There was a thread recently about Wonarah,
Barry Caves & Frewena, so thought I'd stop on way back, last Saturday, and take a photo at site of the old Repeater Station. Unfortunately a quad doesn't stop quite as
well as a Patrol or a L/C, so the photo shows little more than recently burnt out spinifex & shrubby acacias. But behind that scrub in centre of the photo are 2 or 3 gal tanks, and a pile of other "stuff". The installation of the microwave towers across the Barkly killed off the old phone lines, and the need for Wonarah.
Image Could Not Be Found
This part of the highway,
well the old bitumen that is, holds a vivid memory for me. Was travelling back to a station in the Kimberly, about 1971, and as I came towards Wonarah, a short-wheel base Land Rover was approaching from the west. As we got closer, the LR drifted onto my side of the bitumen(not that the old "highway" was ever wide enought to have "his side" & "my side"), but I wasn't too concerned, until we got to a point where I could see the LR was on autopilot, and Ol' Mate was checking out Wonarah!!!
At the last moment, I pulled onto the shoulder, and would have flashed under his line of vision, still doing 60 mph, and he still on "my side". Last seen, he was pulling back onto his side, without a falter. All this happened just past the rear of where the quad is parked in the photo.
Much of that area has been burnt out recently, from about 25 km east of
Barkly Homestead, to within a few clicks of
Sedan Hometead, so looks pretty bleak now.
Bob.