Second Corner: West
Somewhat belatedly, it is time that I reported on the accomplishment of visiting the western most point of Australia, the second cardinal point of my 4CornerS,W,N,E expedition. Steep Point is located at 113 degrees east longitude and 26 degrees south latitude. Steep Point is part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, a place of unspoiled beauty with abundant marine life in the extensive waters of the bay, a stark arid coastline, and the unique stromatolites of the Hamelin Pool.
The manner of locomotion will be quite different to southernmost Wilsons Promontory which required a three day bushwalk. This time a one hour scenic flight from the nearby township of Denham seems the best option. It is possible to drive to Steep Point with a properly equipped 4 wheel drive vehicle, which I don't have. The road distance from Denham is about 250kms, much of it over rough dirt track, and some of it over sandhills requiring tyres to be deflated. Steep Point is remote and totally natural, the usual visitors are the keenest of fishermen. All of this seems too hard, the attraction of a scenic flight is overwhelming. Additionally, in remote parts of Australia the view from the air is often the most dramatic and visually spectacular.
For much of Western Australia fine weather can be guaranteed and so it was brilliant sunshine at 9am, the time chosen for our flight. Fellow passengers aboad are Margaret, and Oliver of Otterburn the globetrotting sheep from Northumberland. The plane is a small four seater from the Shark Bay Air Charter company.
Words are really totally inferior to pictures to describe this hour. Much of the time is spent looking over the beautiful blue waters of Shark Bay. This bay is unusual in the extent of the sea grass beds. These beds are dark green in colour and contrast magnificently with the stark white sand close to the shore line. As well there is the blindingly white evaporation ponds of the Useless Loop salt processing works with a little 'mountain' of salt piled up at the end of a jetty, awaiting shipment to Japan.
Flying westwards we intersect with the coast line at the spectacularly vertical Zuytdorp Cliffs. So named because of the Dutch East Indies merchant vessel "Zuytdorp" wrecked on these cliffs in 1712. En route to Batavia this ship met the same fate as a number of other Dutch ships which crashed into the land mass of New Holland. Without a method of calculating longitude they were completely vulnerable if blown near land in the course of the dark night hours. The story of the recovery of the Zuytdorp wreck is fascinating, but there is no space here to tell it.
Just to the north is Steep Point itself. Again, there are rugged cliffs at the end of a long northward pointing promontory separating the rough waters of the Indian Ocean from the placid waters of Shark Bay. The terrain itself is largely scrubby and featureless with a few vehicular tracks meandering along. Its one outstanding characteristic is its westness, there is no other spot in the continent quite like it.
A short distance across a channel is Dirk Hartog Island and we fly along and across this sandy island. It is a place of some significance to me. I recall it from the first lesson in my fourth class History text book, in particular I recall the picture of Dirk Hartog's Pewter Dish. Dirk Hartog was the master of the Dutch East Indies vessel "Eendracht", en route to Batavia for a cargo of spices to take back to the Netherlands. In 1616 he decided to land on this part of the coastline of New Holland, he was the first of the Dutch navigators to do so. He spent three days exploring in the vicinity but found little that was of interest to the Dutch East India Company. To record his visit, he flattened a pewter dish, inscribed some details of his voyage, and nailed it to a tree. It was the first European object placed on the Australian continent. It remained for eighty years until removed (and replaced by another) by a later Dutch navigator, Willem de Vlamingh. The pewter dish is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and I have seen it there. So I derive quite some pleasure from seeing this scrubby place which I can think of as the first spark of a lifelong interest in the history of Australia.
From this point our flight takes us in an easterly direction across the waters of Shark Bay and back to the airstrip at Denham. It is visually beautiful - the varying patterns of the sea grass beds, the meandering deeper channels through the shallow areas of white sand, the clear blue waters, the occasional small boat - a scene to remain in the memory for a long time.
We find ourselves back on Terra Firma. The western "corner" can be ticked. It is at this point, for a variety of reasons, that I decide to suspend my expedition. Hopefully, next year, I will resume the journey and set about getting myself to the northern and eastern points of the continent. We shall see what we shall see.
