FAWDCWA endeavours to hold at least one trip each month including day trips, social outings and extended camping trips. This is a retrospective of an extended camp trip to Melangata Station near Yalgoo.
On Good Friday eight people in seven cars met north of Bullsbrook to start our epic journey to Melangata. The journey had an inauspicious start due to the Trip Leader’s incompetence in checking her radio, but another came to the rescue and fixed it, and off we went. Five of the seven cars were towing and we hoped to have a not-too-rushed journey which would allow us to take in some sights. We travelled via Moora then the Middle Way (Midlands Rd), stopping for smoko and coffee breaks and to look at some of the sculptures at the small towns along the way. We pushed on though, leaving the wet weather behind as we headed north. We travelled via Watheroo, Marchagee, Coorow (our first collective experience of the diabolical unmanned pre-paid credit card petrol bowser), Winchester, Carnamah and Three Springs where we turned off for the Morawa-Yalgoo Road. The coffee tragics were dismayed that nowhere was open for a caffeine top-up, but that’s what you get for travelling on Good Friday.
The Morawa-Yalgoo Road was great driving and some of our members were very excited when we drove past a sign announcing our arrival in The Outback. Obviously a photo of this event was vital. Soon after this crossing we came upon an abandoned gold mine, so we all clambered out to have a look. This was my introduction to Freedom Club Cat Herding as some members are very excitable and curious and became so caught up in the thrill of exploring that they forgot we still had miles to go. After some suitable exploring we headed off to Yalgoo and our destination.
Melangata had received some serious rain the previous week, and although the roads were clear there had been damage to them from the fast water flows. The 68 km dirt road from Yalgoo to Melangata was more corrugated than expected, and I was going quite slowly as my Teardrop was less tough than I had been told.
We got there eventually and were met by Jo Clews (the owner) and her dogs and directed to our spacious part of the campground. Melangata was hosting a Volunteer Blitz and also hosting two other clubs, so there were a few people about, but the campground is so large everyone had plenty of space. We attended a welcome talk from Jo then headed back to finish setting up, having a meal and going to bed!
On Saturday morning the whole campground had a Homestead tour with Jo. Melangata is the only privately owned building designed by Monsignor Hawes, and Jo is an informed and engaging guide. She is the only person we know who has a turret over her kitchen. Afterwards we took a little drive around the area and ended up at the former Dalgaranga Station. This involved more poking around, then driving to and walking up to the dam on top of a granite outcrop and generally taking in the views. Many years ago the dam wall burst under pressure of storm water but it was an impressive engineering feat nonetheless.
We also visited Australia’s smallest confirmed meteorite crater, the Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater. This too required further exploration, photo ops, hiking and general investigation. We returned to Melangata in time for the whole campground, escorted by Jo Clews to drive to a little breakaway on her property from where we could sit around a campfire, sip your beverage-of-choice and watch the full moon rise over the breakaway. This cunning plan, however, was skittled by malicious fate. Although we were carpooling the convoy was still quite large and there was a boggy patch in which the farm tractor got bogged that very morning.
The short version is, many cars went over said boggy patch at highway tyre pressures. The bog monster got us. After a big team effort which involved pruning a tree down to a twig to establish a Path B and deploying a winch for the first time ever, we got through. The remaining convoy members all dropped their tyre pressures significantly and used Path B to make it through unscathed. We made it to the breakaway in the dark, and settled down around a campfire to have drinkies in style.
Next day was Sunday, and the Easter Bunny had been out early. After a civilised start time we did an epic day trip out past Dalgaranga to Cue, via dirt roads. It took much longer than expected (the road was quite damaged by the recent rains) but included more mines, bird spotting, food stops and finally to Cue where I had to find the Post Office (which in 1955 was the Registry Office where my parents were married). We had all been hanging out for either hot chippies or coffee for days, and we finally got our fix at the very expensive Cue service station. After lunch we went to Big Bell, a former gold mining town with an amazing art deco pub. This, naturally, required more exploration. There is a lot to see and unfortunately we didn’t have time for it all. The Trip Leader was a Nervous Nelly and doesn’t like driving at Kangaroo o’clock. Two hours after leaving Big Bell, upon arrival at camp, right on sunset, comment was made that the convoy speed had increased from the day before (there was food at the end of journey you know). We did see some kangaroos and emus but fortunately they saw us too, or were fast.
Monday was the escorted tour of Melangata with Jo Clews. Most members thought this was the highlight of the trip. Unfortunately we could not go as far as usual as the water damage had made some roads impassable, but we were happy with what we saw. There are Dorper sheep, beautiful breakaways and Aboriginal art (hand paintings) on the property, a lot of history, and an old Cessna (which crashed and now adorns their airstrip). As usual Jo was an amazing guide. As well as being a well-known camp oven cook, Jo has an interest in bush tucker. The group were fascinated with the items she was finding and showing us. The rest of the day was spent hanging around camp. Due to the active social life at camp we hadn’t yet had our own campfire so we decided not to join the whole camp meet-up and have our own instead.
Having learned that civilised start times lead to uncivilised arrival times, on Tuesday we had a less tardy start for our drive to Mount Magnet on the back roads. There was another abandoned gold mine to explore, and treasures were brought back for show and tell. Once we arrived at Mt Magnet we were mostly under whelmed. There had been hopes of a counter lunch at a country pub, but as business is so slow none of the country pubs opened for lunch. We managed to find one cafe which was open so most of us went in for lunch, which overwhelmed the staff who were not used to a peak hour.
Mt Magnet does have a nice rest area (and playground) with toilets on the main street. We checked out the Information Centre and had a poke around, then headed off to do the Tourist Loop. This was pretty much fun, with more gold mining history to check out, and some breakaways and nice views. Some team navigation did occur at the breakaways but we were not lost, we were exploring. We then headed in to Yalgoo on the bitumen (shock horror) so that we could get to Joker’s Tunnel, (more goldfields history) and check it out before dark.
The next day was our last day and was a rest day. I called it “make and mend”, so we stayed in camp, hung out, and went for walks. However, the Freedom Club Men’s Shed also happened. They “got on the tools”. They were men on a mission with problems to solve. All recipients were duly grateful (really really).
That night we sat around our last campfire together, then headed off the next morning returning via Morawa, Perenjori and Dalwallinu (after checking out St Hyacinth’s chapel – also by Monsignor Hawes in Yalgoo). Perenjori has another of his churches which we saw but didn’t explore. After seven hours we made it home.
It was great to see a previously unexplored part of WA. It is beautiful and when you get off the beaten track there is even more to see (including Wedge Tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrels, Whistling Kites and Rainbow Bee Eaters). Everyone enjoyed the trip, and we enjoyed getting to know each other better. This is not a trip for a long weekend, but is recommended!
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Last Updated: 9 April 2025 by wp_admin
FAWDCWA – Melangata Station (Easter 2024)
FAWDCWA endeavours to hold at least one trip each month including day trips, social outings and extended camping trips. This is a retrospective of an extended camp trip to Melangata Station near Yalgoo.
On Good Friday eight people in seven cars met north of Bullsbrook to start our epic journey to Melangata. The journey had an inauspicious start due to the Trip Leader’s incompetence in checking her radio, but another came to the rescue and fixed it, and off we went. Five of the seven cars were towing and we hoped to have a not-too-rushed journey which would allow us to take in some sights. We travelled via Moora then the Middle Way (Midlands Rd), stopping for smoko and coffee breaks and to look at some of the sculptures at the small towns along the way. We pushed on though, leaving the wet weather behind as we headed north. We travelled via Watheroo, Marchagee, Coorow (our first collective experience of the diabolical unmanned pre-paid credit card petrol bowser), Winchester, Carnamah and Three Springs where we turned off for the Morawa-Yalgoo Road. The coffee tragics were dismayed that nowhere was open for a caffeine top-up, but that’s what you get for travelling on Good Friday.
The Morawa-Yalgoo Road was great driving and some of our members were very excited when we drove past a sign announcing our arrival in The Outback. Obviously a photo of this event was vital. Soon after this crossing we came upon an abandoned gold mine, so we all clambered out to have a look. This was my introduction to Freedom Club Cat Herding as some members are very excitable and curious and became so caught up in the thrill of exploring that they forgot we still had miles to go. After some suitable exploring we headed off to Yalgoo and our destination.
Melangata had received some serious rain the previous week, and although the roads were clear there had been damage to them from the fast water flows. The 68 km dirt road from Yalgoo to Melangata was more corrugated than expected, and I was going quite slowly as my Teardrop was less tough than I had been told.
We got there eventually and were met by Jo Clews (the owner) and her dogs and directed to our spacious part of the campground. Melangata was hosting a Volunteer Blitz and also hosting two other clubs, so there were a few people about, but the campground is so large everyone had plenty of space. We attended a welcome talk from Jo then headed back to finish setting up, having a meal and going to bed!
On Saturday morning the whole campground had a Homestead tour with Jo. Melangata is the only privately owned building designed by Monsignor Hawes, and Jo is an informed and engaging guide. She is the only person we know who has a turret over her kitchen. Afterwards we took a little drive around the area and ended up at the former Dalgaranga Station. This involved more poking around, then driving to and walking up to the dam on top of a granite outcrop and generally taking in the views. Many years ago the dam wall burst under pressure of storm water but it was an impressive engineering feat nonetheless.
We also visited Australia’s smallest confirmed meteorite crater, the Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater. This too required further exploration, photo ops, hiking and general investigation. We returned to Melangata in time for the whole campground, escorted by Jo Clews to drive to a little breakaway on her property from where we could sit around a campfire, sip your beverage-of-choice and watch the full moon rise over the breakaway. This cunning plan, however, was skittled by malicious fate. Although we were carpooling the convoy was still quite large and there was a boggy patch in which the farm tractor got bogged that very morning.
The short version is, many cars went over said boggy patch at highway tyre pressures. The bog monster got us. After a big team effort which involved pruning a tree down to a twig to establish a Path B and deploying a winch for the first time ever, we got through. The remaining convoy members all dropped their tyre pressures significantly and used Path B to make it through unscathed. We made it to the breakaway in the dark, and settled down around a campfire to have drinkies in style.
Next day was Sunday, and the Easter Bunny had been out early. After a civilised start time we did an epic day trip out past Dalgaranga to Cue, via dirt roads. It took much longer than expected (the road was quite damaged by the recent rains) but included more mines, bird spotting, food stops and finally to Cue where I had to find the Post Office (which in 1955 was the Registry Office where my parents were married). We had all been hanging out for either hot chippies or coffee for days, and we finally got our fix at the very expensive Cue service station. After lunch we went to Big Bell, a former gold mining town with an amazing art deco pub. This, naturally, required more exploration. There is a lot to see and unfortunately we didn’t have time for it all. The Trip Leader was a Nervous Nelly and doesn’t like driving at Kangaroo o’clock. Two hours after leaving Big Bell, upon arrival at camp, right on sunset, comment was made that the convoy speed had increased from the day before (there was food at the end of journey you know). We did see some kangaroos and emus but fortunately they saw us too, or were fast.
Monday was the escorted tour of Melangata with Jo Clews. Most members thought this was the highlight of the trip. Unfortunately we could not go as far as usual as the water damage had made some roads impassable, but we were happy with what we saw. There are Dorper sheep, beautiful breakaways and Aboriginal art (hand paintings) on the property, a lot of history, and an old Cessna (which crashed and now adorns their airstrip). As usual Jo was an amazing guide. As well as being a well-known camp oven cook, Jo has an interest in bush tucker. The group were fascinated with the items she was finding and showing us. The rest of the day was spent hanging around camp. Due to the active social life at camp we hadn’t yet had our own campfire so we decided not to join the whole camp meet-up and have our own instead.
Having learned that civilised start times lead to uncivilised arrival times, on Tuesday we had a less tardy start for our drive to Mount Magnet on the back roads. There was another abandoned gold mine to explore, and treasures were brought back for show and tell. Once we arrived at Mt Magnet we were mostly under whelmed. There had been hopes of a counter lunch at a country pub, but as business is so slow none of the country pubs opened for lunch. We managed to find one cafe which was open so most of us went in for lunch, which overwhelmed the staff who were not used to a peak hour.
Mt Magnet does have a nice rest area (and playground) with toilets on the main street. We checked out the Information Centre and had a poke around, then headed off to do the Tourist Loop. This was pretty much fun, with more gold mining history to check out, and some breakaways and nice views. Some team navigation did occur at the breakaways but we were not lost, we were exploring. We then headed in to Yalgoo on the bitumen (shock horror) so that we could get to Joker’s Tunnel, (more goldfields history) and check it out before dark.
The next day was our last day and was a rest day. I called it “make and mend”, so we stayed in camp, hung out, and went for walks. However, the Freedom Club Men’s Shed also happened. They “got on the tools”. They were men on a mission with problems to solve. All recipients were duly grateful (really really).
That night we sat around our last campfire together, then headed off the next morning returning via Morawa, Perenjori and Dalwallinu (after checking out St Hyacinth’s chapel – also by Monsignor Hawes in Yalgoo). Perenjori has another of his churches which we saw but didn’t explore. After seven hours we made it home.
It was great to see a previously unexplored part of WA. It is beautiful and when you get off the beaten track there is even more to see (including Wedge Tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrels, Whistling Kites and Rainbow Bee Eaters). Everyone enjoyed the trip, and we enjoyed getting to know each other better. This is not a trip for a long weekend, but is recommended!
Category: Events, FAWDCWA Tags: KalGnet, Melangata, Mount Magnet
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