Old Onslow, Western Australia

 Back on the North West Coastal Highway we headed north towards the Onslow turnoff. We drove along Onslow Road to the old town turnoff. The road in was sand and red dirt and very congregated in parts, but the town is well sign-posted. We drove past some lovely river camps and even thought about coming to stay the next night. Some of the river side areas were quite full and we were surprised that no one was at the old town site. Cows and calves were happily eating the grass as we passed. The sites were level and there was a toilet block and picnic table available.

Old Onslow area is steeped in Aboriginal history and Dreamtime. The Thalanyji people are the traditional owners in the area, and believe the Rainbow Serpent, Burra Balanyji, created underground tunnels that link all the waters in and around Onslow. The serpent rose from the waters and moved inland to make the rivers, valleys and hills. There were a couple of notice boards, one at each end of town, that show a map of the town. We also had a map, and although some of the streets are very overgrown it was easy to work out where things were. There were also many smaller information signs in the town area. We thought it was really well done.

The old town was gazetted on 26 October 1885 and was named after Sir Alexander Onslow, the then Chief Justice of Western Australia. The town was a port and originally supported the pearling industry, and later the nearby stations and gold mines that were developed along the river. All that is left are the ruins of the police complex, gaol, exercise yard, water tank and police residence.

Many of the streets no longer exist but the main central section remains, and that is where we camped. Once we decided where we were setting up, Peter and I went to look at the ruins. Jonnie went into the van and proceeded to clean up all the red dust, while we explored. Never seen him do that before and it was great - saved me doing it.

 Such wonderful history to walk around.

The town suffered from very high and very low tides, like most of this part of the coast, and extreme wet seasons, including many cyclones. A total of three jetties were built to try and cope with the tidal changes and by 1925 the decision was made to move the town to its present position.

We were the only ones camping all night and it was so lovely and quiet. We had another beautiful Pilbara sunset and a perfect view of the lunar eclipse.

We were woken early, 5.30am, not sure by what, but on looking out the window we could see the full moon just above the ruins. Looked amazing.

With no schedule, and 'going with the flow' we had planned a few nights at Old Onslow, but then decided to head to the 'new' Town and a caravan park to see the Stairway to the Moon. It was overcast and as the sun came up, or tried to behind the clouds, we decided to leave early in case of rain - we would be stuck until the red mud dried - so by 7.30am we navigated the red corrugated dirt roads and headed to 'new' Onslow. Check out 2 Minutes of..... on YouTube.