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Hamersley Ranges Western Australia.
The Hamersley Range
lies in the Pilbara region
of Western Australia.
At its eastern end it joins the Opthalmia Range which contains
the iron ore mine of Mt. Newman, 1250km north of Perth.
The most direct access from Perth is up the Great Northern Highway -
Bindi Bindi, Paynes Find, Mt. Magnet, Meekatharra and
the Capricorn Roadhouse near the Newman turn-off.
Commerce and the bitumen stop there and it is onto
the corrugations (wash-board) and red dust.
The road continues north past the eastern end of
the Opthalmia Range then
90km after Newman is the Roy Hill turn-off to Wittenoom (west).
The road runs through flat grassland along the northern edge of the range
with good views of the steep cliffs to the south.
The Port Hedland turning (north) comes up after 147km,
but continuing straight ahead carries one into Wittenoom
after a further 37km.
Wittenoom Gorge is one of the many deep and narrow gorges that cut
their way through the steep northern edge of the Hamersley Ranges;
the ranges fall away much more gently to the south.
Wittenoom's claim to fame, or notoriety, is the presence of
rich seams of blue asbestos.
This led to the establishment of the asbestos mine (right),
deep in the gorge, and the town of Wittenoom at its mouth.
The mine ran for decades, exporting its product through
Point Samson / Cossack where fibres can still be seen on the jetty.
For decades the workers, and their families, breathed the deadly
asbestos dust which can cause asbestosis and the cancer mesothelioma,
and they used tailings from the mine to surface the road,
and for fill throughout the town.
They started to die and court cases in the 1970's and 1980's
established that the danger had been widely known long
before the mine closed (1966).
(Blue asbestos is much more dangerous than white asbestos.)
The West Australian Government tried to close the town
by withdrawing all services and declaring it a health risk (~1979)
but some residents refused to move.
There were various studies of the risk from asbestos dust
in the town and a basic clean-up was attempted in the early 1980's.
Fundamentally however a genuine clean-up was impossible.
A few determined residents remain at Wittenoom;
there is a (basic) caravan park but no power and no fuel.
Driving and walking into the gorge to the mine site produces an eerie feeling.
Should you inhale? It seems a beautiful but cursed place.
Asbestos fibres can be seen everywhere - on rocks, on abandoned machinery,
on the road.
The damage is done by microscopic fibres which cannot be seen by the
naked eye; the fibres can split and split into ever smaller fragments and
these penetrate deep into the lungs and can do damage at the cellular level.
Enormous tailing dumps still cling to the side of the gorge (top right).
I have heard tales of children being taken on school trips
to the area, in days gone by, and "scree running" down the stuff.
The way into the Hamersley Ranges from the north
is to backtrack east from Wittenoom and then
follow a spectacular road up Yampire Gorge.
The Yampire Gorge road is rough and crosses the creek bed several times,
occasionally with water and lush vegetation.
Coming out of the Gorge is to enter another world of rolling
grassland surrounded by rocky hills.
This area is a National Park and the Park Rangers
control camping at designated sites - don't expect too many luxuries.
There are many gorges and they are deep, narrow and very spectacular.
Dales Gorge, near Yampire Gorge, contains Fortescue Falls.
It is possible to scramble 200 feet down to the bottom of Dales Gorge,
to swim in icy Circular Pool and to climb on Fortescue Falls,
wondering what they must be like
after a cyclone has dumped inches (or feet) of rain in a few hours.
Aboriginal paintings and "pecked" etchings can be found in
the gorge.
Here and there also are seams of blue asbestos,
usually a couple of inches thick, with the fibres running across the seam
and capable of being teased out.
60km west is Red Gorge (left) which later becomes Wittenoom Gorge.
At one point Hancock, Jeffrey and Weano Gorges join Red Gorge.
This knife edge, 300 to 400 feet from top to bottom
is not for those with vertigo.
It is possible to scramble down into Weano (?) Gorge,
at points squeezing through gaps 18 inches wide
to come out into large circular pools which must boil
in the wet season. An air bed would be useful for exploration.
The "main" roads out of the Hamersleys are
north west through Wittenoom and Millstream,
south west past Tom Price,
north to Port Hedland (300km), or
east to the Great Northern Highway.
Like most roads in the area, the main road north
from the Hamersley Ranges to Port Hedland is a dirt road.
In dry conditions it is an easy car drive, if you don't mind the corrugations.
After rain (right) conditions can be more difficult.
Many minor roads are closed after rain so that
they are not cut up by traffic and so that
authorities do not have to rescue bogged motorists.
There is a natural temptation to drive around large expanses of water lying
on the road but this should generally be resisted:
the road tends to be slightly lower than the surrounding country-side
due to the passing of traffic which compacts and hardens the road surface.
The apparently dry ground nearbye may look enticing but can be much softer.
- L. A11ison 1997 -->
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