The old Post Office

Halls Creek (including the Bungle Bungles and Wolfe Creek Crater)
Fascinating outback town which is now two separate townships
Halls Creek is not the town it used to be. This is true both literally and metaphorically as, in 1948, the town was physically removed from its original site to its present location. Thus, like so many towns in the Kimberley, there are two Halls Creeks. In 1948 the town began its movement from Old Halls Creek (15 km away) to the present site. This process continued until the old township was finally abandoned in 1954. The reasons for the change of location were a combination of lack of water (people in the town still marvel at how the old timers managed to survive at the old settlement) and a re–routing of the main Derby-Kununurra Road to avoid winding through the hills around the old town.

The town's movement was vital for its survival. It had come into existence as a gold mining town and with the gold now gone it was nothing more than a service centre for the surrounding pastoral holdings and the traffic which moved along the highway. If it did not move with the highway then its survival was in jeopardy.

Today Halls Creek is a small, predominantly Aboriginal settlement. Located 2977 km from Perth and 423 metres above sea level it is roughly midway between Kununurra (365 km) and Derby (555 km). It services the ever-increasing tourist trade with a hotel, motel, caravan park, two roadhouses and a number of tours to the Bungle Bungles and Wolfe Creek Crater.

The area was first explored by Alexander Forrest in 1879. Forrest reported on the pastoral potential of the area but it was his brother John Forrest, then the WA Surveyor-General, who, while surveying the area, noted that it 'bore distinct indications of gold'. Two men, Adam Johns and Phil Saunders, passed through the East Kimberley shortly afterwards but they found only a few ounces. But Forrest had created real interest and in 1885 Charlie Hall (after whom the town is named) and Jack Slattery sailed up the coast to Derby and travelled up the Fitzroy River before cutting across country to the Elvire River. They struck gold virtually everywhere they went and by the time they returned to Derby they were carrying over 200 ounces of gold. The goldrush was on. Gold had been discovered on 14 July 1885 and within weeks miners from as far away as New Zealand and the eastern states were pouring into the region. It was the first discovery of payable gold in Western Australia. The towns of Wyndham and Derby boomed as, in the space of two years, over 10 000 men passed through the ports. Men walked across the continent from Queensland. But the gold was short–lived. Transportation problems, a harsh and inhospitable environment, and the discovery of gold at Coolgardie reduced Halls Creek to a near ghost town by 1888.

Today Old Halls Creek is nothing more than some remnants of buildings, some street signs, the ruins of the old mud brick Post Office, a recently built well to celebrate the discovery of gold in the area, a graveyard, and a modern restaurant.

The graveyard is not really of great historical importance. Perhaps the most famous grave is that of James 'Jimmy' Darcy who made the front page of most Australian newspapers in 1917 - no mean achievement given that the country was in the middle of the Great War.

Darcy was a stockman at Ruby Plains Station 75 km south of Halls Creek. He was mustering cattle when he fell from his horse and was seriously injured. When his friends found him they took him by buggy to Halls Creek (the journey took 12 hours) but there was neither a doctor nor a hospital in the town. The local postmaster had enough medical knowledge to realise that Darcy needed immediate medical attention. He telegraphed both Wyndham and Derby but the doctors from both towns were on holidays. He then telegraphed Perth and, using only morse code, a Dr J. Holland diagnosed Darcy as having a ruptured bladder. He had to be operated on immediately. Messages flashed back and forth in morse code.

'You must operate.' 'But I have no instruments.' 'You have a penknife and razor.' 'What about drugs?' 'Use permanganate of potash.' 'But I can't do it.' 'You must.' 'I might kill the man.' 'If you don't hurry, the patient will die first.'

Tuckett strapped Darcy to the table and began operating according to instructions he received by telegraph. The operation took seven hours - with no anaesthetic. A day later complications set in. It became obvious that a doctor would have to come to Halls Creek. In the meantime Darcy's dilemma had caught the imagination of the Australian public who followed the progress of the saga with insatiable interest.

Dr Holland took a cattle boat from Perth to Derby and then travelled the last 555 km by T-model Ford, horse and sulky and foot. He finally arrived in Halls Creek only to find that Darcy had died the day before. It was this event which inspired Rev John Flynn to establish the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Darcy had not died in vain. His plight had focussed the entire nation on the problems of medical services in isolated areas and out of it grew Flynn's unique experiment in outback medicine.

Many of the graves in the Old Hall's Creek cemetery are quite recent dating from the 1940s and 1950s. One grave however records the death of a man who, in 1909, died of thirst in the Tanami Desert. It is grim reminder that life in the outback is a constant battle with the elements. As the town's information directory puts it: 'The Kimberley in itself is not inherently dangerous. But an even greater degree than the sea is unforgiving of carelessness, ignorance and impatience.'

It was south of Halls Creek that the two teenagers James Annetts and Simon Amos disappeared from Sturt Creek and Nicholson Stations in 1986 only to be found dead in the Great Sandy Desert. The area is still unforgiving to those who make even the slightest mistakes.

Things to see:  

Old Halls Creek
Today Old Halls Creek is nothing more than some remnants of buildings, some street signs, the ruins of the old mud brick Post Office, a recently built well to celebrate the discovery of gold in the area, a graveyard, and a modern restaurant.

The graveyard is not really of great historical importance. Perhaps the most famous grave is that of James 'Jimmy' Darcy who made the front page of most Australian newspapers in 1917 - no mean achievement given that the country was in the middle of the Great War.

The China Wall near Halls Creek

The China Wall
The 15 km journey out to Old Halls Creek on the Duncan Road passes the town's two major tourist attractions. A few kilometres out of town is a sign to the China Wall. 1.5 km off the road is a strange limestone formation which rises from a creek up over a small hill. It is a natural formation of white quartz which does look like a small version of the famous Great Wall of China. The stream below is surrounded by trees and in the 'green season' it is an ideal location for swimming.

Caroline Pool
Further on is the Caroline Pool, another popular local swimming spot, which is reminiscent of the gorges along the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia. The river comes between two cliffs and forms a deep pool in the gorge.

Caroline Pool at the end of the dry season

Wolfe Creek Crater
But it is the Wolfe Creek Crater and the Bungle Bungles which hold the most appeal. Neither is easy to get to. Wolfe Creek Crater is located 151 km south of the town on a less than perfect dirt road. Known to the Djaru Aborigines as Kandimalal it was named Wolf Crater after Robert Tennant Stowe Wolfe, a digger and storekeeper who lived in Halls Creek in the late 1880s. The first Europeans to see the crater were F. Reeves, N. B. Sauve and D. Hart who sighted it while carrying out an aerial survey of the area in 1947. Later that year the three men reached the crater by land.

There is some dispute as to the crater's status with some sources claiming that it is the second largest meteorite crater on earth (the other being in Arizona) while others claim it as the fourth largest. Both these claims should be treated with considerable scepticism. The excellent Wolf Creek Crater by Ken McNamara (published by the Western Australian Museum) claims that in Western Australia alone the Goat Paddock Crater and 'The Spider' crater are considerably larger. Perhaps the final word on this confusion belongs to McNamara who, having weighed the evidence as to whether Wolf Crater was really formed by a meteorite, observes: 'In a 1 to 5 classification of craters, only 12 are categorised as Class 1; included is the Wolf Creek Crater. Class 1 craters are those with which meteoric material has been found, and are considered to have probably been formed by an explosion caused by meteor impact with the Earth. Of the Class 1 craters Wolf Creek is the second largest in the world, being exceeded in size only by the Arizona crater.'

Regardless of these counter-claims Wolf Crater, with a diameter of 853 metres and a depth of 61 metres it is still very big. It was probably as much as 200 m deep when it was originally formed. From the distance it appears as a low hill but when the rim of the crater is reached it is a sight of great symmetry and beauty. The age of the crater is unknown but available evidence suggests that it was probably formed about 2 million years ago. Because of the extreme dryness of the area the erosion of the crater has been very slow. Accommodation is offered at nearby Carranya Station Camping Grounds which are 7 km from the crater. The Station can be contacted through the Derby Flying Doctor Base on 08 9191 1612.

Bungle Bungles
If Wolfe Creek Crater is dramatic it is nothing in comparison to the Bungle Bungles which, if they weren't so inaccessible, would certainly be one of Australia's premier tourist attractions.

Known to the local Aborigines as Purnululu, the Bungle Bungles are located north east of Halls Creek (take the Great Northern Highway 109 km north from Halls Creek and turn east on the Spring Creek Track) on a road which is so bad that the RAC has this to say about it: 'The distance from the highway to the Three-Ways intersection is only 55 km, however, the trip will take two or three hours and the track is suitable only for 4WDs with good clearance. Caravans will not survive the trip.' Reaching the campsites involves further travelling for at least another hour.

The journey is still richly rewarded. The Bungle Bungles are one of the wonders of outback Australia. Formed over 350 million years ago the sandstone massif has the appearance of gigantic bell shaped rock towers with horizontal banding produced by layers of black lichens and orange silica. The sandstone is so fine that it crumbles when touched. The area is a wonderland of Aboriginal art, huge gullies and dramatic caves like the spectacular Piccaninny Gorge - a 15 km, 8 hour walk from the road.

It is claimed that in the early years of white settlement of the Kimberley, when the brutal massacres of local Aborigines were at their height, that many Aborigines retreated to the safety of the Bungle Bungles climbing up to the plateau with notched tree trunks which they pulled up after themselves to prevent pursuit.

Visitors can stay at the campsites at Bellburn Creek and Kurrajong. Further information can be obtained from the C.A.L.M. Office in Kununurra on (08) 9168 0200

	Tourist Information
	Halls Creek Tourist Information Centre Great Northern Hwy P.O. Box 242 Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6262 Facsimile: (08) 9168 6467
	Motels
	Halls Creek Motel Great Northern Hwy Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6001 Facsimile: (08) 9168 6044 Rating: **
	Hotels
	Kimberley Hotel/Motel Roberta Ave Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6101 Facsimile: (08) 9168 6071 Rating: ***
	Cottages & Cabins
	Shell Roadhouse Halls Creek Cabins 31 McDonald St Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6060
	Lodges & Chalets
	Halls Creek Lodge Duncan Rd Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 8999
	Caravan Parks
	Halls Creek Caravan Park Roberta Ave Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6169 Rating: ***
	Restaurants
	Halls Creek Motel Great Northern Hwy Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6001
	Kimberley Hotel/Motel Roberta Ave Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6101
	Shell Roadhouse Halls Creek Cabins 31 McDonald St Halls Creek WA 6770 Telephone: (08) 9168 6060