December 21, 2023
The road through Dundas Rocks is the Old Coach Road which was the Cobb and Co, stage route from Norseman to Esperance; and is now the Dundas (or Norseman) Heritage Trail with 10 designated points of interest. As we are moving in the opposite direction we are travelling in reverse order.
Site 10 is the old Dundas Townsite we have already looked at in a previous Post
Site 9 is the Dam, adjacent to our campsite, and also previously pictured
Site 8 : The old East-West Telegraph Track; still usable as a 4wd only track in sections; the original steel posts and cross arms are still standing here at the crossroad with the Old Coach Road
Site 7: The May Bell Mine and The Brockway Timber Reserve.
The May Bell was the first find of gold in the area and the headframe and shaft remains today.
The Brockway Timber Reserve is an area of 1770HA established to protect the Eucalyptus Brockwayii; a unique species found only in this area
Site 6: The Break O’Day Cricket Pitch. The Break O’Day community was a small centralised location that served the living needs of several mines nearby, the cricket pitch was laid in 1895 and has survived almost intact although the bush has been left to grow back except for the picnic area and turning circle which now adjoin.
Site 5: The Iron Duke Decline. Here you can see where a new attempt was made, in 1987, to intercept an old shaft from the Lady Mary South mine but only finding low grade ore it was abandoned. The tunnel is around 3 m in height.
Site 4: The Lady Mary Mine and a lonely grave
Site 3: A 1990s open cut attempt to rework an old site, now rehabilitated
Site 2: The location of the historic Cumberland and Kirkpatrick mines but little remains that can be explored; there is also a memorial here to the Cobb and Co. Coach service
Site 1 is the beginning of the trail as you leave Norseman. Once again in Norseman, we stayed at the RV stop in town which was extremely quiet as Christmas approaches
