Illaara Ruin - Northern Yilgarn WA

ok, I googled it and have located it: north west of Menzies & south west of Leonora.

hint, throw your hema maps into the recylcle bin and you might have a chance , i ve got the full set and they dont get used

out of all my maps they are the least usefull

Don't know anything about the history, but I've been there several times. Once in 2000, last year Nov 2011 and this year Nov 2012. The poor old shed is on its last legs unfortunately.

Inside in 2000:



Last year:



and this year:



And yeah, Hema maps are 100% useless for real exploring. You need to pick up at least the older copies of 1:250k topo and geology maps.

Here's our trip writeup that covered going through illaara.

cheers,
george.

Ha - forgot the link to my trip writeup:'

http://www.george4wd.taskled.com/oz2012.html

Here's what ozi with 1:250k topo and geology maps shows of the area:

Topo:



Geology:



You can also go to google earth, turn on the panoramio layer and check out some of the other photos in that area. Some are mine and some are from spider52.

By the way, that 'superhighway graded road' that runs through that area from Metzke down to the Diemals/Menzies road was pushed through by the FPC to provide access to the sandalwood contractors.

cheers,
george.

super highway?

are you talking from the evanston menzies road heading north?

couple of years ago it waas all still track. i went north from the evanstaon menzies road after coming up the yowie rocks track and went via kurrajong gorge exiting along the snake hill walling road.

i saw sandlewood cutters based at kurrajong gorge

Yep, the north road. It was pushed from by the FPC (Forest Products Commission) to provide access for the sandalwood cutters. Yep, the contractors are based at Kurrajong Gorge, stopped in a chatted this trip. They pushed the graded road through to the Evanston road to provide access for their semi to be able to get quickly get across to Menzies and then to Esperance to ship the sandalwood out.

That road originally didn't exist (certainly not in 2000 when I first drove through that area), then at some point it was pushed through and then more recently (within the past few years) graded to what I call superhighway status :) The part south of Kurrajong to the Evanston is of lesser quality since it was pushed through by the Sandalwood contractor rather than it being graded by the government - hence it is narrower and not straight as an arrow.

The contractors have been there 3 years and have about 2 years of cutting left. They are a professional mob and are harvesting a 30km radius (3000sq km) and removing ALL harvestable Sandalwood under contract to the FPC.

cheers,
george.

Great reading about your trip George. Will have to get out there sometime!
your website is very interesting.

many thanks.

regards

Thanks for the write up and maps George, very interesting.

Cheers
Alan