Broome to Fitzroy Crossing
Thursday, May 12th
The morning was spent at the wonderful volunteer-run museum and then the art gallery in the old gaol. We also took photos of the old courthouse and the enormous boab and palm trees.
It was after lunch when we set off for Derby and we loved the drive through boab and termite country. The termite mounds looked like headstones in a vast graveyard and the boabs were a range of wonderful shapes and sizes. They are deciduous so some just had their huge seed pods hanging on leafless branches while others had lush green leaves as well as seed pods. We later saw seed pod carvings for sale in an art gallery.
The further we travelled, the more cattle we saw on the roadsides so extra care was necessary. The road verges had been cleared to make it easier to spot the wandering stock.
On the way into Derby we passed he Curtain RAAF Base and the site of the Curtin Detention Centre. Those poor refugees must suffer greatly in their isolation in this climate.
A stop at the Boab Prison Tree reminded us of the lawless state in this region in the early days and of man’s inhumanity to man. While it isn’t any different to the colonial settlements in India, Africa etc. it is still a shameful part of our heritage. However, at least now the story is being told so that others may learn from it.
We decided to take a detour to visit the Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre, about 4km out of Derby and what a great decision that turned out to be. The Spirit of the Wandjinas art works were stunning, the building designed to look like a wandjina from the air and when completed, it will be an amazing asset to the community. We were overwhelmed by the works and spent an hour there talking to the curator and director, learning about the artists, the building and the optimism of the elders in the community who spent 12 years bringing their dream to life. I loved the explanation that when there was a shortage of funds eg. for the book publication, the elders said, “Don’t worry, we’ll paint the money.” Staff from the Curtain Detention Centre were coming in the evening for a special viewing and we were invited to join them but we much prefer to browse in relative quiet than trying to look around 40 others!
Derby itself was a very spread out, quiet place, surrounded by mudflats and mangroves and the big caravan park had few paying customers.
Derby to Fitzroy Crossing
Friday, 13th
Not an unlucky day for us at all.
An early morning walk around town took me to the shameful Derby Prison which was operating until 1975. The 2 open cages with their rings cemented into the floor so that prisoner neck and ankle chains could be attached again demonstrated the shocking treatment of Aboriginal people in this region. The information boards indicated that most of the people were arrested and gaoled over possession of cattle or meat – a 2 or 3 year sentence! These prisoners were then set to work on the jetty from which wool and cattle were exported until the road transport took over. The jetty was very long because of the huge tidal variations and the cattle were loaded when the ships were sitting in the mud.
Once again we visited the Mowanjum Art Centre, this time to buy a painting so that we had our own creation spirits and teachers. It took most of the morning to make a choice! There were many reasonably priced but of course the ones that I loved were the more expensive ones. As this is a community run gallery, the artists receive 60% of the price and the other 40% goes to pay the manager, curator and to keep the centre operating.
Back on the road again, more boabs, cattle and termite mounds, although these ones were a different shapes and colours.
In Fitzroy Crossing there were Aboriginal people sitting under the trees, standing around the petrol station and in groups under verandahs. The streets were wide and dusty and we drove to check out the caravan parks. The 1st in town looked fine but there was no one staying there, the Crossing Inn had people in various stages of intoxication staggering up the road or sitting around holding loud conversations and the 3rd was just beautiful!
Fitzroy Crossing to Mary Pool
Saturday, May 14th
The Fitzroy River was a wonderful sight. Although no longer in flood, there was plenty of water flowing around the large sandbars, forming waterholes and ‘great fishing spots’. Sadly, the fish were aware of this too and stayed away!
At the Crossing Inn, the gallery, reception and everything was closed up but I managed to find a staff member of this community run organisation to open the gallery for us. Surprisingly, the art was mostly of the central desert style and as there wasn’t anyone to ask, we assume that the people here have connections with the centre or else they have had teachers from that region help them with their paintings. There were carved boab nuts here too as well as painted turtle shells, painted ‘saws’ from the freshwater sawfish and even some ceramics. The signs in the bar indicated the problems with heavy drinking in this place – no service for drunks, no spitting, no humbugging, no fighting etc.
Geiki Gorge was our next stop and the drive in took us through some beautiful scenery. Information at the entrance to the gorge was minimal but we set off on the longer walk – 2.2 or 3km depending on which sign we read but still a 1.5 hour walk. The Fitzroy River cut its way through the rock but as the river bed was very wide, the effect was attractive but not spectacular.
As we returned to town to the locally owned IGA, we saw that there were some big developments in facilities at the high school and that many of the locals lived in well-maintained houses away from the river, although at the supermarket there was a lot of rubbish lying around the carpark.
The afternoon drive towards Halls Creek took us through some beautiful scenery, low ranges of rocky outcrops and mesas, flowering wattles, a red-flowering grevillia and constantly changing plant life.
Our planned stop at Mary Pool delighted us as we drove across the road fording the Mary River to a large campsite with huge white-limber eucalypts, shady camping areas, corellas in their hundreds and many fellow travellers. The cooler night demanded windcheaters and long pants – we will need to collect firewood for the trip further inland. An amazing thought after months of hot weather.
As we wanted to visit the Yiyilili community’s art gallery and it is open on weekdays, we decided to stay another night at this beautiful spot and go back to the Laarri Art Centre on Monday.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Those corellas were up before first light, screeching and organising their flocks, then the cacophony stopped and all was quiet for an hour or so .... but too late for us to go back to sleep. We moved 50 metres to a spot overlooking the river once the campsite had cleared and enjoyed sitting in the shade, reading, walking along the river and just enjoying this very relaxed way of life. We also had our first camp fire even though it was not particularly cool and we enjoyed a mozzie free night.
Mary Pool to Purnululu NP turn off.
Monday, May 16th
Instead of an early departure, we ended up chatting to Steve & Jan, our camping neighbours, sharing our travel stories.
The drive into the Yiyili community was beautiful as the flood plains were covered in grasses and the rocky outcrops had slim, white-trunked eucalypts growing on them. The art gallery was part of the school and there had been a great deal of money spent here on new structures as part of the BER program. Regardless of some of its failures, the BER money has made an incredible difference to the infrastructure in schools across the country. The principal artists were the 4 generations of the Cox family and there was a strong focus on design. The acrylic colours were vibrant and it was a modern style of painting, exceptionally colourful and symmetrical. We were pleased that we had visited although our only purchase was a CD of music by the Walkabout Boys who were all members of the local community.
The drive to Halls Creek was more interesting than expected due to the number of ranges in the area and the reappearance of the magnificent boab trees. Halls Creek had a dusty collection of buildings, an art centre that was closed, public toilets that were closed or filthy and the place had a very scruffy air. We went to the TAFE to look at art works but with price tags of $400 we felt that they were overpriced and we were not prepared to pay despite the fact that all of the money went back to the artists, which is most unusual. We ended our visit by going to the Great Wall, a quartz reef that had been exposed as the softer rocks around eroded. It was worth visiting but we decided to head off to find our camp for the late afternoon and evening.
The planned site on the Ord River was closed so we found the next one just 7km along the road where some now familiar campers were settled, including Robert & Barbara from Cape Leveque. Anne & Brian must have travelled very quickly from Broome as they were now at El Questro. The topic of discussion at this camp was all about the Purnululu NP and whether the campsites there were open or just the road etc. Many frustrated Gibb River Road travellers here as well.
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