If you asked me to name the most forgettable town I have ever been in I would respond, “Halls Creek”. This town of about 1,500 is in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It’s so isolated that the nearest town to it, Fitzroy Crossing, is 181 miles to the east. Turkey Creek, a largely Aboriginal community also called Warmun, is 162 miles north. Only about 320 people live in Turkey Creek. Ruth & I were in Halls Creek because we were on our way to see a sensational mountain range called The Bungle Bungles and had to spend the night somewhere. The Bungle Bungles are in Purnululu National Park east of Halls Creek. To get there we had to drive up the Spring Creek Track, easily the most awful road I have ever been on, but it was worth enduring it to see the Bungle Bungles shown above and below.

Halls Creek is on Australia’s Great Northern Highway. It exists because Charlie Hall found a huge 28 ounce gold nugget near where this town is now 136 years ago on Christmas Day. This event that occurred about 10 miles from the present town is still talked about as if it was recent. Herds of miners came to Halls Creek hoping to find their own gold, but many of them died and are buried in the town’s cemetery. Life is never easy here. We saw the gold strike site but not the cemetery. The place where the nugget was found was forgettable like the town, but we heard a great story about a man called Russian Jack while there. Russian Jack carried an injured mate for about 150 miles in a wheelbarrow to get medical attention for the man’s injuries. I often wonder if either of them returned to Halls Creek after treatment.

Halls Creek is at the northern end of the Canning Stock Route. Cowboys used to drive cattle up this 1,200 mile trail that crossed the Great Sandy Desert, so this town became and remains a hub for vast cattle stations. There is a visitors center in Halls Creek with a statue of Russian Jack outside.

The staff at the visitor center might recommend that travelers see about the only attraction near this town called The China Wall. This is not a brilliant idea. We saw this sub-vertical quartz vein and it was fairly forgettable like the town. Many come to Halls Creek to see this vein and the Wolfe Creek Crater between May and October when the road to it is fairly decent. It takes about 3 hours to drive to the meteor impact site from Halls Creek where a big rock from space made a giant crater in the Earth. This happened about 120,000 years ago but was not discovered until 1947 because this event that was not uncommon in Australia occurred so far away from everything. We did not see the Wolfe Creek Crater.

Between June and September the Tanami Road to this giant hole in the ground might be difficult because this part of Australia receives about 22.5 inches of rain during this period. This part of the world is also known for high winds and extreme heat, a high suicide rate, enforced alcohol restrictions, and indigenous art. Ruth & I don’t plan to return to Halls Creek.

Hank

I relearned an important lesson on Tuesday, March 9 this year. Ruth and I were visiting the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, CA. We spoke at length to a ranger named Eric who was very informed about John Muir and the house where he lived for 25 years. When I’m in this situation and want to learn more, I ask the well-prepared ranger or authoritative person I am speaking to if there is a book he or she might recommend that I read about the subject. Eric said I should read A Passion for Nature by Donald Worster.

Later that day I tracked this book down and ordered it. A Passion for Nature is one of those books that I can’t put down. It was published by the Oxford University Press in 2008. I have only read a little over 100 pages of it and have already learned a lot about John Muir, one of the unheralded founders of our National Park Service. He was largely responsible for Yosemite National Park and others being part of the system. I have not yet gotten to the part of the book that talks about this.

What I have read so far is about John Muir’s early life. I did not know that he was born in Scotland. Muir grew up in a town called Dunbar that was far more important when he lived there. I had a hard time finding out where it is because it has receded in stature since he lived there. Dunbar is not too far from Edinburgh on Scotland’s eastern shore. This town is just south of the entrance to the Firth of Forth. At the time Glasgow was a far more important place than Edinburgh, and a Scotsman named James Watt was making great improvements to the steam engine. I thought James Watt was an American. John Muir was the 3rd oldest of 8 children born to Daniel and Ann. Seven of the 8 were born in Dunbar and all survived to become adults, which was unusual in this era. When John was 11, his father decided that the family needed to emigrate to the United States.

The unspoken message at this point in the book is that parents have far more influence on their children than the children realize. As Worster says. “…Ann is almost invisible in Muir’s autobiography…in contrast to her husband”. Daniel had far more influence on his son than either of them realized. They were not much alike and had conflicts. Worster talks about Daniel’s “…conservative approach to fatherhood.” Daniel was a successful grain merchant who shocked the family when he announced that they were moving to the new United States. Muir is described as “..a quarrelsome little rowdy”. One of the many significant passions that father and son shared was a deep pride in growing things. Daniel loved his garden. John Muir later in life became a noted and passionate botanist who loved to grow and crossbreed fruit trees, but early on he seemed to be far more influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns than his father who built his own violin and learned to play it well. Daniel bonded with neighbors and played old Scottish airs.

Shortly after they landed in the United States the Muir family traveled to Wisconsin, where they settled. Daniel became a frontier farmer. John Muir eventually got educated and tried to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Disappointing his father, he only lasted for 2 terms.

to be continued probably.

Hank