At 1,283,706 hectares (12837 square km), the Karlamilyi (previousely
Rudall River) National Park is the largest national park in Western Australia and one of the largest in the world. It is more than two-and-a-half times a large as the
Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. As
well as being so vast, it is also one of the most remote
places in the world.
Throssell Ranges - Rudall River
The park sits on the boundary between the Great Sandy and Little Sandy Deserts and includes the watershed of the
Rudall River. Salt lakes, which are part of a palaeodrainage system, are characteristic of these desert regions. Lakes Dora, Blanche, Winifred, George and Auld form a U-shaped group east of
Rudall River, with only Lakes Dora and Blanche lying inside the park boundary.
Lake Dora is 198 metres above sea level and it is only for a short time after particularly heavy rains that there is any
Darlsen Pinnacle - Rudall River
appreciable quantity of surface water in this or any of the other lakes.
Sand dunes cover much of
the desert areas in the eastern and south-western parts of the park. They form parallel ridges of between 20-40 metres high, trending mainly south-east to north-west, lying between 200 metres and six kilometres apart and often extending for more than 40 kilometres in length. The central rocky area, between the two desert areas, is flatter and it is here where the main tracks cross the park: from Telfer in the north to the Talawana Track in the south, and westwards from the Rudall
River crossing to
Hanging Rock, on the
western boundary of the park.
Tjarra Pool - Rudall River
The
Rudall River was named by Frank Hann after the surveyor and explorer William Frederick Rudall (pronounced Roo-dal, with stress on the second syllable). To the Aboriginal people who live in this remote desert region, it is called Karlamilyi. The first European explorations of the
Rudall River area itself came in 1896-97, when surveyor William Frederick Rudall led a party of men in search of George Jones and Charles Wells, the missing men from the Calvert Expedition. Rudall made three trips through the present park area, during which he named several of its features -- including Mt
Hanging Rock
Connaughton, after one of the members of the search party, and
Hanging Rock-or recorded their Aboriginal names. At that time, Rudall noted that there was good gold-bearing land, but that the remoteness and sheer inhospitality of the area made it uneconomical to investigate further. He crossed the river several times and in his account of the search, written a few years later, he commented that:
"The
Rudall River is a series of deep gulches 8-10 feet between banks and altogether is about 200 yards wide. There must be large quantities of water run down it in a rainy season."
One of Rudalls many camels
Someone else who was in the area at about the same time was Frank H Hann. Hann was a versatile and wide-ranging prospector, surveyor and explorer who was investigating the area for stock grazing. Hann, then about 60 years old, entered the
Broadhurst Range, just north of the park, on 31 May, 1897. He continued south to the river, then north-east to
Lake Misery (later renamed
Lake Dora by Rudall after his fiancee Dora Miller). He tried his hand
prospecting for gold near Mt Eva before heading south to the McKay Range and then westwards. As he approached the area near
Hanging Rock, and was running short of water, he saw smoke in the distance. He followed the smoke and 'bumped into' Rudall and his search party in a place later
Desert Queen Baths - Rudall River
named
Meeting Gorge. Rudall described him as, "a hardy old bushman".
The Karlamilyi National Park is a beautiful and haunting place, rich in history and culture. This ancient land is one of only a few areas in Australia that remain rarely visited. Its secrets are known only to all a few hardy travellers, scientists, researchers and
explorers, and of course, the traditional Aboriginal groups, who have lived there for tens of thousands of years.
Broadhurst Ranges - Rudall River
From my past nine trips into this amazing area I have both created, or updated existing Exploroz 'place' entries. They refer mainly to the central, western and northwestern areas of the park and are listed here for easy referral:
Darlsen PinnacleDesert Queen BathsThree Goanna Pool - DQB GorgeKangaroo Pool and Cave (Desert Queen's Baths Gorge)Middle Pool - Broadhurst RangesCircular Cliffs PoolExplosion PoolDQB Cave (On northern side of Rooney Valley opposite DQB camp area)Pyramid PointRooney Creek PoolTjarra PoolWatrara PoolSaw Tooth Ridge3 Way junction at the Saw Tooth Ridge"You are Lost" sign on track to Curran Curran RockholeCurran Curran Water HoleClayton GullyThree Sisters HillsYandagooge GapYandagooge Gap Southern EntranceHanging Rock Creek Crossing No1Hanging Rock Creek Crossing No2Hanging RockHanging Rock Native WellMeeting GorgeTchukardine PoolBocrabee HillTurtle PoolCamel ValleySouthern HandpumpNorthern Water PumpGraphite Valley TrackKalkan Kalkan SoakCamel Rock - WAMount Eva WATom Tit HillCoolbro PoolIves PoolPinbi RockholeThe mysterious 'Black Pool'Catalogue of Rock & Water Holes - 2018Middle Pool - Broadhurst Ranges
Some of these
places are not marked on maps of the area (Hema, Natmap or Westprint) or in the Exploroz Trek Notes for the park. Others have no vehicle access to them at this point in time. I have included google earth images in many to give an overall view of their locations and included access instructions on others.
Other References;
Exploroz Rudall River Trek NotesA list of blog entries for Karlamilyi and surrounds.
Track file
Turtle Pool to
Darlsen Pinnacle 2023 - For Oziexplorer
Trackfile Turtle Pool to Darlsen 2023 (.plt)
Track file
Turtle Pool to
Darlsen Pinnacle 2023 - GPX file
Turtle to Darlsen 2023 (.gpx file)
Cheers. Mick
(History words above drawn from various sources on the web, Photos
mine - Updated June 2023)