Wanjarri Station Dunny Construction

September 2009

In late September five Track Care members joined two DEC officers out at Wanjarri Nature Reserve to construct a drop toilet, carry out repairs to the old shearing shed, remove the tank stand and generally tidy up.

Wanjarri is an A Class Nature Reserve covering 53,00ha approximately 60kms north of Leinster. It is one of WA’s most remote Nature Reserves and represents an arid zone ecosystem. There is a field study centre situated in the shearing shed.

In the 1920’s, Wanjarri was developed by John Currie as a pastoral lease. In 1971, Tom Moriarty, the son of the original owner, sold the lease to the Department of Fisheries and Fauna, making it the first nature reserve to be purchased from a pastoral lease in Western Australia. It is now managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation.

Wanjarri is noted for the variety of flora and fauna with well over 100 different species of birds being documented. During our brief stay we did not encounter anywhere near this number but we regularly woke to the beautiful caroling of the pied butcher birds and were entertained by the playful antics of the pink and grey galahs. There are several resident monitor lizards that ambled around the campsite checking out our progress.

As our group arrived before DEC we set about cleaning out the original toilet and camp house which had been regularly visited by kangaroos. The hut is a very basic two room building consisting of a lounge, with an open fireplace, and bedroom, with the outside kitchen situated on the SE facing verandah. This building started life as an assay shed at the Yellow Aster mine in Kathleen Valley. It was taken to Wanjarri by the original leaseholder and erected on the claypan approximately 150m south of the well. For obvious reasons it was later moved to its present site and the verandah was built and the Metters stove installed. The original hut had a dirt floor, the concrete floor being laid down in 1997 by CALM. Around the hut, a very productive fruit and vegetable garden existed, with apricot, citrus, figs and grapes and especially good melons, all watered from the well. This camp hut was where the shearers camped when at Wanjarri.

The men re roofed the engine room of the shearing shed and repaired the lean-to roof. As the roof battens are in a very poor state this was a rather treacherous job. The original shearing shed was cut in half after a cyclone damaged the building. In days gone by the lean-to area on the western end of the building was used as a workshop to carry out minor repairs. Plenty of corrugated iron is stacked around the buildings and this was sorted to find enough material to repair roofs and to clad the new toilet that we had come to build.

Once work began, very dark skies threatened to interrupt the project, but fortunately the rain that fell (19mm), came later in the afternoon over two days.

Digging began on the toilet, but it was not long before the jack hammer was required. Because the ground was so hard this toilet has two connected drums side by side but only one deep. By the end of the first day the drums were in the ground, the cement floor was in place and the framework for the building was complete. The search to find sufficient sheets of iron to clad the toilet was also finished, however some sheets had holes that would need patching.

Early the next morning the ‘new’ door was fixed to the front of the shearing shed. After breakfast work began over at the windmill. There is approximately 4 metres of water in the well which has a total depth of 20.7 metres and is lined for the top 4’6” (1.4m). The mechanism of the windmill is broken so no water is currently available. It is proposed to cap off the well and install a hand pump which will provide water for visitors but not running water to the living quarters as was previously provided. The original family are saddened at this fate as a highlight of their stays was the hot showers after a day exploring. The water was heated using a ‘donkey’ that is apparently not functional now.

Using the hiab on the DEC truck the tank was removed from the 12ft (3.6m) high tank stand. As the timbers of the tank stand were rotting, making it unsafe, it was decided to pull it down and saw up the timbers for use in the campfire.

During the afternoon one side of each sheet of tin was painted. The painted side will be on the inside of the new toilet leaving the outside looking very rustic to match the surroundings. By evening the roof of the toilet was tek screwed on and a truck load of rubbish had been taken to the tip. As this was our first evening without rain the bbq was lit for a great cook up.

The last work day saw the toilet clad and all the finishing bits added, including the ridge capping, door closers and bolting in the bowl and toilet roll holder.

The shearing shed also had a good clean out. After a group photo in front of the new toilet, Gary & Ben from DEC Kalgoorlie moved out heading for home. It had been a very satisfying week of work with a lot accomplished in great company.

On our last day in Wanjarri we decided to head south for some sight seeing. We traveled to Dingo Pool, stopping at some breakaways on the way. There was water in the Pool, however it was rather green and not at all inviting for a cooling dip. Heading NE then N we attempted to find Coongie Soak before heading back to the campsite for lunch and then later departing for home.

Our thanks go to Gary and Ben from DEC for making this project possible and to Terry and Nanette, Selwyn and Jeff and Lyn for giving their time and effort to complete this toilet construction.