Catholic Diocese of Broome

A Walk in the Wilderness - Part 1
Exploring the Kimberley up close

By: Tony Treacy

In 2006, Tony Treacy, Principal of St Mary’s College, undertook a serious trek through the wilds of the Kimberley during his long service leave. This article is Part One of an account relating his adventure.

Friday 21 st July, 2006
" I was very much looking forward to my walk of 15-17 days down the bottom reaches of the Hann River and the Fitzroy River to explore Sir John Gorge and then back up the Fitzroy to cut through the range into Tableland Station via the Little Fitzroy. The Little Fitzroy is a tributary of the larger river and is the water source for Yulumbu Aboriginal Community, the home for some of our family members and the destination for my walk. This is an approximate distance of 130 km.

With my wife, Bev, six of the children and a family friend Br Kevin Ryan cfc, we camped at a favourite ‘get away’ spot on the Hann River for five days. When it was time for Bev and the children to head back to town for school I accompanied them to the Tableland access road through the scrub to ensure that they were able to get away incident free as there is no track in to where we camp and the country is rough. They dropped me where the Hann cuts the road and I was surprised by my own emotion as I said my farewells to Bev and Kevin and the children. There was a lot of love disappearing up the road in the two ‘troopies’ we used to make the eight hour journey from Broome to the Hann River on the edge of Mt House Station.

As soon as the vehicles were out of sight, I began to make my way down the right side of the river towards our camping spot - a distance of 3 km. This walk was good practice for getting used to the feel of my boots whilst covering rock strewn ground before I had the added burden of a backpack. I was sure this kind of terrain would be my lot for the duration of this excursion." [Ed: To be continued next issue]

Photo: Landscape typical of the area around the Hann River.
Photographer: T Treacy