EXCEED JUNE/JULY 2017 june_July_colour emag | Page 16

TRIP REPORT
Canning Stock Route
25th April to1st June 2017
Extensive rains in 2016-7 meant many trees and shrubs along the Canning were in flower especially the wattles and
ground covers. It was not long before we recognised the marble gum with its unusual habitat on dune tops, the poison
camel bush, holly grevillea, mulga and desert poplar, the latter suffering from poor health in the north section of the
track. Parts of the Canning were heavily forested especially with Mulga, Casuarina, Melaleuca or Eucalypts including
mallees, and many other parts were spinifex on sand plains with dunes. We found that Moore’s “A guide to plants of
inland Australia” was invaluable.
The geology also varied and we experienced the rough travel on Nullabor limestone, the deeply weathered and eroded
low hills north of the Trans line, then the start of gold country heading into Laverton. From Laverton to Wiluna we
passed many signs of current and past gold mining activity and included an extensive walk over old workings south
of Duketon. That same afternoon was a drive along the famous Yandal gold province, home of many well-known
discoveries in the 1990s including Bronzewing and Jundee gold mines. Reaching the old gold mining town of Wiluna
meant our last refuelling for 900 km and the real start to the Canning. During following days we went close to the
Shoemaker meteorite site and past the Frere Range ironstones.
As we merged our geological and botanical knowledge, it was fascinating to realise that the plants we were seeing in
central Australia were the product of the complex history of our continent. Over the last few million years as Australia
has been drifting north it has moved into warmer and drier equatorial conditions. As this was occurring there were
changes from ice-age to greenhouse, and back, on a 100,000 year cycle. During those ice-ages, sea level fell 120-140m
compared to today’s level creating land bridges to Tasmania, New Guinea and beyond allowing movement of animals
and plant species. During these changes, the dominant tree types adapted or were replaced, but pockets of the old
remained. This large-scale picture was overlain by local effects of damp creek beds with River Red Gums and Red
Mulga, sand dunes with their own ground water patterns that supported the marble gum, and erratic grass fires that
have been part of the landscape for 50,000 years. The various stages of response and recovery from these fires was easily
seen along the track.
One of the most surprising aspects was the lack of our Coat-of-Arms. It was not until south of Alice Springs on the
way home that we saw kangaroos and emu, leaving the 64-dollar question of why are they lacking in much of central
Australia. Previous years we had been told it was due to lots of water, lack of water, or extensive hunting, but none of
the explanations really gel.
Our whole team receives credit for the photos which were compiled and co-ordinated by Gary Wallis 1849.
Neil Phillips 1744
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Vol 34 No. 5 June-July 2017