Golden Pipeline
A time capsule of water,
gold & Western Australia
A project from the National Trust of WA
A self-guided drive trail between the Perth Hills and Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. Go with the Flow. Follow the water to discover more about the audacious goldfields water supply scheme and Engineer CY O’Connor.
“Future generations, I am quite certain will think of us and bless us for our far seeing patriotism, and it will be said of us, as Isaiah said of old, ‘They made a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”
See & Do
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.
Museums
The Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail includes a number of fascinating museums along its length which will give travellers an insight into Wheatbelt and Goldfields communities.
View Museums
Life Giving Rocks
Granite outcrops rise above the horizon in the Wheatbelt and Goldfields adding interest and diversity to the landscape for the traveller.
View Life Giving Rocks
Hunt's Well
Prospectors rushing to the goldfields in the 1890s relied on wells built in the 1860s by convict working parties under the supervision of Charles Hunt.
View Hunt's Well
Wimmera Hill Lookout
Wimmera Hill is a great lookout above Southern Cross which offers views from the western side of the town. The farming and mining equipment ...
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Bodallin Railway Dam
Bodallin is a small town on the highway. It would be easy to simply drive past but the railway dam to the west of the town, the remains of an old ...
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Fraser’s Mine
Located over the hill behind the Palace Hotel, Fraser’s Mine was central to the town’s development. A modern open cut mine is located ...
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Old Cemetery, Southern Cross
Located at the southern end of Southern Cross the cemetery, which was only used from 1891 until 1898, has been redeveloped as a Pioneer Memorial. ...
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Explore
Click on any map section or place below to discover The Golden Pipeline.
Northam to Cunderdin
Explore section two
