Day 116 Sandstone, (London Bridge Tourist Drive & Heritage Walk), WA

Today was a full on tourist day and even the rain did not deter us. First up this morning was the twelve kilometre Tourist Drive that took us to Contradiction Well, Former State Battery, London Bridge and Old Brewery.  It was interesting and each place we stopped at gave us more and more insight into how much the Gold Rush days in the early 1900's played such a vital part in the development of this area.  

Contradiction Well seemed to us to be in the middle of nowhere but then we read on the information board that stated it was a government initiative to put down these wells to encourage exploration and settlement to the area.  Contradiction Well was sunk by hand to a depth of 100 metres and is thought to be the towns first water supply.

The Former State Battery is heritage listed and is only one of six remaining in Western Australia, from a peak of forty.  These Batteries were of vital importance to the mining industry and it is sad to see them slowly deteriorating.  The landscape surrounding the Battery has been well and truly turned over by gold prospectors looking for that elusive nugget.

My favourite place on the Tourist Trail was London Bridge.  London Bridge is part of a larger rock formation around 800 metres long and varies in height from three to ten metres.  The Basalt ridge is thought to be about 350 million years old and the "bridge" is the result of different rates of erosion in hard and soft rock.  It sounds old but I read that the underlying rocks of the Sandstone area may be as old as 2 billion years - nearly half the age of the Earth itself.  Unfortunately London Bridge is falling down and over time has become thinner and thinner.  It will eventually collapse.

The last stop on the Tourist Drive was the Old Brewery.  We had to climb to the top of a rocky hill to reach the sight for what used to be the Old Brewery and marvelled at the ingenuity of the design. The main building was on top of the hill that we climbed, around 10-15 metres in height and water from a nearby well was pumped to an elevated tank and from there it was gravity feed to coolers and then into vats on the main floor.  Finally the beer flowed via pipes to a giant cellar via an immense tunnel driven into the hill.  This underground cellar could be kept cool in even the hottest weather.

After the drive we stopped at the one and only coffee shop in Sandstone where we enjoyed our hot beverages with homemade fruit cake.  It was a very busy cafe and it's sad that it has been sold and the new owners are closing the cafe.

By the time we had finished our tea and coffee it was time to gather at the Information Centre for the guided tour around the Sandstone township that is full of heritage listed buildings.  We visited the Former Police Station, Former Sandstone Primary School, the Gold and Wool Interpretive Park, Black Range Chapel, Heritage Cottage, Former Post Office and lastly the privately owned Outback Shack that I felt very uncomfortable visiting as it really triggered my OCD.  They say one persons trash is another persons treasure.........

Almost all of the old buildings have been purchased by the local shire council and our tour guide was in fact the Shire Chairman.  She is so passionate about the town and has lived here almost all her life.  She is a very forward thinking person and when she heard that the cafe was closing she instigated a plan to have the old Post Office converted to a cafe/restaurant. The tour was great and we learnt so much about the town.  There were some great anecdotes about the people living in the shire and I enjoyed listening to them.  An example was a story told to us when we were in the church. Apparently an elderly resident who passed on did not under any circumstance want a church service for her burial.  The family did not follow her instructions and went ahead and organised a church service.  Apparently the day of the funeral was the biggest downpour of rain in living history and everyone had to wade through ankle deep water to get inside the church and all through the church service the smoke detector repeatedly sounded the alarm. 

 

We will leave Sandstone tomorrow with lots of fond memories.  It is a tiny town with a very big heart.