Pemberton, another of those small Australian towns that grew rapidly due to a rush to extract the natural assets and then equally rapidly declined. At one time Pemberton was quite a large railway hub used for transporting timber to the coast. Not much is left, a couple of locomotives and some rolling stock rusting gently into oblivion, some serviceable track and signs where the track has been reclaimed by the forest. One stretch remains usable and a tram car runs twice daily for ten kilometres through picturesque forest, crossing a few rivers, skirting some farms and crossing a road or two.
Whilst on the tram we learned that most of the timber exported went to England where it was used for building railways. Forest was cleared both sides of the railway track to prevent fires and therefore much of the re-growth we saw was no older than about seventy years. As a lesson in nature’s ability to recover from man’s excesses, it was impressive. We even had a kangaroo to show us the way.
We thought the Northcliffe Understory Art Trail a clever idea - artworks representing aspects of nature set amongst the trees. Maybe we’re art philistines, but we came away with the feeling that most of the ‘art’ was rather contrived. However, we did find a series of five installations by Kati Thamo fascinating and rather charming. Each depicted a children’s story and was set out in such a way as to make it look as though someone could be reading the story to children sitting close by. Maybe that happens!
Travelling onwards we passed through Denmark, notable only for its overpriced fuel, to Albany. The ANZAC memorial is impressive, almost overwhelming in its scale and is positioned to overlook King George’s Sound where the first fleet set sail for war in 1916. It’s also the place where the first dawn service took place, a ceremony that now takes place annually, not only in Australia but in other countries too.
Having some years ago visited the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which depicted the catching and processing of whales in the nineteenth century. We were interested to see that one of the last whaling stations, Albany, finally closed as late as 1978. We found it fascinating that closure was forced not really because of activities by pressure groups but because demand for whale products declined, mainly because developments in plastics and fuel oil rendered them obsolete, and the cost of catching the beasts soared. Now before the greenies start demanding retribution for writing this, let me add that every part of the whale was used. In the early part of the twentieth century, there were simply no viable alternatives for the fine oils and other products obtained. Certainly it was a horrible process and it’s satisfying that whale hunting is now largely in the past. But a whole new set of much more difficult issues are now with us. Whale products were natural and degraded naturally. Plastics don’t. Perhaps there’s some lessons to be learned here.
Heading sort of north east, we passed through the Stirling Range National Park where Kim further indulged her passion for flowers, especially orchids. I’ve lost count of how many varieties of wild flowers we’ve seen. Certainly it’s in the hundreds. Even so, it’s probably only a small part of what’s growing in WA. We’ve been amazed at the sheer variety and quantity of flowering trees, bushes, shrubs and plants. Some are tiny, little more than a single stem with a minute flower at the top. Others are large bushes smothered in colour. Here’s a couple of Kim’s favourites, the unusually named Donkey Orchid and the Spider Orchid.
Now Mike is getting a bit ‘flowered out’ and would like to see something different, so we headed north to a spot on the map called Hyden. There’s not much there apart from a really strange natural phenomena known as Wave Rock. Formed over millions of years by rain and wind, the shape does resemble a large wave, such as surfing enthusiasts might appreciate – as demonstrated by Kim.
And there I’ll leave it. We’re heading north towards the goldfields.
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