Golden Pipeline

It is in this section that it is said the Wheatbelt meets the Goldfields. Certainly, while you won’t see mine shafts from Great Eastern Highway itself, you’ll notice a change in landuse with a diminishing number of fields of crops.

The discovery of gold in the Yilgarn in the late 1880s drew prospectors further east, deeper into waterless country. Look for the salt lakes on which prospectors relied before the pipeline was built. Water was boiled and steam collected and cooled to make something potable if not palatable according to one prospector.

Desalination 100 years ago. Yet, despite the lack of rainfall, during the season, this is one of areas to visit for spectacular wildflowers. You’ll drive through Bodallin, the site of a railway dam built at the base of a granite outcrop and yet another at Moorine Rock. The town of Southern Cross is between No 5 and No 6 if you need a place to spend a night.

Alternative Route

Between No 5 Pump Station and Bodallin, IF you are confident of driving on unsealed roads, you could follow the pipeline access road, the road which runs alongside the pipeline for its entire length to enable maintenance crews access to the pipe.

This short stretch of wide sandy road provides probably the best opportunity to view the pipeline at close hand. It is a good chance to get out of the car and look closely at the pipeline, to note the changes in it, to see the various types of valves, to see where the welders have left their initials on the repair patches and to take photographs.