Hi,
Returned from a week East of
Norseman in the
Dundas Nature Reserve, checking out Fraser Range and
Southern Hills Stations, the Overland Telegraph Track and Fraser Range Road down to Salmon Gums.
Travelled single vehicle with three adults, retracing
the steps of our grandparents from 1919 as they managed
Southern Hills Station for a few years. My Mum was 4 -6 when she was there, and by the time they left they had 4 kids, one 6 months old for their two week trip in a horse drawn dray to their new
farm at Kulin in the WA wheatbelt.
How they did it without laptop mapping, Engels, HF, and air cond beats me!!
For those that are interested, the Overland Telegraph Track runs from south of
Norseman and joins with the Eyre Highway some 200kms away to the East.
We drove from
Perth out past
Hyden and camped first night at
the Breakaways - great spot. Then into
Norseman, south along the old Coach Line and left into the Telegraph Track. We only drove the first 100km of it before turning left up Fraser Range Road and into
Southern Hills Station, ending up around 30kms south of the Eyre Highway at Fraser Range. We had permission from the lessee for this part of the trek.
We had sidetracked off the Overland Track to go into Jyndabindin Rocks for a look, and camped alongside the Overland track at one of the salt lakes.
On leaving
Southern Hills station we followed the Fraser Range Road down to where Logans Road joins in and turned right to head towards Salmon Gums, then back to
Perth via Frank Hann National Park,
Lake King, Kulin, Narrogin and other points of interest for my family.
Countryside. Slightly undulating and very
well timbered, vast areas burnt out from a fire a couple of years ago and 1m high regrowth bushes. Nice
wildflowers all a bit different to the normal wheatbelt species. Some salt lakes. Flat rocks with
gnamma holes, minimal water. Sense of isolation.
Animals. Nil, nothing, zip, in the regrowth areas. No birds, no nothing. Found dead land snail shells in many
places, still trying to identify them.
Camels, snakes, and a few roos, plus birds in the non burnt areas.
Road. No corrugations on Overland Telegraph Track or Fraser Range Road, a blessed change from all the regularly traversed tracks around the place. Plenty of tree fall, some we drove over, some we drove around, some we removed. Travelled between 20 and 60km/h. Plenty regrowth in road centre and on sides to scratch car. I imagine the rest of the Overland Track would be the same. Track is kept open by Optus who have run an optic fibre cable through there.
Interesting features. Old Campsites alongside Telegraph Track where service teams stayed in early times.
Maps. 250k digital maps using OziExplorer worked a treat. Paper map of QPA Roads and Tracks of WA would suffice if not touring Stations. Take care at bottom end of Fraser Range Road, it’s hard to find the turnoff to Logans Road, and some of the tracks marked on paper and digital just don’t exist. Knowing exact location on GPS and digital mapping really helped confidence in finding our way out. Finding a decent track that heads west is probably the best tip. Other option is to start at the south and drive north.
Summary. We went out there for a purpose, but if you’re into a different route or retracing the old tracks then it’d be fine. A much slower way of getting to
Norseman or Salmon Gums very isolated and you won’t see anyone else. Telegraph track would be okay for Off Road trailers as long as you were prepared for driving around tree falls.
Tim