G'day all, news item today -
DRIVE THE
CANNING STOCK ROUTE
At the turn of the 20th century, a tick problem meant that East
Kimberley cattle couldn't be shipped to
Perth for fear of spreading the disease. By opening up a land route from
Halls Creek to the south, the stock could be sold directly to the booming gold fields of Kalgoorlie, thereby breaking the monopoly of the West
Kimberley cattle barons, and the ticks would die off in the blazing heat of the journey.
Keen to keep beef prices down, the government hired Alfred Canning to map a route through
the desert that would provide enough
water and pasture for large droves of cattle. Canning had already traversed much of Western Australia while surveying the famous Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Canning made his first trip in 1906, with a team of 23 camels, two horses and eight men. They relied on Aboriginal people to help them find
water, but their ‘guides' were not always voluntary – Canning sometimes used chains and denied his captives
water until they led the white men to their precious soaks and waterholes.
Two years later, Canning returned to
the desert with 30 men, 70 camels, 267 goats and 100 tonnes of food and gear to construct the wells, each one a day's journey from the next. Most of the wells were built on
water sources that were both sacred to the Aborigines and essential to their survival.
The first bullocks set out in 1911, but the drovers were killed by desert people at
Well 37. A punitive expedition was sent out – nobody was arrested, but the sergeant admitted killing several Aboriginal people. Drovers became afraid to use the track and for the next two decades it was rarely travelled. It reopened in 1931, after repair work – many of the route's wells had been destroyed by Aboriginal people who were unable to draw
water from them.
After ladders were fitted, the stock route became more peaceful and about 20 mobs of cattle were driven down it over the next 20 years. Since then, the route has not been maintained, making it one of the most unforgiving roads in the world.
Making It Happen
The stock route runs from
Halls Creek to
Wiluna. Some people start out from
Alice Springs, taking the
Gunbarrel Highway to
Wiluna, then heading north; others begin at
Perth. If setting out from
Halls Creek, the nearest large cities are
Broome on the Western Australian coast, or
Darwin, in the Northern Territory. Global Gypsies offers a recommended tag-along tour.
This is an edited extract from Lonely Planet's Great Adventures © Lonely Planet 2012. Available in stores now, RRP: $49.99.