838 expedition, trips to Camden Harbour, Sale River, Mt Elizabeth, Bachsten Creek and the desert, and two trips looking for sites of rock art as described by Joseph Bradshaw.

For the ANZSES trip in 1983, there were approximately 30- 35 participants including Peter’s wife Glen and their daughter, Hamish and Rosemary McGlashan and their daughter, Kevin Kenneally, Daphne Edinger, and a fine Worora elder Wattie Ngerdu with whom Peter spent a lot of enjoyable time. Camp was set up above the tidal zone on the Calder River, under the shadow of Mt Daglish. For most activities the participants were in smaller groups to address particular challenges, and Peter spent some time in the lower reaches of the Charnley Gorge and up and around Mt Daglish.

For the last ten days a helicopter (donated by CRA) was used to distribute the groups out from the camp for an adventure. A group of five, including Peter, set out to find the paintings on the Glenelg which were first recorded by George Grey in 1838. The plan was to be dropped near the site of Grey’s 26th March camp (a cave) and backpack along his route via the second painting site, then on to Lushingtons Furtherest and Pantijan Station to be picked up there by Dick Roberton. Peter had spent many hours studying Grey’s diaries and maps and modern maps and aerial photographs to identify the precise location of the painting sites. He found it most exciting to fly to somewhere he had not been before, know exactly where he was and feel a familiarity with the surroundings. The other members in the group were not as convinced about their location.

The next morning, however, they split and went in three different directions in search of the painting site. Peter and Glen were successful in pinpointing the site exactly and, after everyone had explored around the site, they unsuccessfully looked for the "Engraved Head" before sitting on a large rock for lunch near the first ‘Bradshaw’ figures (known as Goyon or Djennaggi paintings by some Aboriginal people) that Peter had seen. Over the next 8 days the group proceeded cross-country to the next tributary of the Glenelg along a delightful creek which was a series of lovely pools and waterfalls and were able to locate Grey’s 29th painting site. They then climbed over the Elizabeth and Catherine ranges and walked down a tributary of the Sale River to Pantijan Station.

Many things about walking in the Kimberley were learnt on this first trip. To save weight they had not taken sleeping bags—a mistake not to be repeated—and they discovered where to sleep, for example that rocks are warmer than sand, and learnt the signs of the first faint hints of dawn. They observed the wonderful flora and fauna, didn’t challenge the wild cattle, left the environment as they found it, and enjoyed the solitude and peace, the reliance on one another, the sharing, the coolness of the swims, the friendliness of the campfire, and the delicious taste of freshly brewed billy tea. They had no means of communication and so were completely on their own. Another group that had been rafting down the Isdell River learnt about the dangers of salt water crocodiles, when one had a bite at one of the rubber rafts.

In 1988, the 150th anniversary of Grey’s trip to the Kimberley, Kevin Coate gathered a group to retrace Grey’s trek from Hanover Bay to Lushingtons Furtherest. It was a most exhilarating and at times exhausting walk, again carried out without radio communication. They landed where Grey had camped in 1838 and climbed up to the plateau via his 80 degree gully, discovering a sample of Grevillea adenotrichia on the way. As they walked, Peter discovered that work-type boots were not the best choice and was forced to revert to a pair of Reebok shoes, learning that one needs real walking boots for walking in Kimberley country. They reached Grey’s 26th cave and all set out to find the "Engraved Head". Although having failed to find it on the ANZSES trip, Peter knew it should be in a particular gorge, and perhaps because the light was different, he was successful this time. Amazingly it was on the rock on which the group had sat for lunch in 1983! Kevin Coate was also elated to find black grass wrens at the Grey’s 29th March location. It seemed an easier trek back to Pantijan Station this time, and in contrast to the 1983 trip, there were many Aboriginal people at the homestead, and they shared food and stories, including talking to the son of Wattie Ngerdu.

For the trip to Camden Harbour in 1990, Peter studied a number of diaries including that of Sholl and McRae. The plan was to walk from Camden Harbour to the Glenelg River, then south to an interesting geological structure on the McRae River, then head back west to the coast to be picked up by a vessel six days later. The group included an Aboriginal elder Donald Llangi and a young man. The elder was born in the region, and although he had not visited the country for years, he still knew it well. The Aboriginal men thought the participants were mad going walking with great packs on their backs, and they weren’t too far wrong!

It in fact had been a very dry year, and the group ran out of water and had to shorten the trip. This was an experience not to be repeated, and although there was water in the Glenelg a few kilometres up from where they stopped, it was better safe than sorry, particularly when there were obvious signs of dehydration at the end. As they were carrying a radio, they were able to arrange to be collected from the Glenelg mud flats. The importance of carrying a radio on walking trips in the remote parts of the Kimberley was again demonstrated on Peter’s next trip in 1992, when a knee injury forced him to abandon the trek after one day.

In 1993 Peter did a trip into Walcott Inlet via Mt Elizabeth Station, enjoying the warm hospitality of the Lacy family. The group saw the magnificent gallery at Bachsten Creek, with the most impressive classic Wandjina that represents Nyandugadali. There were many galleries and some very fine examples of rock art. As usual there was a focus on the birds, flora, scenery and art, all in an atmosphere of fellowship, and a spot of fishing at the Walcott Inlet produced a very pleasant dinner of barramundi.

Peter has done two trips to discover Bradshaw’s route. First, in 1996, they ventured unto the upper reaches of the Prince Regent River, walking from the Mt Elizabeth-Pantijan Road to Mt Agnes, in the mistaken belief that Bradshaw had been there in 1891. They carried water, not knowing if there would be any water before reaching the Prince Regent, however it turned out to be unnecessary. It was a tough walk, but the delights of the vistas and the spectacular scenery and sites in Pitta Creek were more than ample reward. Floating packs in plastic bags down the creek to get around cliffs too steep to climb was part of the challenge. At one campsite a bed of leaves provided a comfortable sleeping spot until mosquito coils set fire to the leaves at 2 am. Another lesson learnt! They were not successful in finding any Bradshaw paintings but did find a cupule site and some other galleries of typical West Kimberley Wandjina art.

In 1997, having worked out Bradshaw’s route, they went in earnest to find the original Bradshaw paintings. Despite the site being visited first by others in a helicopter, following a sharing of information, the credit for relocating Bradshaw’s route should go to Mick and Wendy Cusack, who were part of Peter’s group. There were successful in following Bradshaw’s route, locating his camps and the painting site he found in 1891.

The most recent trip this year was more of a 4-wheel-driving trip into the desert, although there was quite a bit of walking and a considerable amount of rock art was viewed. The desert was in full bloom and there were birds galore - a magnificent sight.

Peter hopes there are still more walking trips for him to participate in, albeit to a less demanding schedule and style. Mick and Wendy Cusack have taught him to be satisfied with 90% of what you want to achieve in a particular day and stop at 4 p.m., because if you take it a bit easier it is much more enjoyable.

Peter concluded by saying that it has given him great pleasure to be able to walk through the Kimberley region away from the hustle and bustle of city life and enjoy the rugged beauty of the region. He hopes that we will be able to continue backpacking through the Kimberley for a long time yet.

Bev Phillips

WEED SURVEYS IN THE KIMBERLEY

Kimberley weeds, the topic for the talk on 1 September 1999, has been an area of specialisation for the speaker, Greg Keighery, a Senior Research Scientist with the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM). Greg has previously spent 15 years working in Kings Park and in 1994 he produced the Weed, Vascular Plant Check List. The definition of a weed is a plant that is able to reproduce without assistance by humans, however a more commonly used definition is a plant that is growing in an unwanted site. The occurrence of weeds continues to increase despite the efforts of the Quarantine Service to curb their introduction into Western Australia.

Using a map giving the number of weeds occurring in the different botanical areas of WA it was demonstrated that the Kimberley is relatively weed-free, having a total of 167 known weeds, compared with the Perth metropolitan region which has 795 weeds. The Kimberley is relatively undisturbed and this accounts for the lower weed count. There are 1155 naturalised species in WA, including two ferns. There are three main methods of weed introduction, 60% being intentionally introduced mostly as garden ornamental plants, 15% as fodder crops and 12% as culinary herbs. Approximately 10% of garden species spread and 1% of them become weeds.

The Quarantine Service (a Commonwealth organisation) has a prohibited weeds list and has instituted a screening program which includes a compilation of a statewide checklist of weeds, surveying bushland adjacent to Kings Park (which has 2400 exotic species), surveying CALM and local arboreta (400 species of trees), and surveying garden plants of Perth (over 4000 species).

Three sites have been thoroughly surveyed by Greg and his colleagues, these being Koolan Island after the cessation of mining, Kununurra, and Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.  Lantana, which is a weed world-wide, is a major weed in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley. Cleome diandra occurs on Koolan Island and may have been accidentally introduced. Tecoma, with its large yellow flowers and from Central America, is on Koolan and Christmas Islands and in Exmouth and Geraldton. Poinciana is becoming a weed in the Northern Territory and on Koolan and Christmas Islands, and it also grows well in the Kimberley. Of the garden plants, Hippeastrum regina is a weed on Christmas and Cocos Islands, and being tropical there is the possibility that it could seed in the Kimberley.  Zephranthes crocea, from Argentina and Bolivia, is a dominant ground cover weed, known as the Freesia of the north. Other weeds include Euphorbia, Aloe vera, Bryophyllum and Leonotis pelifolia.  The latter is found in the Northern Territory and Kalumburu and is spread by fire. The pea weed, Macroptilium atropurpureum is in Kununurra and spreading into Parry Lagoons and around the Ord River. At the edge of Lake Kununurra is the Candlenut, which is actually naturalised in that area. Merremia aegyptica, a smothering vine, chokes the native flora in some areas, and Passiflora foetida (native passion fruit) is another smothering vine that is very common in the Kimberley. The lawn weed, Desmodium trifoliatum, found outside the CALM office in Kununurra, has escaped into the nearby wetlands. Clitoria ternatea, a pea with a dark blue flower and often planted as a hedge over fences, is another nuisance weed. The Ngooroo Burr was first noted in 1978 and is still present despite efforts to eradicate it by sealing off the affected areas under strict quarantine regulations. Buffel grass, often spread by stock transport, is a major weed choking out native grasses and needs a management plan to control it. Lencena, a dominant tree along the rivers in Kununurra, is continuing to spread and Tagasaste may also be a problem in the future. CALM has been disposing of the local date and fan palms because in years to come they could become weeds.

What can be done to eradicate weeds? In agricultural areas $3-5 billion is spent per year to combat weeds. We need to reduce the numbers of weeds and be vigilant and prevent their escape into unaffected areas, and assistance by local residents is needed to eradicate weeds in their areas.

Editor's Note: The accuracy of the above summary has not been confirmed by the speaker. If it contains any inaccuracies, these are the responsibility of Kimberley Society.

THE NATURAL CONNECTIONS OF REPTILE AND MAMMALS OF THE KIMBERLEY WITH ADJACENT ISLANDS OF INDONESIA

Ric How of the Western Australian Museum of Natural Science was the speaker on 6 October  1999. He presented an outline of the Museum’s research on the fauna of the islands of the south eastern Indonesian archipelagos and its relationship with that of the nearby Kimberley.

The Museum researchers spent nearly seven years recording the fauna on some 28 islands to the north of Australia with the aims of determining the limits of distribution of Australian species and examining the relationship between Asian and Australian faunas. This region of overlap between the vertebrate faunas of two of the world’s great biogeographic realms, the Asian and the Australasian, is known as Wallacea after the famous English naturalist of the mid 19th Century, Alfred Russell Wallace.

Ric’s talk focussed on a mixture of the logistics of faunal survey work in remote areas in Third World countries, the historical connections between southeast Indonesia and the Kimberley, as well as the biological discoveries emanating from this extensive survey.  It was fascinating to learn that nearly 20 new types of mammals have been described as a result of the Museum’s work as well as a few new birds and reptiles. Several of the mammal groups examined have species that are shared between Indonesia and the Kimberley, a fact that was expected given that the distance between the two areas was only 80 km when sea levels were at their lowest during the last major Pleistocene glacial maxima.  The importance of fluctuating sea levels during the Pleistocene glaciations appears to have had a major influence in the evolution of new forms of mammals in the islands of southeastern Indonesia.  Ric also highlighted the need to consider that many species have populations that span the two countries and, particularly for the marine turtles, the conservation measures implemented in one country need to complement those of the neighbouring one.

THE ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE IN THE KIMBERLEY

On 3 November, our speaker was Peter Howe, the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Western Operations. Peter has only had 12 months with RFDS and was previously in hospital administration. He stressed that, despite recent changes in operation and representation, the RFDS still does much work in the Kimberley region.

Firstly, Peter outlined the history of the organisation. It was all started by Rev John Flynn, called later "Flynn of the Inland" who, after the first world war, discussed with an airman friend the possibility of bringing a medical service to the people of the inland and outback. This Aerial Medical Service began at Cloncurry on 15 May 1928. An aircraft and pilot were provided by QANTAS, along with servicing and support facilities. This first plane was a De Havilland Fox Moth DH5OA with room for a single stretcher. It was run by the Australian Inland Mission until the 1930s, when the name was changed to the Flying Doctor Service. In 1955, the service obtained the royal decree from the Queen.

The Flying Doctor Service was begun in Melbourne in 1934 and the people there chose to include the Kimberley both as a worthy cause and because they had no real outback areas of their own. The first base in the Kimberley was opened in August 1935 at Wyndham.

Mr W J B Reeve was in command of medical flight no. 1 to Halls Creek airstrip to pick up a patient with a badly crushed hand. It was such an historic occasion that almost all the populace turned out to meet the plane, called Dunbar Hooper. The patient was flown to Wyndham for an x-ray with Dr Ralph Cato. This trip, done on 19 August 1935, would have taken two to three days if done overland at that time. The second medical emergency in the Kimberley was at Forrest River Mission, which is 50 miles from Wyndham as the crow flies. By land, a desperate Aboriginal runner took 23 hours to deliver the message and summon the pilot and doctor.

The RFDS extended its operations to Port Hedland in June 1936 and to the Eastern Goldfields in May 1937. In August 1948, a new radio transmitter was installed at Wyndham and, in July 1955, a second Kimberley base was established in Derby and opened by the then Governor-General, Sir William Slim.

Since then, due to progress, many changes have occurred. The services became a single entity called RFDS Western Operations, conceived in 1994 and begun in July 1995, with bases at Jandakot, Meekatharra, Port Hedland, Derby and Kalgoorlie. Many long-serving employees were not happy about this but enormous integration was required and it is now all much more efficient.

The service range is still the same. This is:

1.            Emergencies, medical

2.         Clinics in 54 locations

3.         Radio medical consultations

4.         Inter-hospital transfers (single largest area of activity)

5.            Medical chests for mining, station and other isolated locations

6.         Radio support for School of the Air

7.         HF radio monitoring. The use of HF has dwindled greatly due to the introduction of mobile phones and satellite phones. Queensland and South Australia have withdrawn their HF radio operations completely.

Charter operators now do the clinics, leaving the RFDS aircraft free for emergencies only. 70% of all flights operate to Jandakot. Each of the five bases has five pilots, five flight nurses and three doctors (except Derby). The planes are larger these days and three new Beechcraft Kingair aircraft from America have just been delivered.

Peter provided us with statistics for the year 1998-99 to demonstrate the amount of work covered. The Derby crew shifted 691 patients including 642 from the Kimberley. They did one flight in the Goldfields, three into Midwest, 21 out of the Pilbara and 12 undefined, possibly bringing people back from Perth. Of the Kimberley cases, 202 were injuries and poisonings, 136 infections, 45 cardiacs, 49 digestive, 44 pregnancies, 21 mental, 27 skin and 27 muscular-skeletal cases. A total of 5172 patients were carried in that year in all of Western Australia. Of these, 211 were primary evacuations and 559 were inter-hospital transfers. In the future, the RFDS hopes to be using Darwin more because it is closer than Perth for the Kimberley cases.

Peter referred to the popular misconception that the RFDS favours the Aborigines. Of the patients, 30% are Aboriginal, 66% Caucasian and 1.9% tourists of all nationalities. Nobody is charged but if patients are covered by insurance, this is claimed. Only overseas people without reciprocal agreement will be billed.

Funding is always a problem and never enough, so the RFDS relies heavily on public donations and support. It gets $8.0 million from the State Government for inter-hospital transfers and will gain $6.5 million from Commonwealth Government for primary health services. School of the Air gets funding from the Education Department. The State Government's support is not enough to cover all costs for inter-hospital transfers. RFDS collects $1.8  million from insurance claims and the rest comes from public support. Total operating costs in 1999/2000 will be around $19.25 million.

The Commonwealth used to give dollar for dollar with the State, but no longer, therefore RFDS needs to raise funds from the community, both for operations and the capital costs of new aircraft. A new aircraft costs $4.5 million to put into operation so money is always a problem. On this note, Peter completed his very interesting talk. The 44 members present  applauded him and he answered questions before our President presented a Kimberley Society cheque for $300.00 for RFDS and a bottle of wine for Peter. Supper concluded the evening.

Daphne Choules Edinger

LONELY GRAVES IN THE KIMBERLEY

At our meeting on 1 December 1999, Yvonne Coate opened her talk by outlining how she and her husband Kevin first became interested in the subject of lonely graves almost 20 years ago when they combined their genealogical and tourism interests. As a result of their initial research they published a book titled Lonely Graves of Western Australia (Hesperian Press, Carlisle, 1986). It created so much interest they were encouraged to undertake more research.

Their research has uncovered tales of ordinary people, often from humble origins, who made up a large portion of the population and became the foundation of our pioneering history. Many weird and wonderful tales of bush funerals, mostly true, were uncovered as many elderly people, in particular women, contacted Yvonne and Kevin to share their secrets, often opening their conversation with "I've been dying to tell somebody this for years."  Tales of burials in coffins constructed of tinned "bully beef" cases or kerosene boxes still bearing the label "this side up with care".

Yvonne and Kevin discovered that while many graves are still visible today many more have disappeared. The same harsh conditions that claimed the lives of so many people in the early days of Western Australia's history have also claimed their gravestones. Many outback pioneer burial grounds and individual gravesites are now unmarked and unidentified. They can be found on pastoral leases, mining and timber settlements, along the coastline and offshore islands, riverbanks and creeks, in fact anywhere early settlers and explorers ventured. In the early days of exploration and settlement, graves were mostly marked with wooden crosses or outlined with saplings which have weathered away over time.

Yvonne focused on the search for, and discovery of, many isolated gravesites known to be in the Kimberley region, and she accompanied her discussion with slides showing the sites as they appear today. We heard about European settlement established on Ord River Station in 1884 and the arrival of cattle for Argyle, Lissadell and Rosewood Stations in 1885.  The first site chosen for a Kimberley town (unofficially) was View Hill, which is situated on Cambridge Gulf facing Adolphus Island well north of the present-day Wyndham. Known burial sites there date from 1885/1886.

Thanks to the gold rush at Hall's Creek, the official townsite of Wyndham was established in 1886 as WA's most northern port. The numerous burial grounds in the surrounding area include a site at the 1-Mile where about 20 Aboriginal prisoners are known to be buried. The number could be much higher, however, due to the custom prior to 1896 of not stating "place of burial" on the death certificate. At the 4-Mile, a cemetery contains the graves of eleven Afghan cameleers who died, aged from 70 to 90 years, between 1922 and 1944.

Yvonne next turned to the first European settlement in the Kimberley (1864) at Camden Harbour. The Victorian settlers who arrived at Camden Harbour expected to find lush pastures but were soon defeated by hot, rocky, inhospitable conditions. They abandoned the settlement within a year after 11 of them and most of their stock had died. Three men died of sunstroke soon after arrival and two drowned at sea. Six or more were buried on Sheep Island nearby. Five years later the headboards of these graves had been destroyed for the sake of their ironwork. About 20 years later John Wood together with Captain Erickson, while searching for likely pearling grounds, arrived at Sheep Island and described the burial site as "the poor little neglected burying ground with three scarcely recognisable graves." On a mouldering wooden board at the head of one was simply "Mary Jane Pascoe".

Mary Jane Pascoe and her husband John, a watchmaker by trade, were members of the Camden Harbour Pastoral Association. Mary Jane was three months pregnant at the time of her arrival at Camden Harbour and gave birth to her second child, a son, five months later at Association Camp.  It was the first and probably the only birth at the settlement. Unfortunately Mary Jane died about a month later and was followed shortly thereafter by her baby son.  There is only one headstone remaining on the mainland at Association Camp according to Donald Langii—that of John Meaden who died of remittent fever (a fever that is similar to typhoid fever).  Mrs Meaden, their son Frederick and others left Camden Harbour at the end of July 1865. The remaining seven members of the Association moved to Nickol Bay (in the Pilbara) in November of that year.

Along the coastline, particularly in the locality referred to as "The Graveyard", many pearlers and divers have been buried. Michael Gugeri (a member resident in Derby) is writing a book on the escapades of these people.

Gravesites have also been located on the Lacepede Islands. These graves belong to the victims of a fierce cyclone in 1877 in which no less than six vessels including the barque Aboyne of London were wrecked. The vessels were there collecting loads of guano. Located at the highest point on Middle Island are two gravesites—one marking the final resting place of  Captain Swan from the Aboyne, his wife and children. The other site contains three of the crew from the Aboyne.

Another coastal gravesite with an interesting history is that of Gunner H Davies. A British sailor on HMS Geranium in 1920, he went ashore for a few hours relaxation and vanished. A search party discovered that a saltwater crocodile had taken him. His gravesite at Mission Cove, marked by a cross constructed of pre-cast concrete, is the only one surviving in the original mission cemetery at Pago Pago.

Yvonne also mentioned many other lonely graves with accompanying slides and snippets of stories surrounding the manner in which these people arrived at their final resting place. At Lillimiloora Police Outpost, for example, a sign is dedicated to the memory of Constable William Richardson. Whilst on patrol from Derby Police Station on 31 October 1894, Constable Richardson was murdered by Pigeon, who became an infamous aboriginal outlaw. A few days later, near Windjana Gorge, Pigeon killed two stockmen from Oobagooma Station, Frank Burke and Oswald Gibbs.  They were buried on the bank of the Lennard River. 

Many of Yvonne's stories outlined the extreme hardship and isolation endured during the early pioneering days. She also had on display a number of books and photographs of the many places she and Kevin have visited in their search for lonely graves and the stories behind them.  

Daphne Choules Edinger and Susan Clarkson