Golden Pipeline

From No 7 to No 8 you travel through inhospitable sand plain written about, in disparaging terms in their diaries and memoirs, by prospectors rushing to the goldfields in the 1890s.

They stopped at ‘condensers’ to buy water dug from the sand and boiled to create steam that was captured and cooled to remove salt. You don’t have to go to such lengths – No 8 is only about 30 km from Coolgardie.

In their haste and desperate search for water, it seems they did not appreciate the beauty and unique flora in this seemingly barren section. You drive through Boorabbin National Park and to the side of the road are large stands of Goldfields York Gum and the beautiful Gimlet with its vivid orange trunk.

No 7, Gilgai, is particularly fascinating, not despite, but because all the buildings, including the pump station, have been demolished. A little further and close to the highway is Woolgangie with its granite rocks and dam, old telegraph station and the rusting remains of the former settlement. At No 8, Dedari, you may have the opportunity to inspect the most complete pump station along the entire Trail.