6^th August: Point Samson

We were nearly blown away last night!! The wind arrived at about 1.00 am and just grew stronger as time went on. Our awnings were seriously flapping and I realised why no-one in this park had awnings up. Ours went down this morning too and they will stay down because the same is expected tonight!

I washed and after the rotary clothes-line spun the clothes round and round in the wind, I brought them in. The van inside looked like a Chinese laundry with clothes draped everywhere to dry properly. But at least they weren't strewn all over the park which was a real danger.

We drove around Point Samson which didn't take long It was the major port here for a while, having taken over from Cossack in importance. Cattle, pearl shell and minerals before the real boom were the main exports. (See later.) However, when Rio Tinto built their export facility at Cape Lambert, other trade ceased and the Point Samson jetty fell into disuse and disrepair. A series of cyclones finished it off. Now, it is a beach holiday place, boasting two caravan parks, a hotel and store, and a number of largish houses and apartment blocks. A sea vessel service centre and a fishing fleet of about 20 vessels also exist here.

We then went to Cossack which was built in 1888,superceding another port which silted up. There are only a half a dozen buildings left and they have been well restored. Below is the school house.

Note thenew roof held down by cyclone battons - those strips of wood accross the roof.  All houses here have them.

The back porch.

 

 A rather solid building, it replaced an earlier one blown done in a cyclone. I loved the note that Mr Neidal, the teacher who lived in a tent behind the school, always dressed in shorts, a light shirt and a pith helmet “which was rather unusual for the time”. Numbers of students flucuated until the Department closed the school but provised for the parents a free tramway ride to Roebourne for the students!

The Courthouse was completed in 1890's just as the town started to wane. It now houses the Shakespeare Society whose spelling is anything but Shakespearean!

 

 There is a restored boarding house offering “clean, authentic shared accommodation” and a Customs House and Post Office, lovingly restored and now housing, with the Bond Store, a terrific display of paintings which were entered in the Annual Rio Tinto Cossack Art Competition. I loved some of them but, of course, can't afford to buy any. A cyclone in January this year removed part of the roof and the SES put up a temporary roof which is still there, flapping furiously in this wind. All buildings that have been restored are very solidly built, stronger than the flimsy ones of today! Cossack died when the pearl shell was fished out and a new, longer jetty was built at Point Samson.

The Galbraith Storehouse - outhouses & sheds blown away!

Cossack is a pretty place.  There usedto be a leprosy sanitarium accross the inlet.

We went onto Roebourne which used to be an important centre for the pastoral and mining industry. However, it is now mere shadow of its former glory with some substantial buildings and services remaining. Even the pub has closed down. The old Goal is the Information Centre and the information available and the displays were disappointing. All very sad really. The reason maybe in part the rise of the mining industry and the subsequent development of the export facility and the supporting accommodation built by the company in the nearby town of Wickham. It is very new, very modern and has all the facilities. 5000 people live there between Cape Lambert and Point Samson.

This afternoon, we tried to get into Cape Lambert as all the official tours were booked out until next week. It is a huge facility. The trains from Tom Price roll in, disgorge their loads of iron ore which is then moved from a huge stockpile onto conveyor belts 2.5 kms long to the loading facility. The jetty is extremely long and conveyor belts shoot iron ore into the holds of massive bulk carriers. I counted 14 ships waiting to come in to load with 5 at the jetty. It is a huge installation and process!

Tonight, we had dinner at the local hotel. Not spectacular, but nice. However, we could walk there and walk home.