This post covers the few days we had in Derby – pronounced with the “e”. We did not know much about Derby – other than it has the largest tides in Australia – but we needed a few days to clean up and recover form the dirt and dust of the Gibb River Road. Derby proved an interesting town with a chequered history. And oh what great sunsets.
We were in Derby 19 – 20 July
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting there
Fitzroy Crossing > Derby (259kms)
History
Prior to European settlement the area around Derby was inhabited by the Warrwa for around 40,000 years.
In 1880, sheep stations were built nearby at Yeeda and a landing port was built. The massive 11 metre tides, rips and scattered islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago made a port necessary for the development of the West Kimberley outback. Derby is the oldest town in the Kimberley, and in 1883 was officially named as a town site. In 1884 the first lot was sold.
In 1885, a jetty was constructed to service the growing pastoral areas and the thousands that flocked to Western Australia for the gold rush. Inevitably, trouble broke out between the European settlers and local aborigines and violence and hostility racked the town’s development.
Derby was famous in the 1920s as the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia, West Australian Airways Ltd. Their service began with their first flight on 5 December 1921. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world’s longest passenger airline route.
During World War II, Derby was bombed by Japanese planes because of an air base and jetty that was regularly used by Australian forces. More recently, refugees were housed at the Air Force Base Curtin, however the detention center was closed in 2014
Derby was the western “base” in the 1960s and 1970s as the Gibb River Road was built for the station owners to carry their beef from the remote outback stations to abattoirs at either Derby or Broome in the West Kimberley, or to Wyndham in the East Kimberley.
At the 2016 census, Derby had a population of 3,325 with 47.2% of Aboriginal descent. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000. Located on King Sound, Derby has the highest tides in Australia, with the peak differential between low and high tide reaching 11.8 metres.
18 July – to Derby
The drive to Derby was pretty flat in all directions – not much to look at. About half way we went through some rock outcrops, and then came to The Boab Tree – this is massive!
One thing we have noticed up here is that very few rest areas have toilets – causes some difficulties at times.
At the Kimberley Entrance CP in Derby, we are stunned by the length of the queue of vans waiting to check in. We get on the tail and Kerry goes to investigate. She came back after a while to tell me that we are 12th in line. We slowly shuffled along – it took us 40 minutes to get through the gate. Half way along the queue, a older man wanders in. The man behind the counter says “what are you still doing here – you were leaving this morning“. The old guy informs everyone that “I’ve decided to stay another few days“. You can see people in the queue rolling their eyes…. ridiculous someone informing people near midday that they are now NOT leaving.
Once inside we got to our site and saw that Barb & Keith were on a site opposite us. They told us that Lillian and Jon are across the park. Our other friends form the 4WD training course, Minika and Ian had returned home. We had no trouble reversing Mobi in and were soon set up.
We went shopping in the afternoon – there are no alcohol restrictions in Derby. At 5 we went with Barb & Keith to see the sunset on the pier. This was brilliant, and the pier was quite crowded with most watching the sun, but quite a few fishing. One man caught a very large fish – he had to drag it back to the land to get it in – a mulloway. – ducking underneath other peoples fishing rods so his fish wouldn’t get tangled in their lines. A massive fish. I’m not sure how else he could have landed it though.
We also took some pics of Barb and Kerry.
That evening all 6 of us went to the local pizza place for dinner. It was a really good night but no singing or dancing this time. Missed that singing and dancing.
19 July – explore Derby
The next morning Barb & Keith and Lillian & Jon left for Broome, and headed almost directly to Cape Leveque. Hopefully we will catch then in Broome later in the week. We spent the day catching up on this blog and sorting out photos, Later we went to see Myall Bore and the Prison Boab Tree.
From the early 1900s, farmers in the area drew water from the 322 metre deep Myall bore to fill a massive 120 metre long trough, providing water for up to 1,000 head of cattle at a time. It was believed to be one of the longest troughs in the southern hemisphere. The trough provided the last resting place for cattle before being shipped out of the Derby port. Travellers also camped here overnight making the most of the plentiful supply of water. It is named after the man who created the bore and trough.
The Boab Prison Tree is a 1,500 year old, large hollow tree with a girth of 14.7 metres. It had been reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for indigenous prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. However, it appears that there is no evidence that the Derby Prison Tree was ever used for holding prisoners. Instead it was used by First Nations people as a shelter- they have great respect for boab trees.
In fact the information boards at the tree tell a harrowing tale of kidnapping of First Nations people by settlers termed “blackbirders” in the 1880s. This was a way that the settlers got workers for the pearling industry. They rounded up the Indigenous people, put them in chains, and marched them to the coast, where they were enslaved to the settlers. Today the Prison Tree is a registered First Nations Site. Visitors are requested to respect the cultural sensitivity of the site and not climb into or approach close to the tree.
We went back to the port in daylight and it is an impressive place. We had a good lunch at the cafe there – scallop pies and salad. There was an Indigenous man baiting a crab trap off the pier. I asked him where you could buy fresh fish or seafood…. He just laughed and said “you have to catch it yourself”. Thats one thing I have been quite shocked about – the amount of fish and other seafood around and not a seafood market in the whole area.
To see photos from this post, click here