Halls Creek, Western Australia
Halls Creek is a small town with about 1,450 inhabitants, is located in the Kimberleyregion in Western Australia between Fitzroy Crossing and Warmun. The city was founded as a mine in the vicinity of the native tribes Jaru ( Djar -u), Kiya ( GKID -ja ) and Tjurabalan. The county is geographically one of the largest in Australia and therefore the world.
Main industries were in the past, the cattle trade and the gold mining; in the meantime, tourism has become the main source of income.
Geology
The landscape around Halls Creek shape with spinifex grass and eucalyptus -covered rock formations ( 500 to 600 m high) that collect in groups about their surroundings (about 200 m); small streams that lead only after heavy rains water, cut through the land. The rock is partly volcanic (basalt and trachyte ) and partly sedimentary rocks. The rock is up to 2 billion years old, but the present landscape formation was caused by raising and subsequent erosion until about 20 million years ago.
Quartz veins in the rock often contain gold and other minerals (copper, zinc ), once dissolved in the water that flowed through gaps and cracks in the rocks; Gold rallied in the stream beds, buried beneath the layers of sandstone.
History
At Christmas 1885 was Charlie Hall, after whom the city is named, a 28 oz heavy gold nugget.
The gold rush triggered thereby, in the rd. 10,000 men came into the country, only lasted just under two years. Transportation problems and the harsh climate ensured that the prospectors soon turned towards more lucrative resources in the south near Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. Mount Dockrell, Grants Patch, Ruby Queen - - Nevertheless, smaller gold mines lasted until the 1960s. A mine in Palm Springs, which had developed newer technologies, gold from a depth greater than 30 m dismantle, working even into the 1990s.
Cattle trade had yet replaced the gold mining as the main economic factor at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1948 a small supply airport was built, which now primarily serves tourists.
When the route of the Great Northern Highway was determined that did not follow the old connection paths that supply station Halls Creek was - consisting mainly of gas station, hospital, and a few shops - shifted 15 km to the west and the original settlement - now the "ghost town" Old Halls Creek - 1955 to leave. With its brick ruins, the historic post office and old cemetery Old Halls Creek is one of the tourist nearby destinations of the city, which has now created with the establishment of a visitor center and a hotel complex in the necessary infrastructure required for tourism.
Tourism
On the connection between the tourist centers Broome and Kununurra on the southern edge along the Kimberley Halls Creek is an important stopover for travelers.
Approx. 5 km east from the town center lies the " China Wall ", a natural granite formation with quartz veins. She can be reached via a dirt road.
A 4WD trip about 130 km south on the Tanami Track to the Wolfe Creek crater, the second largest meteorite crater in the world, is becoming increasingly touristic importance.
Sightseeing flights over the crater and about 150 km to the north Bungle Bungle mountain range are also on offer.