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Lakewood Woodlines
Difficulty:
Suitable for:
The Lakewood woodline area is located south of Boulder and east of Norseman and has hundreds of kilometres of bush tracks. You will see the remains of old railway formations, lines of rotting sleepers and evidence of woodcutter's camps.
Start
Norseman
Finish
Norseman
Distance
146.95 km
Minimum Days
2
Average Speed
37.42 km/hr
Driving Time
3 hr 55 min
Article By: Member - Phil Bianchi Updated: 28 Mar 2008
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Description
Environment
Interactive Route Map
History
Permits
Driving Directions
Things to See & Do
Trek Feedback
Preparation
Related Pages
Camp Sites & Accomodation
Recommended Reading
In this Trek Note
Description
Almost as soon as you turn off the
Eyre
Highway you travel on a picturesque well formed track. You are transported to another world, no noise, no cars, no people, yet Norseman is less than 60 kilometres away.
On this trek you will see old rail formations, old mine shafts, remains of spur lines, old woodcutter's camps and much more. These remains have severely weathered since the days when the area was used to cut sandalwood to be exported and used for perfume, incense sticks and such like. Timber harvested was used to provide fuel for steam boilers, engines and other mining equipment. The wood lines concentrated on timber for the mines and up until the early 1940s were cutting some 300.000 to 400.000 tons per year in various areas around Kalgoorlie. In the early years 500,000 tons per year was exceeded on occasion. These woodline operations were huge, one employed around 500 people. Most of the operations shut down in the 1950s and 1960s as oil and coal took the place of wood. The use of timber mine props also diminished as steel and other methods of mining came on stream.
These old artefacts will take you back in time to what was once a unique and thriving industry. Despite almost clear felling of the bush 45 years ago, vigorous regrowth has amazingly almost fully regenerated the forest.
Interactive Route Map
Norseman
This gold mining town lies about 190km south of Kalgoorlie and is often regarded as the western gateway to the Nullarbor Plain. Norseman is at the junction of the Eyre Highway (the highway that heads across the Nullarbor Plain) and the Coogardie-Esperance Highway.
Features:
Position: 121.7787ºE 32.1976ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
Distance:
0.05km
Average Speed:
12.17km/h
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 121.7793ºE 32.1859ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
Distance:
27.8km
Average Speed:
88.07km/h
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 122.0318ºE 32.0835ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Water Supply Reserve
Distance:
0.57km
Average Speed:
103.38km/h
Water Supply Reserve
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 122.0380ºE 32.0792ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
Distance:
16.02km
Average Speed:
80.09km/h
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
There is a track which is off the Eyre Highway, starts the off road section through the woodlines. The track featured in the photo is a typical woodlines scene.
Features:
Position: 122.2024ºE 32.0633ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Minor Track
Distance:
33.77km
Average Speed:
15.8km/h
Minor Track
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 122.2097ºE 31.7923ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Sinclair Soak
Distance:
1.08km
Average Speed:
12.25km/h
Sinclair Soak
Sinclair Soak is a nice place to stop. It is set in an area of wet ground near flat rocks. The soak is a 300 metre walk from the track.
Features:
Position: 122.2043ºE 31.7971ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Old International Truck
Distance:
3.94km
Average Speed:
16.23km/h
Old International Truck
There is an old wrecked 1940’s ex-army International truck that you may come across that was adapted to push over sandal wood. Nearby to the truck is the remains of an old sandalwooder’s camp and mounds of bark that had been removed from sandalwood tree trunks.
Features:
Position: 122.1765ºE 31.8201ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
WS and 65 Painted on Rock
Distance:
8.22km
Average Speed:
15.01km/h
WS and 65 Painted on Rock
There are two rocks, which has the initials ‘W S’ and ‘J S’ and ‘65’ painted on them. The forest around here consists mainly of gimlets and black butts with evidence of woodcutter’s tins and bottles everywhere.
Features:
Position: 122.1509ºE 31.8761ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Old Drays
Distance:
1.95km
Average Speed:
13.44km/h
Old Drays
A dray is a low, heavy cart without sides, generally used for haulage.
Features:
Position: 122.1403ºE 31.8870ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Salt Lake
Distance:
13.88km
Average Speed:
21.09km/h
Salt Lake
This salt lake crossing has its origins from Lake Cowan
Features:
Position: 122.0798ºE 31.9958ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Buldania Mine Site
Distance:
7.57km
Average Speed:
20.75km/h
Buldania Mine Site
Some five kilometres from the Eyre Highway is the abandoned Buldania mining site. It has hundreds of mine shafts, costeans, tunnels and trenches. There are also remnants of head frames, sluices, conveyers and loading facilities.
Features:
Position: 122.0417ºE 32.0508ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
Distance:
4.25km
Average Speed:
25.41km/h
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 122.0318ºE 32.0835ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
Distance:
27.8km
Average Speed:
88.07km/h
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
No description entered.
Enter description or photos
.
Features:
Position: 121.7793ºE 32.1859ºS (GDA 94)
Next Place:
Norseman
Distance:
0.05km
Average Speed:
12.17km/h
Norseman
This gold mining town lies about 190km south of Kalgoorlie and is often regarded as the western gateway to the Nullarbor Plain. Norseman is at the junction of the Eyre Highway (the highway that heads across the Nullarbor Plain) and the Coogardie-Esperance Highway.
Features:
Position: 121.7787ºE 32.1976ºS (GDA 94)
Route Control
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Permits
Access
permits
are not required for the Lakewood Woodlines treknote.
Things to See & Do
Norseman
This gold mining town lies about 190km south of Kalgoorlie and is often regarded as the western gateway to the Nullarbor Plain. Norseman is at the junction of the Eyre Highway (the highway that heads across the Nullarbor Plain) and the Coogardie-Esperance Highway. It has a population of around 1600 people and the town offers travellers a full range of services.
Salt Lake
This salt lake crossing has its origins from Lake Cowan
Old Drays
A dray is a low, heavy cart without sides, generally used for haulage.
Old International Truck
There is an old wrecked 1940’s ex-army International truck that you may come across that was adapted to push over sandal wood. Nearby to the truck is the remains of an old sandalwooder’s camp and mounds of bark that had been removed from sandalwood tree trunks.
WS and 65 Painted on Rock
There are two rocks, which has the initials ‘W S’ and ‘J S’ and ‘65’ painted on them. The forest around here consists mainly of gimlets and black butts with evidence of woodcutter’s tins and bottles everywhere.
Norseman
Old Drays
WS and 65 Painted on Rock
Salt Lake
Old International Truck
Preparation
Best times for travel are the cooler autumn to spring months; however take care if heavy rain has fallen because of bogging risks. If you are unsure contact the Shire of Dundas on: (08) 9039 1205 or contact the Norseman tourist centre on: (08) 9039 1071 for information.
There are numerous tracks and rail formations in the area, they are unnamed and a lot of these are not shown on maps. A wise precaution is to get hold of some updated and detailed mud maps of the area or get hold of some digital maps of the region to use on a laptop. If you decide to get some digital maps of the region, you could load these into OziExplorer (which should be installed and running on your laptop) and load the plot file for this trek from ExplorOz.
Click here to download the plot file
. Another precaution against getting lost is to use a GPS with the track back feature so you can reverse the track and follow it back out again if you do get lost.
Be well prepared with a GPS,
HF radio
or
Satellite phone
as you may not see another vehicle for days. We advise that you refer to the latest information and advice about outback
communications
in the
Communications
Topic.
Puncture risk is fairly high so make sure you have adequate
recovery gear
and puncture repair kits. Ensure you have sufficient tyre plugs for tubeless
tyres
and spare tubes or if you have tubed
tyres
have patches. Note plugs are only a temporary fix - it is recommended that you have permanent repairs carried out by a tyre dealer. It is also strongly recommended to have two spares with
tyres
on rims and at least one spare tube to get you out of trouble, should you get more than your share of punctures. Travellers should read the
4WDriving
Topic for related articles and checklists for
vehicle setup
and driver awareness.
Towing of caravans into this area is not recommended at all. Camper trailers may get through in some areas, however tight and overgrown tracks will make life difficult and increase the risk of punctures.
Fuel Supplies & Usage
Norseman
Diesel
4cyl 21 litres
ULP
4cyl 24 litres
LPG
4cyl 29 litres
6cyl 23 litres
6cyl 26 litres
6cyl 26 litres
8cyl 25 litres
8cyl 24 litres
Usage is averaged from
TrekFuel
(* specific to trek) submissions and calculated based on trek distance.
Best Time To Visit
Autumn and Spring are the best time to visit. Winter could be boggy and summer extremely hot.
Closest Climatic Station
Norseman
Distance from Trek Mid Point 31.35km SW
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Mean Max. °C
32.5
31.3
28.8
24.5
20.3
17.4
16.7
18.3
21.5
24.9
28.0
30.8
Mean Min. °C
15.8
15.9
14.5
11.6
8.5
6.3
5.1
5.5
7.4
9.6
12.3
14.1
Mean Rain mm
19.3
25.3
24.2
23.8
30.9
30.6
26.8
25.3
20.8
20.0
20.7
20.8
Best time to travel
Ok time to travel
Travel NOT recommended
Services & Supplies
The following locations have various services and supplies:
Norseman
Camp Sites & Accomodation
Norseman
This gold mining town lies about 190km south of Kalgoorlie and is often regarded as the western gateway to the Nullarbor Plain. Norseman is at the junction of the Eyre Highway (the highway that heads across the Nullarbor Plain) and the Coogardie-Esperance Highway. It has a population of around 1600 people and the town offers travellers a full range of services.
Environment
There are three main tracks leading off
Eyre
Highway that can be accessed in the area at the 42 kilometre mark east of Norseman. Turning off the highway there are scattered items such as groups of bottles, rusting tins and the remains of woodcutter’s camps.
The general terrain is reasonably flat and sandy, with belts of salmon and other gum trees, tea tree and scrub. Track speeds vary between 5 km to 35 km per hour with the average being around 10 km per hour. Sinclair Soak is a nice place to stop. It is set in an area of wet ground near flat rocks. The soak is a 300 metre walk from the track.
When heading towards the Buldania mining site, the landscape consists of hundreds of mine shafts; costeans, tunnels and trenches and there are also remnants of head frames, sluices, conveyers and loading facilities.
History
Without the woodlines only the richest Eastern Goldfields gold mines would have been viable. The woodlines were an industry that provided fire wood to fuel steam boilers and gas producers for engines, lighting, pumping and ore treatment.
By 1919, in the Eastern Goldfields alone, a total of 45,000,000 tons of fuel wood had been used and a staggering $278,709,820 of gold had been produced.
In 1938 the W.A. Goldfields Firewood Supply Ltd found it was uneconomic to cut firewood any further south of Cave Hill, so it moved all of its operations from Kurrawang, west of Kalgoorlie to Lakewood, south east of Boulder. The move consisted of shifting 80 houses, the company’s offices, sawmill, loco-workshops, a hall, store, bakehouse, butcher shop, school and 300 people by rail to Lakewood.
The Lakewood woodline ceased to be productive the further it was cutting from Kalgoorlie. The mines had over time moved to electricity and diesel fuel rather than firewood resulting in the Lakewood woodline ceasing operation in December 1964. At this stage it was cutting firewood south of the
Eyre
Highway, over 100 miles from Kalgoorlie.
Driving Directions
Time
Direction
Distance
Norseman to Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
0.05 km
N
2°
N/A
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy to Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
27.8 km
NE
64°
18 min
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track to Water Supply Reserve
0.57 km
NE
51°
Water Supply Reserve to Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
16.02 km
E
84°
12 min
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track to Minor Track
33.77 km
N
1°
2 hr 8 min
Minor Track to Sinclair Soak
1.08 km
SW
224°
5 min
Sinclair Soak to Old International Truck
3.94 km
SW
226°
14 min
Old International Truck to WS and 65 Painted on Rock
8.22 km
S
201°
32 min
WS and 65 Painted on Rock to Old Drays
1.95 km
SW
219°
8 min
Old Drays to Salt Lake
13.88 km
SW
205°
39 min
Salt Lake to Buldania Mine Site
7.57 km
SW
210°
21 min
Buldania Mine Site to Eyre Hwy & Minor Track
4.25 km
S
194°
10 min
Eyre Hwy & Minor Track to Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy
27.8 km
SW
244°
18 min
Coolgardie Esperance Hwy & Eyre Hwy to Norseman
0.05 km
S
182°
N/A
Norseman to Norseman
146.95 km
3 hr 55 min
Distance is GPS recorded driving distance (not straight line), Direction is straight line from start to end, Time is calculated from actual GPS driving data.
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ExplorOz Trek Notes are detailed, factual reviews of destinations in Australia to which you can plan a self-drive camping trip. This page will enable you to access over 100 of these trek notes, using various search methods and at a glance you can see what treks we have in each area across Australia.
[Feature Story]
Holland Track
From Broome Hill to Coolgardie, the Holland Track was originally built in the gold rush days as a shortcut to the Goldfields. Hardly ever visited for nearly 100 years, it was re-cut as a 4WD track in 1992 and is a popular trip with locals.
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This trek, which starts in Pemberton, takes you through the Brockman, D'Entrecasteaux and Warren National Parks and provides spectacular scenery ranging from towering karri forests to endless sand dunes reminiscent of the Sahara.
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This 4WD trek takes you back to the days when the gold mining industry needed timber as its main energy source. Thus, the vast network of tramway lines to carry it was created until the mid 1960s when it was no longer viable.
Dunns Track
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This trek takes you through sections of the Shannon and D'Entrecasteaux National Parks and provides spectacular scenery. The areas traversed have isolated beach campsites, wild coastal vistas and excellent fishing.
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Trek Search
Black Point
Fitzgerald National Park
Cave Hill Woodlines
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Cape Arid
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Recommended Reading for Lakewood Woodlines
Explore the Holland Track and Cave Hill Woodlines
This book includes trip notes for the Holland Track, the John Holland Way and the Cave Hill Woodlines. These are coupled with selected GPS waypoints and descriptions of the various fascinating features you'll discover along the way.
$10.95
[Add to Cart]
4WD Days in the Eastern Goldfields of WA
Discover the Goldfields with 12 exciting trips out of Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Norseman and Southern Cross. Includes 3 tours of each areas. Easy to read and handy to store in the glovebox.
$12.95
[Add to Cart]
Explore the Holland Track & Cave Hill Woodlines CD
The trips include: Hyden to Coolgardie via the Holland Track and return, Coolgardie to Hyden via Cave Hill, Hyden to Coolgardie via the Cave Hill Woodlines and Coolgardie to Broomhill via the John Holland Way.
$24.95
[Add to Cart]
Great Desert Tracks of Australia SW
This is just one map from the 6 map set of the Great Desert Tracks Map Pack. This particular map covers the Gunbarrel Hwy, Great Central Road, Connie Sue Hwy and David Carnegie Road.
$14.95
[Add to Cart]
Latest Edition
Natmap Raster 2005: Premium - DVD
This new NATMAP Raster was released in April 2005. This is a 2 DVD set that contains all 1:250 000 scale NATMAP topographic maps covering Australia, published to December 2004.
$119.00
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South Coast West Australia
This map covers the south coast region of WA. It also includes regoinal information, climate profiles, lists of National Parks, Nature Reserves and Wineries, photos and drawings of the flora and fauna found in the region. Comes in a Plastic Wallet.
$7.95
[Add to Cart]
Goldfields & Esperance
Excellent, detailed map including camping areas, caravan parks, picnic areas and covers major towns and attractions. This map includes a regional map as well as towns maps and descriptions of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Coolgardie, Kambalda, Norseman, Esperance and Cape Le Grand.
$7.95
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Mid West South West WA
On one side, this map covers from the Overlander Roadhouse, in as far as Kalgoorlie and down to the south coast. The other side is zoomed in and covers from Yanchep down to Pinjarrah and in as far as York. It also has a CBD map of Perth and Fremantle as well as a map of Rottnest Island.
$7.95
[Not Available]
Nullarbor Plain (Perth to Adelaide)
Double sided map covering the Eyre Peninsula and Nullarbor Plain - from Adelaide to Perth. Detailed map highlighting major and minor roads.
$8.95
[Add to Cart]
Explore the Holland Track and Cave Hill Woodlines
Great Desert Tracks of Australia SW
Goldfields & Esperance
4WD Days in the Eastern Goldfields of WA
Natmap Raster 2005: Premium - DVD
Mid West South West WA
Explore the Holland Track & Cave Hill Woodlines CD
South Coast West Australia
Nullarbor Plain (Perth to Adelaide)
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