January 10^th 2017 – Kalgoorlie - Merredin

Kalgoorlie to Merredin

There is not much to comment on this route along the Great Eastern Highway. The road is relatively straight and accompanied by the pipe (the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme) that transfers water to Kalgoorlie from Perth, a distance of 530km in a 30 inch (760mm) diameter pipe. There are pumping stations along the length of the pipe.

Straight roads & pipe line

Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

I checked out on Google Maps and one can just resolve the image of the pipe between Perth and Kalgoorlie. The road trains being so long are also easily visible.

Road trains easily visible on Google Maps 

(pipe can just be discerned on south side of highway)

At Southern Cross the scrub land changes to large fields of harvested wheat and this continues west.

We crossed the north-south line of the Rabbit Proof Fence at Burracoppin that originally went from Port Hedland on the north coast to Esperance on the south coast, a distance 3256 km., and completed in 1907.  The fence was constructed to stop the spread of rabbits into Western Australia from the eastern states. Today it is known as the State Barrier Fence and extends 1,170km from the Zuytdorp cliffs north of Kalbarri in the State’s north through to Jerdacuttup east of Ravensthorpe in the State’s south. The threat from rabbits has diminished but the barrier is important in minimising the impact of invasive species, such as wild dogs and emus and protecting the State’s agricultural industries. 

Original Rabbit Proof Fence (red line)

Merredin, where we are staying the night, has a population of around 3000 and is the largest regional centre in the Central Wheatbelt. Wheat is grown within a 100 km radius of the town as is clearly evident. We had dinner in "The Shed" and were fortunate to arrive early since the rest of Merredin also turned up for a party.