One thing our life on the road is teaching us is the number of misconceptions I have harboured about many places in this great country of ours, particularly in the more isolated parts of Western Australia.
Kununurra (KN) was no exception. In my mind I had always lumped KN and Wyndham more or less together as those two small towns way up at the top eastern corner of WA. Not so, dear readers. Wyndham certainly has been around for some time, but KN is a real 'Johnny-Come-Lately' in this neck of the woods, the result of a development scheme.
This was no 'ordinary scheme'......forgive me, I just had to get that one in! The history of KN and the Ord River irrigation scheme are inextricably bound together. Rather than reinvent the wheel, let me quote here from 'Wikitravel':
"At Ivanhoe station, north of the present Kununurra townsite, the potential of growing crops on the rich alluvial soils of the Ord Valley became apparent and after early experiments literally bore fruit, many acres of cattle country were turned over to agriculture. It was soon realised that the full potential of the Ord to grow thirsty crops could only be achieved with more water.
Begun in 1958, the Ord Irrigation Scheme was an ambitious idea to capture the huge volume of water flowing down the Ord during the monsoon for irrigation of the fertile plains along the river's lower reaches and to develop a productive agriculture industry and create a food bowl for Western Australia."
And we are talking about some serious quantities of water here. Prior to the dam it has been estimated that during the height of the wet season, one million cubic feet of water flowed past any point on the Ord River per minute. Put another way, this would equate to the entire water consumption of the greater Sydney area flowing past that same point in less than 30 seconds.
Again from Wikitravel: "The first stage was completed in 1963 with the construction of the Diversion Dam, creating Lake Kununurra and feeding a network of canals that supported 31 farms by 1966. Spurred on by this success, the second stage saw the building of the Ord River Dam further upstream, subsequently creating Lake Argyle, Australia's second largest artificial Lake.
To provide a support centre for all this activity and the developing Ord irrigation scheme, the town of Kununurra came into existence. As testament to its infancy, KN was not officially gazetted until 1961.
"At Ivanhoe station, north of the present Kununurra townsite, the potential of growing crops on the rich alluvial soils of the Ord Valley became apparent and after early experiments literally bore fruit, many acres of cattle country were turned over to agriculture. It was soon realised that the full potential of the Ord to grow thirsty crops could only be achieved with more water.
Begun in 1958, the Ord Irrigation Scheme was an ambitious idea to capture the huge volume of water flowing down the Ord during the monsoon for irrigation of the fertile plains along the river's lower reaches and to develop a productive agriculture industry and create a food bowl for Western Australia."
And we are talking about some serious quantities of water here. Prior to the dam it has been estimated that during the height of the wet season, one million cubic feet of water flowed past any point on the Ord River per minute. Put another way, this would equate to the entire water consumption of the greater Sydney area flowing past that same point in less than 30 seconds.
Again from Wikitravel: "The first stage was completed in 1963 with the construction of the Diversion Dam, creating Lake Kununurra and feeding a network of canals that supported 31 farms by 1966. Spurred on by this success, the second stage saw the building of the Ord River Dam further upstream, subsequently creating Lake Argyle, Australia's second largest artificial Lake.
To provide a support centre for all this activity and the developing Ord irrigation scheme, the town of Kununurra came into existence. As testament to its infancy, KN was not officially gazetted until 1961.
This shot of the town, thanks to 'aboriginalartshop' shows something of its layout. This is not a sprawling metropolis. The regular town population of something between 6 - 7,000 is swollen each dry season with an influx of itinerant farm workers (up to 3,000 of them) and tourists. Tourism now forms a significant part of the local economy as KN provides a good base from which to explore the magnificent East Kimberley.
KN is remote. It lies less than 40 kms from the Northern Territory border and a whopping 3,040 kms from Perth. In fact it is much closer to Asia than its own state capital. Many who now call KN home are indigenous. Their numbers have been increasing of late due in part to recent government policy, and this is creating some real social problems, but I'll have more to say about that later.
The most striking natural features of KN, for us at least, were the towering rocky bluffs and surrounding hills which can be seen from almost every point in town. This photo, thanks to 'pinterst' demonstrates what I mean. This is Kelly's Knob,
which we could see quite clearly from our caravan park.
A sunset viewing from the top of this vantage point is a tourist 'must' and we fell dutifully into line one late afternoon. As we approached the trail to the top, 'The Knob' was already ablaze.
From the vantage point at the top we could see out north-west across some of the township to the craggy hills and mountains beyond.
The next comment I would make about KN is that its street layout, in the CBD in particular, has been the product of that particular bent (I think there is a pun here...two in one blog is a bit much...read on) of town planners of the 1960's era who could not conceive that any new development without curved roads would pass muster. Or perhaps they were trying to copy the boomerang. In any event the end result can be confusing to the newly arrived, I can tell you.
With all that we had on whilst here, I did not undertake my usual organised wander about town, camera at the ready. Rather, I banged away at varying times as we were doing other things. The result is a little haphazard, but hopefully you will gain some idea of what we found here.
We have already seen the approach into town along Victoria Drive, past the motel and Lilly Creek Lagoon. At the junction of Messmate Way,
a left turn takes us down this divided avenue towards the commercial section of the town.
Here we find the Kununurra Hotel, one of a few in town. None struck us as having any particular appeal so we did not grace the bars of any. When you consider how relatively young this town is, the fact that the pubs have no 'outback' character is hardly surprising.
A goodly number of open grassed areas and parks are dotted throughout the commercial district such as this strip opposite the hotel. Beyond this (to the left of this photo)modern office office buildings and one of the town's two main shopping centres are to be found.
Much to our surprise, KN has not spawned a Woolworths supermarket. Here, Coles and an IGA have the grocery market to themselves. The Coles store is by far the larger of the two and provided goods at far cheaper prices. The large supermarket is contained within an arcade complex of several speciality shops.
Its adjacent car park is large, and, in our experience, was never anything but busy.
At this time of the year KN is crowded with tourists, staying for a few days or in transit. Many pull in to re-supply. There were times when the parking area looked like a used caravan yard.
It was in the Coles car park that we encountered an annoying aspect of KN life......'humbugging', that irritating practice of some aborigines who pester folk for handouts. In this case the shopping trolleys are the target. The Coles trolleys are of the type which can only be released for use by inserting a dollar coin in a locking mechanism. This coin can be redeemed when the trolley is reattached to another in the trolley bay.
I learnt quickly. As soon as goods have been unloaded and shoppers are making their way back to the trolley bay, blokes like these spring into action, offering their assistance to return the trolley...for obvious reasons.
Naturally, when I was the target of this practice, I made it clear that I could manage perfectly well on my own. One of my two would be helpers accepted this decision, but his mate was far less gracious, and initially refused to take no for an answer. Needless to say the discussion became somewhat more animated and eventually my prospective assistant decided that withdrawal might be in his better long term interests. For me, this encounter was irritating......to many others it would be highly confrontational and intimidating. Liz would not shop here on her own.
In the same general area as the Coles Supermarket complex are the buildings of the Kimberley Development Commission and the NAB bank. I have really only included these for the background....you may remember an earlier comment that the hills and bluffs which are a feature of KN pop up in most views.
And of course, with the Argyle Diamond mine a mere (very expensive) stone's throw down the road, finding this retail outlet, Kimberley Fine Diamonds, did not come as a surprise. The only thing which did strike me as a little odd was the very modest building from which these essential additions to every girl's collection were being offered.....reverse psychology perchance???
The influx of seasonal workers to KN was not only evident in the tent city in our caravan park, but at the local motel
where the signage spelt things out in words of one syllable. A room, a laundry and a burger, all in the one premises....backpacker utopia!
The KN Post Office is colourfully appointed to say the least with its red posts and gables. For some reason beyond me I did not take a snap of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it...one wall of this quite large building housed the biggest bank of private post office boxes I have ever seen.
Nearby is the simple KN War memorial
behind which I came across the imposing entrance to the KN Leisure Centre.
An impressive gym is available for those not wishing to work out without getting wet (well, apart from sweat that is)
whilst for those who have the need to bash out some laps, or just cool off, this large pool, set as it is in very inviting grounds, is just the ticket.
And the youngsters are not forgotten either. The size and amenity of this centre was another indication to me that KN is a modern town. Here the (very necessary) town pool was obviously part of the initial build, as opposed to many in smallish country towns which only come into existence after a community push (and fund raising effort).
And whilst on the subject of excellent facilities, but this time of a commercial nature, at the end of Messmate Way stands the entrance to the Kununurra Country Club Resort.
The lush garden surrounds are just delightful.
I could not resist a quick peek down the entrance driveway over the bonnet of the cruiser.
The restaurant and bar here offer meals and other refreshments to the general public, but with our rather busy social schedule, one night out already, and a weather eye on the purse, we did not disturb the waiting staff during our visit.
Almost across the road from this very flash resort stands KN's most recent addition to its public buildings. This is the imposing facade of the KN Courts complex
with the new police offices being constructed at the rear. From what I discovered during conversations with a few locals, this may well be an increasingly busy place in the immediate future.
The rather grand design of the Courts building stands in complete contrast to the more traditional 'outback' style of this administration building nearby.
Not too distant from the botanical gardens grounds of the Country Club Resort the fine grass of the town oval was being well watered (as one would expect here).
And then a surprise.....for a modern town like KN that is. This gateway leads to KN's outdoor cinema, or as the sign on the fence rather more grandly proclaims, the local 'Picture Gardens'.
The large outdoor screen is reminiscent of that dying Australian entertainment facility... the 'drive-in', but here in KN patrons leave their vehicles in the front car park and occupy rows of seats below the screen.
This part of town is also the medical area, with the KN hospital
and very 'tropical' looking dental clinic opposite each other.
Messmate Way ends at Coolibah Drive, where the curve of the road leads past another clutch of shops
to the KN Tourist Information Centre, the building which also houses the Asian Restaurant at which we enjoyed ourselves so much.
Here, together with a take-away and other smaller shops, we find the KN IGA. How this remains in business is beyond us both. The staff were very polite, but compared to Coles the stock was limited and the prices were sky high. On the two occasions we poked our noses in here, we noted that white customers were very scarce on the ground, which did not really surprise us.
It is in this area of the CBD that some of KN's current and burgeoning social problems are on open display. The very well maintained parks nearby have become a gathering place for many of KN's local and itinerant aborigines.
I had noted that some groups were content to sit around quietly in the shade, but unfortunately they were in the minority.
On two quite separate occasions whilst in this part of town I watched as loud arguments degenerated into vicious fist fights. It was whilst watching one of the more entertaining of these bouts (both protagonists were so drunk that none of the blows was telling....and after each had knocked the other down twice, they got up and walked off together like life long mates!) that a KN local told me that these problems were escalating at a rapid and alarming rate.
It appears that the decision by the WA Government to discontinue funding to a large number of outlying communities has resulted in many who lived there now moving into the towns like KN. This has resulted in continuing and on-going territorial disputes between the various tribal groups, disputes which are oft alcohol fuelled and which can erupt almost without warning.
It was virtually impossible to wander around this end of town without being confronted one way or another. Apart from the bouts of fisticuffs I witnessed, loud and indecent verbal slanging matches were commonplace, with absolutely no regard for others in the vicinity. After a few days in KN it did not surprise me at all that, with but a few exceptions, most folk shopped at Coles. This is a social problem with which the good burghers of KN are going to have to come to grips smartly if tourism is not to suffer.
Another stark reminder of some of the current problems in the town and on its outskirts, is this sign posted high on a tree on Weber Plain Road, quite close to the entrance to the Hidden Valley park. As we had learnt during our Ord River tour, the setting of illegal and unwarranted 'hot' fires (apparently in many cases under the false or misguided guise of indigenous land management) is a major local problem. Palls of smoke were not an uncommon sight during our stay.
But let's leave our quick jaunt around KN on a brighter note. On the approach side of town, on the banks of Lilly Creek Lagoon,
those visiting KN can wander through one of its more well known parks, the famous KN Celebrity Park,
where throughout the sweeping expanses of lawns, most of the trees have been planted by someone of note. Plaques acknowledging the planting efforts of visiting royalty, politicians, sporting heroes, entertainers, writers, jurists, and academics abound.
At the risk of being accused of a 'colonial cringe', let's begin our look at a few (very limited) examples with royalty.
This Yellow Flame tree owes its existence to the efforts of no less than HRH Princess Anne (they obviously couldn't think of a tree with an equine connection)
Peter Brock swapped the steering wheel for a spade at some stage to plant this Tamarind
whilst John Farnham's efforts on a broader stage have borne fruit (figuratively speaking)...this is a Raintree.
As we wandered past the small boat launching area,
and after stopping briefly to take in the view across Lilly Creek Lagoon towards the main section of Lake Kununurra,
I stumbled upon one plaque which absolutely made my day. You may note that this small plinth stands alone....where is the tree I wondered? And then I read who had planted the now non-existent tree.
It would appear it has gone the same way as her political aspirations. I did think that to
have had the redoubtable Ms Gillard plant a Scarlet Gum was a nice touch....I would like to think that the organisers have a wicked sense of humour, but I suspect this is mere coincidence!
And on that somewhat controversial (and personally apolitical) note we shall end our quick toddle around Kununurra. There is more to the town that has appeared here I must say. I've not bothered to canvas the other caravan parks, the industrial areas or the housing estates on the other side of Lilly Creek Lagoon. There was just too much else on our crowded agenda.
We have yet to take another tour, this time to the irrigation area and some of the plantations, learn all about sandalwood and to taste the 'spirit of Kununurra', rum at the Hoochery Distillery. And then there is a wander through the Mirima National Park and a day trip north to Wyndham. Is it any wonder I'm still struggling to catchup?...and we've now been in Kurrimine Beach for nearly two months!
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