Marble Bar Road

 

Having done our business, it was out of town and back to the solitude of the bush again. We pointed North and entered the Marble Bar Road. A wide graded gravel road used mainly by mining vehicles, with constant chatter heard over the UHF radio from the mine sites scattered about the reagon. Firstly passing through flat, plane country, then as you close in on Nullagine, about half way to Marble Bar, the landscape changes to rolling hills and jagged escapements of shining, dark, ironstone rocks. The rolling hills, typical of this Pilbra landscape, have their surface covered with spinifex clumps, resembling goosebumps on the bodies of reclining whales as you glide through the ancient land.

Nullagine, a small outpost supported by a gold mine close by, sits snugly amongst the spinifex covered hills. Before driving into town, we went to check out place called Garden Pool, a stretch of the Nullagine river with a permanent pool of water. Pulling up at the pool we were greeted with cool, green grass and shady trees, a perfect camp. This will do for the night. A small sign on the way in declared, no camping, something we normally obey, but this time we decided it was too good a spot to bypass.

After lunch we relaxed and soon the sound of a truck came down the track. Crawling past us, we noticed it was a council truck, checking the rubbish bins, it continued on, this we took as a sign that we could stay.

Late in the day, a group of aboriginal people came and sat at the picnic table not far away, one lady soon came over and asked if she could borrow a lighter. I obliged and we chatted, she and her friends were here for a federal hearing of aboriginal land rights of the area, being held the next day, right where we were. They left soon after and we had a meal and prepared for the night.

Next morning, a group of council workers turned up with trailers with porter loos and tables and marques, we presumed was for the coming hearing. An official looking bloke came over and said what was taking place there today. We told him we were preparing to move on and he said it would probably be best. We packed up, nothing being said about having camped there overnight, and drove into town a few ks away.

Have not heard anything about the hearing since. Local people, obviously trying to claw back some of their rights over the land they, and their ancestors have occupied for thousands of years, being challenged by hungry, fat cat, mining magnates sitting in offices in capital cities, who, rip, tear,and gouge tons of minerals from the pristine land, which is never put back to its former state.

Driving through the stunning country, then coming across mountains of bare, overburden, contrasting against the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, makes you feel sad for the land these native people have cared for for, millennium.

OK, rant over.

Nullagine is only small, we climbed the hill in town and took in the view from the look out. A council truck arrived, the same one we had observed the previous day on the river. They got out and checked the bins and one said to Din,”They kick you out of down there?” referring to the campsite. “Yes,” Din said “Should have asked him if he owned the place.” They both laughed.