Day 38: Derby

 Today we are exploring Derby and surrounds. Birdwood Station is about 17 km out of Derby on the Gibb River Road, so we head back towards the highway to Derby, but our first priority is to see the famous prison tree, which is a few km in the other direction towards Broome.

In the early days of the pearling industry, aboriginals were "blackbirded", captured to be used as divers for the industry and on their way to the coast may have been imprisoned in this tree to stop them fleeing.

Prisoners from as far away as Fitzroy Crossing were marched on foot to Derby to face imprisonment, were apparently also held in the prison tree.

The interior of the trunk is hollow and is rumoured to be used to imprison aboriginals 

After visiting the tree we headed back to the township of Derby, in search of a cup of coffee, a cafe called Jila Gallery Cafe is strongly recommended, so thats where we go.

It is a mix of a cafe, a museum for motor enthusiasts, and art gallery and an Italian restaurant with some Malaysian dishes. Tonights special is Beef Rendang.

The coffee was very good and to our surprise, they close at 11 am and the owner came out and offered us some free pastries because he would otherwise throw them out.

Next we went to the harbour to see the Derby Jetty. Derby has the largest tidal range in the Southern Hemisphere of 11 metres. We arrived at the pier about 1.5 hours before high tide and the tidal inrush was very obvious.

The Port of Derby

A barge had just cast off the outer edge of the jetty

And proceeded to head into the shore as there now must be enough water for running the ramp ashore and loading/ unloading

The barges service the many islands off the coast and Derby is there service centre.

From here we head back into town via a series of sculptures that have been erected in the marshland not far from the Port.

A building that was previously the wharf manager's residence is now a volunteer run museum, and whilst a bit disorganised, had some great exhibits.

Wharfinger House Museum

Not all areas of the museum had a theme

One room is focused on aviation history where Derby had an important role

Another was focused on medical care

A new Lovell was discovered

Maritime history, naturally, also was an area of focus

Another must visit establishment in Derby is the Norval Gallery, an art gallery largely devoted to Aboriginal art, and that of it's Founder, Mark Norval. 

The sculptures in the marsh were all Mark Norval's work, but as an art teacher he became obsessed with getting the best out of Aboriginal artists and established this studio/gallery to help Aboriginal artists gain recognition, and sell his own art. His teaching skills were well utilised in helping some local artists reach their potential. New budding artists are free to join his studio and exhibit their work.

A couple of Mark's pieces

Many rooms of Aboriginal art on display

A nice outdoor cafe as part of the complex

It is now lunch time and we have some shopping to do. We went to the local IGA to get our fresh veg and a few other essentials, hoping to get a quick lunch at the bakery that was part of the IGA. Sadly the bakery was pretty disappointing, so we decided to have a late lunch back at the van.

This afternoon I went on a 3.5 km walk from the camping ground called the Boab Walk. After all Derby is the land of the boabs.

A large, irregular termite mound

Finally a clue I am on the right path.

There were some truly magnificent boabs on this track, the one below is estimated to be 2,500 years old

This looked like a termite mound had been cut through at road level exposing the undergound access to where the termites normally live

As the sun starts setting, the colours of the Kimberly start shining through.

Tonight is Hamburger night at Birdwood Downs, and it is a sellout. They can only cope with 60 guests.

At 6 pm the dinner bell rings, and the campfire is quickly deserted as customers head to the "dining room" 

for their burger experience.

The crowd built quickly

Burger chef is flat out on the BBQ

You line up to get your burger which is assembled individually according to your taste.

The burgers were great and it was a very happy crowd.

We met up with a couple that we had met at Timber Creek and had a good chat to them. They are leaving their van here and doing the Gibb River Road, but we may catch up again further down the road.