January 12, 2024
Needing to refuel (Menzies has diesel only, no ULP) after 450kms, and needing a grocery restock we diverted about 20km from the actual trail route into the town of Leonora, the Largest in the Northern Goldfields. In view of access to some locations on the Leonora-Laverton-Leonora loop we decided to leave the van here and booked into the local Caravan Park for 3 days.
The trail to Laverton takes in only 3 locations, the Old Railway Bridges being the first. The railway from Malcolm (on the Leonora line) to Laverton was opened in 1905 and closed in the early 1970s; unfortunately the track was removed, a decision since regretted with all the mining operations in the region today. These low level bridges were constructed to cross the main water channels in times of flooding and even today was evidence of recent water levels of half a metre or more; remarkably the concrete supports have suffered no movement in the ground for these last 118 years.
After the bridges the next stop is a brief look at the remaining railway platform at Eulaminna (not a numbered destination) and the pile of old bottles, believed to be all that remains of the site of one of the hotels adjacent to the station.
Site 11 is the old mining centre of Mt Morgans, all that remains is the restored Municipal Chambers, done by its mining company owners and about to be further developed by new owners Genesis who are re-opening the Mt Morgans Mine this year.
The Grave of John Aspinall is Site 12; a young New Zealand man who explored and prospected right across the region and was sadly killed by a Lightning Strike
