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Lakewood Woodlines

Difficulty: Trek rating 4 of 5 - Click for detailsTrek rating 4 of 5 - Click for detailsTrek rating 4 of 5 - Click for detailsTrek rating 4 of 5 - Click for details   Suitable for: 4WD 
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.
StartClick to Reverse the Dynamic Map and Driving NotesNorseman
FinishNorseman
Distance146.95 kmMinimum Days2
Average Speed37.42 km/hrDriving Time3 hours 55 mins
Article By: Member - Phil Bianchi   Updated: 30 Apr 2009
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 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.

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Lakewood Woodlines Help

From: Norseman
To: Norseman

Distance: 146.95 km
Average Speed: 37.42 km/hr
Travel Time: 3 hours 55 mins

Using the Map

Our treks have a moving map facility, to take a virtual tour click on the Play button in the Moving map control (see Moving Map help)
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 Permits

Access permits are not required for the Lakewood Woodlines treknote.

 Things to See & Do

Norseman - WA   RatingRatingRatingRating
Populated Place Service Station,Roadhouse Caravan Park Airstrip Fuel Water Supply Toilet Pub Mine Food,Shopping Police Station Medical Services Resort,Motel Point of Interest
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.
Creek Crossing (Lake Cowan) - WA   
Water Body,River,Stream,Falls Point of Interest
This salt lake crossing has its origins from Lake Cowan
Old Drays - WA   
Point of Interest 
A dray is a low, heavy cart without sides, generally used for haulage.
Old International Truck - WA   
Point of Interest 
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 - WA   
Point of Interest 
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.

 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

Fuel SymbolNorseman Diesel4cyl 21 litres ULP4cyl 24 litres LPG4cyl 29 litres
6cyl 23 litres6cyl 27 litres6cyl 26 litres
8cyl 23 litres8cyl 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 0.08km SE
 JanFebMarAprMayJun JulAugSepOctNovDec
Mean Max. °C 32.531.328.824.5 20.317.416.718.3 21.524.928.030.8
Mean Min. °C 15.815.914.511.6 8.56.35.15.5 7.49.612.314.1
Mean Rain mm 19.325.324.223.8 30.930.626.825.3 20.820.020.720.8
    Best time to travel      Ok time to travel      Travel NOT recommended

Services & Supplies

The following locations have various services and supplies: Norseman

 Camp Sites & Accommodation

Norseman - WA   RatingRatingRatingRating
Populated Place Service Station,Roadhouse Caravan Park Airstrip Fuel Water Supply Toilet Pub Mine Food,Shopping Police Station Medical Services Resort,Motel Point of Interest
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 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 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 Creek Crossing (Lake Cowan) 13.88 km SW 205° 39 min
Creek Crossing (Lake Cowan) 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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 Recommended Reading for Lakewood Woodlines

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The Lakewood Woodline operated south of Kalgoorlie and east of Lake Cowan, with firewood being cut as far south as 25 miles south of the Eyre Highway. This book whilst providing information on the history of the Lakewood Woodline also has numerous personal stories of people who worked and lived on the woodline.
Early Woodlines of the Goldfields-The untold story Early Woodlines of the Goldfields-The untold story
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This 1:250K topographic paper map covers an area about 150km from east to west and 110km from north to south (1.5 degrees longitude by 1 degree latitude). The map contains natural and constructed features including road and rail infrastructure, vegetation, hydrography, contours (interval 50m), localities and some administrative boundaries.
$10.00 [Add to Cart]Allow 2 weeks for delivery