The WA Goldfields are not all about mining – there are vast areas of
woodlands to explore, filled with majestic Salmon Gums and very few people.
This Trek starts at the small township of
Bullfinch, which offers cheap and friendly hotel and caravan park accommodation. It then passes through Koolyanobbing before heading north into the remote Mount Manning
Nature Reserve and through the lesser known
Helena and Aurora Ranges.
You’ll experience the remoteness of the area around the mysterious
Yowie Rocks, before getting back to more well known points of interest such as
Lake Ballard and
Menzies.
Goongarrie Station is the end point for this Trek. The DEC provide
homestead accommodation or campsites – plus a welcoming warm shower to wash off the dust.
How to Use this Trek Note
If you'd like to download this Trek there are two options:
- Purchase our app ExplorOz Traveller. This Australian-made GPS & Navigation app will allow you to download all the ExplorOz Treks to your GPS enabled smartphone/tablet/iPad or laptop and enable active route guidance along the route as per the Directions shown on this page. The app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. The app also allows you to edit/customise the route. Viewing the Trek in the Traveller app also includes all the words, images and POIs exactly as on the website (excludes Wildflowers). For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage.
- Alternatively, if you already have another raster mapping software program (or an HN7 device) you can try downloading the route line data files via the Download Trek button shown below the map on this page (OR purchase EOTreks Route Files). Be aware that this doesn't include maps or text just the route line.
TIP | To purchase our maps for offline use, you will need to purchase an EOTopo map licence (available either in App Version, or Raster Version). |
Environment
The Trek meanders through mainly flat country, but still provides the opportunity to climb the various ranges and
granite outcrops the trek passes through. The environment consists of Eucalypt
woodlands for most of the trek until you reach
Lake Ballard, where you are greeted by a unique salt lake.
If the track between
Kurrajong Waterhole and the Evanston to
Menzies Road has not been cleared, this section of the track is extremely overgrown and scratchy. As of April 2010 a DEC team was opening up the track and grading it, which will make the travelling much more enjoyable and less challenging to keep finding the track and avoiding scratches.
History
The small mining town of
Bullfinch falls within what we now know as the Shire of Yilgarn. Pre colonisation the Yilgarn was inhabited by Aboriginals from the western desert and south west areas. The name 'Yilgarn' is aboriginal for 'white stone' or 'quartz'. Gold was discovered in
Bullfinch in 1910 and it subsequently became a gazetted town in the same year. For the next 60 years
Bullfinch had multiple mining lease holders and by 1950 the Copperhead mine was employing 130 men, which subsequently built a new town. Production ceased in 1963.
Gazetted in 1895,
Goongarrie is an abandoned goldfields town site with a rich cultural history. It has multiple graves and a long history of prospecting and mining. A short drive from the
Goongarrie town site is
Goongarrie Station - This
homestead was once a functioning sheep station but now a conservation reserve managed by the DEC.
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