WA4WD
Woodlines and Holland Track
Description
The
Holland Track was originally opened as a short cut from Albany to the
Coolgardie goldfields. A group of men lead by John Holland left
Broomehill in April 1893 to cut the track to Coolgardie. They arrived
in June. The track was immediately used by prospectors rushing to the
goldfields in search of their fortunes. A number of attempts had been
made previously to forge a route through the scrub and had met with
failure. In November 1892, one prospector vanished never to be seen
again in his attempt to get to Coolgardie. Scarce water and uncharted
bushlands made the exercise extremely dangerous. Today many farms and
local roads have meant that for the modern traveller the start of the
Holland Track is about 50km east of Hyden on the Norseman Road.
The
woodlines described in these notes are northeast of Norseman. They are
an extensive series of tracks that follow early light railway tracks
laid specifically to take cut wood back to furnaces at Kalgoorlie for
the mines and for the boilers at the water pipeline pump stations.
Literally millions of tons of wood was cut. Today the area is all
regrowth with some sections that are almost impenetrable. There are
dozen of old "campsites" where the cutters and their families lived
whilst eking a living in this remote section of bush. It is still
possible to find relics of that bygone era lying amongst the leave
litter. This section out of Norseman operated from the late 1930s to
almost 1964.
Location
The Holland Track is east of Hyden and runs generally north east towards Coolgardie.
The woodlines are north east of Norseman and are access from several tracks leaving the Eyre Highway east of Norseman.
History
The old railway that went to Esperance left from Coolgardie and went via Widgiemooltha and Norseman. It was closed in the 1950.
Cave
Hill and Burra Rock were used as main camps and water collection points
for the woodlines operating out of Kurrawang. Burra Rock was sued in
the 60s to the 80s as a small farm where pigs were raised.
The
telegraph line was built in 1897 to extend the line from Coolgardie to
Esperance via Norseman. At Norseman it also branched eastwards to
Balladonia. This inland route allowed for new technology to transmit
and receive at the same time, as well as reducing the effect of coastal
atmospheric conditions on the signals. Eventually allowing the backlog
of messages to be eliminated. The original telegraph line went
from Bremer bay to Israelite Bay then Eyres Sandpatch and then Eucla.
The large stone structures along this section were built in the 1860s
to replace the original wooden huts. The new Balladonia section went to
Eyres Sandpatch. Israelite bay was shut down in 1897 and the whole
telegraph lines closed in 1927 when the telegraph was route across the
Nullarbor with the Trans Australian Railway.
Balbinia
was operated by the brooks family and it was a very tough existence.
Israelite Bay was where sheep and wool. from Balladonia were sent for
shipping to other markets. The brooks family struggled to make a
living. John Brooks and his mother are buried at Balbinia and John's
sister died much later and is buried in Norseman.
Deralynia
was built for the Ponton family and was part of the Balladonia sheep
empire. Is was abandonned, but the current owners have restored the
building and it is open to visit and stay. Very, very generous and
deserves respect and thanks.
Trip Report
This
trip was the third of our expeditions and done in April 2011. We drove
pretty much straight to Hyden from Perth where we refueled. A visit to
Wave Rock was undertaken so that our kids (who are now adults) could
see this remarkable feature. It is a testament to the vision of some
locals that the rock has become the tourist attraction it is. This
formation is not uncommon in many of the large rock formations in the
area. Banks Rock near Norseman is a perfect example of another similar
formation, yet due to its isolation, is relatively unvisited.
The
trip started at the track intersection about 5km past the rabbit proof
fence. This intersection is marked by a 44 gallon drum and plough share
mounted on star pickets. This track is not hard to drive and there are
sections with very low scrub to high salmon gum trees. We hard a
limited time frame to traverse the Holland Track due to work
commitments of one of the party, so many side trips were not done. We
used trip notes from Western 4WDriver magazines "the Holland Track
Book" to help guide us. Also a built in mapping system in the car
allowed us to view a moving map display with both modern and older
topographical maps. There were some wet sections on the track. We
crossed a couple but then decided to avoid them as they were very muddy
and gritty and we didn't wont anything to wear away like it did in the
Rudall last year. We visited places like Sandalwood Rocks (the
sandalwood has all gone!) and other rockholes.
Generally the track was pretty good and well signposted.
After
Coolgardie we travelled southwards again to pick up the old railway
line to Widgiemooltha. Once again this track is easy to follow, though
there are some tight sections with overgrowth. We explored around a
couple of old sidings, one of which had a spur to a large gravel pit.
We also managed to find some small lumps of coal along the way too.
Unfortunately the flies were a real pest. Luckily they went with the
sun, but sadly they re-appeared the next morning. As we went further
south they tended to disappear, but were our biggest nuisance this
trip! Thankfully no mozzies, though! WE also saw our first snake, a big
one that disappeared in a crack in the ground. It was estimated to be a
bout 5 feet long and probably either a dugite or gwardar. Once we
reached Widgiemooltha we followed the track to Cave Hill. We explored
the northern section of this rock for a while, but didn't camp there.
The campsites are in really nice spots, but were not very clean. The
DEC toilets were disgusting. God provides us with much better
campsites. We went from Cave Hill to Burra Rock and explored around
there. The information area is really good and we had a leisurely
morning there. We took the old rail formation, described as a 4x4 track
back to cave hill. this was Donna first experience of woodlines. This
brought us out near the main dam at Cave Hill and we explored for a
while again. The pace of the trip had slowed as there was no pressure
to rush back to work!
Both Burra Rock and Cave hill are very interesting places to visit.
We
continued back on the Higginsville track towards Sunday Soak, where we
visited the lonely graves at Sunday Soak. See the lonely graves pages
for more detail.
From Sunday Soak we travelled the Mundale Track
towards the old Hyden-Norseman Road. It was along this section that a
low branch broke the end from the autotune antenna on Stephen's car.
There are some magical views along this track especially along some
saltbush areas near dry salt lakes and the vista from Mundale Dome.
Once we reached the old road we headed eats towards the Esperance
Highway, but just prior to it, we turned south on the old telegraph
line. There are sections along this section where the are steep
inclines and declines and very close scrub. It is a great 4x4 track. We
started clearing trees from the section we drove.
After this we
refueled at Norseman and headed to the Woodlines. This is a special
location for me as I opened a lot of the older tracks. We explored one
that I opened some years ago, and others have used it (you can see
there rubbish left behind), but it looks as if they have been the only
ones to go down there. Old marker ribbons I used are still there. We
spent some time in the woodlines and travelled down a very difficult
section over 4 days. We had our first flat tyre along this section. We
only did 2/3 of it before deciding to head off towards Balladonia for a
shower.. We had some days of light drizzle and it was a beautiful
place. Somewhere the flies left us. We found many interesting objects
in the bush, including the remains of a handmade bocce ball and a
hurricane lamp with the glass still intact! We had no trouble
finding sandalwood trees out here. We could even see stands of them
amongst quandong trees so we could compare the differences. Leaving the
area cause us our second flat in a brand new Cooper! Before we got onto
the Eyre Highway we had to clean all the loose sticks and tree leaves
from the cars.
Balladonia was a bloody disappointment. We could
not buy a shower, and nearly everything we had hoped to get there was
not available! So after paying nearly 40c/l more than Perth fuel, we
left.
We made camp at Booanya Rock, and it was really nice. The
moss on the rocks in the morning was a brilliant green, but change
colour as the sun came up. We explored the rock and old hut for some
time. We headed south where we stopped at Deralinya nd Balbinia to
check out the restored huts. A lot of work has gone into Deralinya, but
th whiteants are also having a good time. We found the graves of the
Brooks at the rocks near the old orchard. The orchard had a couple of
mulberry trees and figs trees still growing as well as a rose bush. The
work that went to channel water to this area is extraordinary!
We
continued south past Mt Ragged to Israelite Bay where we spent some
time at the restored ruin of the telegraph station. We found both sets
of old graves out there.
Our trip ended at Israelite bay where
we headed westward again for home. We stopped at Peak Charles for a
look, then at Lillian Stokes Rock and visited hher grave.
Places to See
Agnes Rock and gnamma holes
Old rail sidings Burra Rock and Cave Hill
Lonely Graves at Sunday Soak
Museum at Coolgardie
Old debris along woodlines
Sandalwood trees
Mundale Dome
Israelite bays Telegraph ruins and graves
Degree
of Difficulty
I
would class this trip as easy. However, in wet conditions the soil can
become very slippery and difficult to stay on course. If rain is
persistent and the ground becomes saturated then it can become
very boggy and hard to keep moving forward. Winching can be required as
the ground seems to swallow heavy vehicles. In some cases high
clearance is required and there is the possibility (actually
likelihood) of terrible scratches to paintwork of the vehicle, but what
did you buy it for? Once again this is remote area travelling for most
people and the appropriate precautions are required. We had 4
punctures, smashed a windscreen and rear view mirror and had the
autotune HF radio antenna damaged. This was all cause at speeds less
than 40km/h because of low tree branches, close scrub hiding heavy tree
limbs and fallen logs across the track. We removed at least 10 large
trees that had fallen over the track.
Treks
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