Yalgoo, Paynes Find and Mt Magnet

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On our way out of Yalgoo to head to Paynes Find we found our first spread of Pink everlastings. Not the ones I remember having the big open heads like the white ones but smaller and more like a pea flower. Chewie had a nice time showing his sensitive new age guy side.

Headed off down what should have been a dirt road and of course it was bitumen for a considerable time. We stopped for lunch when I noticed a very odd thing. The pipeline which runs parallel to the road is made of black plastic, about 12 inches in diameter. It has been covered with a tough white plastic cover held in place with cable ties, we can only assume it is to keep the water cooler in the summer months when the black pipe would absorb much more heat than the white plastic.

Not long after we started off again we came across the mine workings for the Golden Grove project. Explains the great road and the 5 bars of telstra signal we had all the way from Yalgoo. This is a very large enterprise. Is this the mine you alluded too in one of your posts John? The tar petered out a kilometre or so further on and we turned for Paynes Find.

This road to Paynes Find was a bit rougher in places and poor GMan had to keep stopping so Chris could get out and take photographs of flowers. We can see an extended stay at the Graham’s house in Pooraka when we return to consult the library of both bird and flower books available there.

We pulled in to a cemetery in the middle of nowhere called the Fields Find Cemetery just a few graves which a fellow from a nearby station rejuvenated in 1999. When you look at the history of areas you so often see that work by one individual has contributed so much to ensuring that sites are not lost. This area apparently was the site of a major explosion when explosives stored underground were accidentally ignited by a cigarette. 4 men died. As well the graves note a housewife, a tool sharpener, an innkeeper, a water carter and Joe the Pole a local character.

I have started work on trying to identify some of the flowers I have photographed using "Florabase" when we have connectivity. Took me two hours yesterday to identify the grevillea in photo number 6 - this will take a while. I have no skills or knowledge of scientific names for plants.

By now it was getting late so we headed for an overnight stay from our Camps 7 book. Missed the turnoff and have ended up in a truck stop, tucked well to the back and off the main parking are so as not to interfere with the people earning their living.

We had a dreadful night. This must be a very popular stop. We had trucks coming and going all night and moving up and down the highway and about 3 am a Toll truck with three trailers two of which were refrigerated pulled in to take his 8 hour break. Our fault we missed the turnoff and chose to stay.

It was actually serendipitous. When we pulled up we noticed there was a small swath of the proper pink everlastings - the first we have seen so far. Also two parrots grazing just outside the van. They had absolutely no fear at all. GMan saw them first and identified them as 28's. When I saw them I said no because of the colour flashes on their wings Lots of photographs later we discovered they were Mulga parrots and one male and one female. What luck, our first sighting of these parrots. I was lining up to try and get a clearer photo of the female and the battery in my camera went dead. She is very had to see against the background she is grazing on - a much duller version than the male and she was in the shade.

All around us for the past 5 days we have had the impression that the bush is about to burst into life. Thre and shrubs are loaded with buds and the annual wildflowers are coming through and starting to put out their flower stalks. This region will be a picture in three weeks.

Drove to Paynes Find early next morning only to find the prefab hotel / service station and the battery / museum are all that remains of the township and industry around here. We drove up to the battery / museum and found it is only open from 10 – 4 during the tourist season but there was nothing to tell us when the season was. Outside of that you had to make an appointment. We were interested in looking at this museum because the blurb said it had displays about sandalwood and windmills. We looked through the windows and it appeared very small and tacky so we moved on.

Back on the road to Mt Magnet we found the correct camping spot we missed the day before. It would have been good, but very hard to locate. It was Saturday and we had no idea who had won the footy the night before. The radio station we managed to find was talking about local footy and no results from the AFL. Eventually we got a signal on the phone and used the internet to discover we had lost the first game in out footy tipping for this weekend. Wish we hadn't worked so hard to find out.

Back to Mt Magnet and the caravan park. Chris rushed off and washed the sleeping bags whilst GMan set up the TV to watch the footy and tennis. Chris managed to break one of the driers in the laundry and ran away to hide. The sleeping bags were fluffier on Saturday night however.

Late in the afternoon a bus load of young girls pulled in we blanched. We have had this experience on several other occasions. They ended up setting up came on the other side of the park and even though they ate in the camp kitchen just down from us we did not hear a single thing. They were very well behaved and we had to admit out prejudices, even if only to ourselves and now you.

Sunday morning we cleaned the van, a big job, It is amazing just how much you track into the van especially when you are as bad as us at "shoe discipline" i.e. leaving your outside shoes outside and wearing other shoes inside. We purchased some of those mats which click together like jigsaws and covered our floor with them, they have made a big difference to our comfort. The water tanks are just below our feet in the living space and these tiles insulate the floor very well. The water seems to get cold first overnight. Even these were taken out and given a good scrub. Everything looked so good, there were no things hanging around and not put away. That lasted two hours.

We wanted to make a roast in our webber but the winds were so strong we piked out. We wanted to watch the men's final at Wimbledon and got a couple of hours sleep and woke at exactly 10:30pm and got up to watch with the sound turned very low. Incredible match. Chris tries to remember to fill the kettle before going to bed so that we don't wake the people next to us up first thing in the morning with the water pump. We drank the kettle dry whilst watching the game. Instead of us waking them, they woke us because we overslept as we did not get to bed until about 2 am.

I mentioned in our last blog that we discovered that our early relatives from the Krakouer side are mentioned in the Mt Magnet history book. With all GMan and my investigations on them we thought that the original Krakouer (Theodore) was German or Polish, but according to the Mt Magnet history book he was a Russian Jew and a convict from England as well. This is interesting it means he was resident in England to be transported and we will need to explore to pogroms from Russia to see if he was part of that and ended up in England. There is a photograph of his son, also Theordore II as part of the Fire Brigade in 1909.

I said that Theodore’s son Leonard married a Vi Perham, Dad’s sister I believe but it wasn't it was Theodore II's son Albert. Their son Ronald (Abe) was apparently still living out near the mine he worked up until his death despite all the noise and dust from close mining operations rather than go to an old age home. Sound familiar.

Monday morning was dedicated to the tourist thing around Mt Magnet. Firstly we headed to a tourist drive through the Granites a breakaway just north of town. There are sites which are signposted saying the WA museum is currently working conserving the area because of the aboriginal paintings. The sign have to be 25 years old and the fencing is falling down, not much conservation appears to have happened. We wandered through the area and were only able to find one lot of paintings which were very faded and well hidden. The area itself is nice to look at and the photographs do not do it justice.

Brother in Law Robert needs to have a hip replacement and we found a new bone for him. It may be a little too large however.

We travelled through Lennonville, more breakaway country and came to the Hill 50 gold mining operations. This mine has been operating forever it seems. The information board for the Checker Mill says the millionth oz was poured in 1997, but was that since the mine has been operating or just through the new mill. When I was doing my post graduate work I remember in one subject on understanding company annual reports that Hill 50 was cited as being one of the best companies to invest in because it consistently returned a good dividend. I am sure it keeps this town alive. The single persons housing on the outskirts of town is very large.

At the Mt Magnet cemetery we found the grave for Vi and Albert, the only Krakouer one we could find. We found a Bryden and lots of Thomas's but their headstones were so badly weathered we couldn't read them well. One of Dad's sister's married a Thomas, were they the ones in Collie or were they the Brydens. GMan is going through the history book at the present time and has now found Cant's and Patten's. More to explore.

Over to you Barbara and Judith.

Tomorrow we will head to Cue and then onto a bush camping site to spend a few days as we have time up our sleeve and have been rushing about for a while. We expect to be out of communications range.

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Comments

[John. Sullivan]

Scuddles Mine
Yes, Chris, in the summer of 1991 / 1992 the Scuddles underground decline was put down at Golden Grove. The exploration was described as a "poly-metallic" prospect. We assayed for Ag-Pb-Zn plus Gold, Copper, and the hope of Platinum and Vanadium. Japanese buyers were in place for the Ag-Pb-Zn concentrates and Scuddles went into production approx late 1991. Why is it now the Golden Grove Project? Maybe base metal prices have fallen away, or after 20 years the Ag-Pb-Zn ore is no longer viable nor saleable. Project??? Maybe someone's trying to scare up a Platinum mine. The original Golden Grove was the Wayside Inn (ruins) on the north side of the road as you head for Payne's Find. Happy travelling.

[John Sullivan]

Try W.A.G.S
Chis, re Theodore Krakouer, according to Western Australian Genealogical Society Theodore Krakouer was born in Krackow , Poland; gives his convict history, ship arrived on, date of arrival, date of death (1877) etc.. Worth checking on if interested.