Author's Blog 1 June '26:
Continuing the WA’s Early Days series, today’s focus is on the North-West Stock Route.
The Diamond of the Desert describes the journey of the first group of northern pioneers in 1850:
They followed the route taken by the Gregory brothers. It comprised a series of trails and crossings which were quite identifiable thanks to the thousands of hoofs that had passed, but even still they needed to skirt around areas from time to time which had become boggy or had disappeared altogether among rolling sand dunes. Many of the watering holes, river crossings and stopping points that they visited on the long trek north had been shown to the Gregory brothers and other exploration parties by the local Aboriginal community in the past decade.
And again now their own Aboriginal guides lead the settlers and their stock to areas where there was more grass or water, following the topography of the land in a north-westerly direction, which skirted the eastern edge of a limestone ridge between two ancient dune systems, with both the presence of water and the lack of more rugged terrain and poison plants found to their west and east.
This first part of the route took around two weeks, travelling some 170km to Dandaraga Spring where they replenished their water stores. They travelled between rolling hills, and there were frequent small watering holes at which the men would refill canisters before allowing the cattle and horses to drink. They made strong progress, only occasionally needing to stop to help round up wandering livestock, and they travelled for many hours each day, stopping as the light failed. The track was flat, and Maggie and James both delighted in the colourful trees they passed – many of which Maggie could name, much to James’ surprise.
I’m just back from a 16,000km round trip to Japan and admit I grumbled about the uncomfortable plane ride of around 10 hours each way. But I’d cheer myself up by recalling the early journey of just 400km from Toodyay to Geraldton took over 4 weeks!
One surprise was to learn the route originally started from Toodyay – it moved to Star Swamp (Karrinyup) decades later.
I’d love to rediscover that original route through the Darling Ranges…