Sunday Times, Perth, 10 May, 1914
A Trip Up the Nor'-West Coast
With Glimpses of the Ports En Route.
- Prosperous Geraldton and Carnarvon -
- Port Hedland in the Doldrums -
- A School Strike -
- Piebald Broome -
- The Charon and its People -
(By "A.T.S.")
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| SS Charon (courtesy Flotilla Australia) Built 1903 2,682 gross tons 306 ft. length 45 ft. beam 10 knots single screw |
We called at Geraldton, which seems
to be a flourishing town. It has
grown largely near the site of the
present railway jetty, drawing the
population from the earlier settled
portion, but I am told that a better
jetty is to be built nearer Point Moore,
which will again disturb the equilibrium
and draw away the trade. I presume it
is necessary to build the new jetty,
but it seems a pity to disturb the existing
order of things.
Carnarvon seems to be a stationary town.
There is little progressive or inviting in
its appearance. A large amount of public
money has been spent on the jetty, tramway,
and wharf, which. latter protects the town
from the infrequent floods in the
Gascoyne River. We spent only half an
hour in the town of Carnarvon, and
saw nothing of interest except a few
nice residences and a very fine hotel
the Gascoyne Hotel partly built of
reinforced concrete, and apparently,
from an outside view, fitted up with
modern sanitary appliances. This hotel
is close to the tram terminus, and faces
the river.
Of course we did not land at Onslow,
where we took on board, some 69 tons of
ore - silver lead, I think, from some of the
back country mines.
We lay at Port Hedland for 24 hours! This
is clearly a decaying town - many shops and
houses are empty, and there are announcements
for some windows of departures from the town.
It is .hard to say what keeps the place alive,
except, the shipment of stock and wool and
the forwarding of stores to the inland stations..
At the moment Hedland is agitated by the
memory of the late school strike, when the
children were withdrawn for a fortnight as
a "protest" against the neglect of the Public
Works Department in connection with the
school. It appears that the school was planned
by those who only knew Hedland in the cool
season, and consequently no provision was
made for ventilation on the side from which
the prevailing winds in the hot season blow.
It is abundantly clear that the matter could
have been declined by the expenditure of
about £5, but the Public Works officials
obstinately refused to recognise their blunder
and to remedy what their ignorance had
occasioned.
Immediately above the floor of two sides of
the school there are long, hinged shutters,
which can be raised to allow the wind to
enter at the floor level, and ventilate the
school during the cool season, but on the
two other sides where such provision is more
necessary in the hot season, the walls are
closed. There is a door on one side, but it
is sheltered by a closed-in verandah end.
As the building is of wood and is surrounded
by a broad verandah, and as there need be
no interference with the framework,
sufficient openings could easily be made
at small expense, if the officials weren't
so pig-headed.
The unfortunate schoolmaster seems
to have been ground between the upper
and nether millstones in this matter.
Apparently the Works officials complain
that his action brought about the agitation
and the strike. At the inquiry by the Resident
Magistrate, Mr. Brown, it was clearly shown
that the schoolmaster had taken no part in
the agitation but had preserved a strictly
accurate attitude. He will suffer from the
strike, if it is only in his examinations, and
therefore it is most unlikely that he would
have fomented a strike or encouraged it.
We arrived there in the morning at about
8.30 o'clock, and as there were some
influential people on board the train was
delayed to allow them to catch it. I
understand that there is only one train a
week, and that sometimes, though the
steamer may arrive a couple of hours after
the train is timed to depart, the departure is
not delayed, and consequently the mails for
the interior are left to lie at Hedland for a
week or so. I can hardly believe that this is
true, but I am assured it is a fact.
All along the coast we have had delightful
weather and a good time, although on our
departure from Fremantle the Charon, so far
as the first-class was concerned was
overcrowded. This was largely caused by
men, women and children coming aboard
without having booked their passages. The
"Charon" is somewhat like the Irish omnibus
which, when full, can always hold another
passenger. The captain and his officers
accommodated some of the passengers
in their rooms, and beds were made up in the
smoking and music rooms. Not withstanding
the overcrowding everything passed off
without trouble, thanks largely to the fact
and ability of Capt. Dalgleish and the chief
steward. In one cabin, in which there were
four berths were three ladies, one girl, and
three babies, and yet good humor prevailed,
and trifling discomforts were over-looked.
I had heard that the catering for this ship
is done by the captain and chief steward,
and that consequently the food would be
unsatisfactory. I am pleased to say that so
far as myself and my daughter saw there
is no foundation for any such idea. Our
food has been good, clean, and abundant:-
well-cooked and well-served, and so far
we have had no reason to regret having
voyaged in the Charon, though she has
no cold storage and has to depend on an
ice-house.
Now that the bulk of the passengers
have left we have each a state room
to ourselves, and will no doubt be very
comfortable between here and Singapore.
At first the bathing accommodation
seemed crude after the Indarra, Katoomba,
and Warilda. There is no hot water in
the bathrooms, nor is there any fresh water
showers, but we are supplied each morning
with a warm tub of fresh water, and after
a salt water plunge we wash ourselves with
the fresh water, then with a small dipper
pour the water over our bodies, which seems
to have, an excellent cooling effect, so we
soon forgot to sigh for the bathrooms of the
inter-state steamers.
There seems to be a little neglect in small
matters that I expect only requires to be
mentioned to be rectified. For example,
after leaving Fremantle there were a great
many seasick, and they were not supplied
with those cleanly, thick-paper storm-pans
to which we are accustomed on the the
other boats, and there was an insufficient
supply of tin storm-pans, the appearance of
which was not likely to make a seasick
person feel any better.
There were some complaints by the mothers
of the numerous babies on board that they had
\a difficulty in getting bath tubs to bathe their
babies in, but this was soon overcome. After
all, these were only minor faults, but it must be
remembered we had on the whole an exceedingly
smooth passage.
Had it been otherwise these little troubles may
have been more apparent. Though the Charon is
an old boat, she is well adapted to the trade, and
is certainly very comfortable.
Point Sampson, which is one of the capes which
form the old port of Tientsin or Point Walcott is
distinguished by a high jetty of 1846 feet in length.
Here we landed 260 pedigree sheep from Katanning,
not having lost a single one on the voyage, much to
the delight of the owner. Mr. Gillam, who loudly
praised the chief officer for his care and attention
to the stock.
There seems to be a little feeling among the Cossack
people against Point Sampson and its jetty. Apparently
at one time all cargo was landed into lighters, and as
this was monopolised 30s. a ton was charged for
lighterage. This has been largely removed by the jetty,
but even now cargo for Cossack has to be taken from
the jetty by a motor launch to Cossack. I am told that
there was a tram for Cossack, but the Public Works
Department pulled up the rails and left them lying near
the route of the tram.
There is a steam tram to Roebourne, which makes the
journey in about two hours. Apparently there are a fair
number of motor cars in the district, some of which, run
between Cossack and Roebourne, and when we arrived
there were two private, motor cars waiting for their owners,
who were on board the Charon.
A few hours after leaving Point Sampson we called at
Balla Balla, where the four-masted ship Elginshire
is lying, taking in copper ore from Whim Creek. She is
about half loaded, and will take about 3600 tons, which
she is getting at the rate of 60 tons per day. The captain
came aboard, and I had an interesting talk with him.
He has struck his royal and topgallant yards, has one
anchor down and two anchors ail ready to let go, so
he has made his ship all snug in case of a blow. We
passed the wreck of the steamer Eddystone, close
to Depuch Island, on which we also saw from the
ship the wreck of the Crown of England and on the
beach a lighter, reminders of the awful Koombana
hurricane and loss of life in the same storm on Depuch
Island. We could also see very clearly the white cross
which marks the gravies of some of the drowned, who
were buried on the island.
I had been warned that there was an awful amount of
drunkenness on the Nor'-West boats, but it is not apparent
on board the Charon. I have seen and heard of two or three
cases, but nothing very bad. The late master of the Koombana
who was my relative, told me that to control this traffic on his
ship was one of his worst troubles.
We arrived at Broome at breakfast time after a splendid passage
from Hedland, and went alongside the jetty, which is half a mile
long, the sea being about three miles from the business part of the
town, which is hidden from the jetty by high sandhills. Still, we
could see a forest of masts of the luggers in the creek and on the
flats.
A steam tramway runs from the sea end of the jetty right, through the
business town, and running round, a loop returns to the residential
quarters; consequently we were able to have an excellent view of the
town going through the principal streets without fatigue.
Between the jetty and the business town is the residential quarter,
which is most refreshing to the eye after the other ports, as there
are plenty of trees and grass, and the houses are spacious and well
kept. There seems to be plenty of water laid on, from which the
lawns are watered. Each bungalow stands on a large piece of ground,
the streets are broad, and consequently it is a pleasure to walk through
the quarter; in the cool of the evening, or to ride through in tram, or
motor car, of which latter there are two for hire.
All the bungalows are single-storey, with very broad verandahs, which
in most cases have bougainvillea or other creepers growing over them.
We were charmed with this portion of Broome. At the shore end of the
jetty is a small, old cemetery, in which we saw the gravestone of one of
the Forrests, who died here, in 1884, apparently a brother of Sir John.
There are about four other gravestones in this now disused graveyard.
A. G. 'Bussell, late of Berth, has a shop in the main street of the
residential quarter. We called upon him and had a chat. He looks
well, and says he is doing very well, handling the largest quantity
of chaff in the place. He has also a general store, which seems to
contain everything likely to be required by the Broome folk. A
short distance further on is the office of the Broome "Echo", run
by our old friend Barker, late of Leonora, on whom I called and
had a chat with, and then walked through the business part of the
town, the bulk of which is on a sandhill, and fronts the beach in an
inlet off Roebuck Bay.
The place seemed very busy owing, apparently, to the large number
of luggers in for provisions. Of course it swarmed with Chinese,
Japanese and Malays. It was too hot to spend much time in this
quarter, but it was not hot enough to prevent our walking to the
ship, which we did in about three quarters of an hour, allowing us
time for lunch.
The offices and premises of the Cable Company, which are
advertised for sale. in "The Sunday Times," is a splendid property,
standing on a large piece of land. I heard it was proposed to form
a club, and endeavor to acquire this property, but that has apparently
fallen through, and it is said that it is to be acquired by the Roman
Catholics for a convent.
In the cool of the evening we again went for an hour's walk through
the residential portion of Broome, and also before breakfast next
morning. Our opinion of the beauty of this part of Broome was
confirmed. The telephone seems to be largely used - apparently all
the Europeans are subscribers. This is, of course, necessary owing
to the large area of the town. Electric light is largely used. The post
office is a fine building, in which the postal receivers for letters and
newspapers are most ingeniously hidden beneath the receiving counter.
We had to inquire for them after vainly searching for them.
At 1 a.m. we commenced taking 250 cattle on board from Streeter's
station for Java. This took about five hours. It was most interesting to
watch the cattle coming down the race, built on the side of the jetty,
and then walking into the hold of the Charon. Last evening, about 10,
the Western Australia came alongside the jetty for about half an hour
for passengers and mails, and then departed for Fremantle. Apparently
the discipline is not of a high order on board this boat. I noticed that
there was no gangway light shown, although some scores of people
boarded and left the vessel. Had any accident occurred no doubt the
ship would have been responsible and would have had to pay damages.
We left about 10,.this morning, and are now, in beautiful weather,
heading for Derby. We are going inside the Lacepede Islands, will
anchor to-night, at Cape Leveque, and reach Derby to-morrow. So
far, we have thoroughly enjoyed our trip, and given the weather we
have had we cannot imagine a more pleasant holiday.
courtesy Trove.
