Golden Pipeline

Rocks, rabbits and riches. While it is only a short distance, relatively speaking, from No 4 to No 5, there is a great deal to see in the area so do leave time.

Merredin, about halfway between Perth and the Eastern Goldfields, has as its ever present backdrop Merredin Peak.

Steam trains needed water and granite rocks in this section, such as the Peak, were harvested for runoff from rain. For a short time in 1894, as the railway made its way progressively east, Burracoppin, not far east of Merredin, was as far as the train went and you could have caught a coach from here to the goldfields. Or walked. Or cycled. Later surveyors set out north and south from Burracoppin to build the Rabbit Proof Fence.

It is also in this section that a discovery of gold resulted in a rush in hopes of riches.Tall silos at Carrabin are a reminder of riches from the soil: golden sheaves of wheat. No 5 Pump Station, Yerbillon, located just off the highway about six km east of Carrabin, provides an interesting insight into the communities which developed around the pump stations.