SUNDAY 3 JUNE     OLD POLICE WATERHOLE

The day was sunny and warm.

I was up early and sat in the sun, writing  postcards and my diary, until John surfaced.

After breakfast, we set out to walk around the waterhole, which was quite extensive. Although it is on the Frew River, the channel at either end had dried up, so we were able to walk right round, even though there were no real tracks.

The Frew River is probably better described as a series of water holes rather than a river in the traditional sense.

Across the other side of the waterhole from the camp area, we found the ruins – just some rocks and stone heaps – of the original Frew River Homestead, one of a couple of cattle stations in the area, which were abandoned in the late 1800’s, due to poor seasons and troubles with the local aboriginals. For these, the waterholes of the river were important places ,where they spent significant amounts of time, camping and hunting. Obviously, the arrival of a new source of meat was going to end in grief.

There were the remains of the Police Station, built in 1919 at the same spot, but abandoned later, when the tungsten (wolfram) mines at nearby Hatches Creek, begun in 1915, ceased working. Now, there were just some remnants of stone walls.

 Continued walking around the waterhole. It took us two hours to complete the circuit – a lovely walk. The low ranges in the near distance were intriguing.

During the day, three more lots of campers arrived, but the site nearest us remained empty – it was quite small. Not that we are anti-social, but we hoped it stayed that way! The lot that came in yesterday were leaving tomorrow, so there would be a nice site further back, to tempt any more arrivals. Maybe the place being empty when we arrived was an aberration?

I sat by the waterhole for the afternoon, watching the birds, and sewing. M did crosswords. John retreated into the van to play computer games.

We had another pleasant evening by the campfire, and an early night.