McPhersons Pillar - WA

  Mountain,Peak,Hill,Rocks

Position

DEG: -24.57007 125.325104
DMS: 24º 34' 12.25" S 125º 19' 30.37" E
UTM: 51 J 7280669mN 735478mE
Altitude: 496.31m

Description

Place Type

Geography - Mountain,Peak,Hill,Rocks

Location

214.27kms NorthWest of Warburton
315.57kms SouthWest of Kiwirrkurra
559.25kms NorthEast of Wiluna
673.92kms South of Yungngora

Address & Contact

Gibson Desert South WA
Phone: N/A
Email: N/A
Web: N/A

Information

McPhersons Pillar was named by explorer Hon. David Wynford Carnegie after Gilles McPherson, a adventurous prospector.Carnegie camped near the pillar on 1 September 1896.

It’s a thirty kilometre stretch into McPherson’s Pillar, a small prominence of rock named by David Carnegie on 1st September, 1896.Mulgan Rockhole is a further six km round trip to the south of the Pillar. Mulgan was also found and named by Carnegie as he passed through the area on his way north. The track was in good condition and we made good time, particularly in the first 20 kilometres which crossed wide spinifex plains. The last ten kilometres was through woodlands, so the track twisted and turned through the deep red soil and thick mulga. In 2005 I pushed my way through thick scrub to reach Mulgan Rockhole but several fires in the intervening period had cleaned that problem up substantially.

No doubt this extreme change in temperature, combined with the dry atmosphere and the tremendous heat of the sun, has caused the hills to be weathered away in the remarkable shapes of which McPherson's Pillar is a good example. The pillar is formed of a huge square block of red rock, planted on the top of a conical mound, perhaps fifty feet in height, whose slopes are covered with broken slabs and boulders. This remarkable landmark, which, from the North, is visible from twenty-four miles distant, I named after Mr. McPherson, a well-known and respected prospector, who, though leaving no record of his journey, crossed the Colony from West to East.

Due West of the Pillar, distant two and a half miles, situated in a scrub-covered rocky gorge, is a fair-sized rockhole. Breaden and Godfrey managed to get about two gallons of filth from it; I have swallowed all kinds of water, but this was really too powerful. Had we been hard pressed it would undoubtedly have been used, but since we had not long left water, we discarded this mixture, after trying it on Czar, whose indignation was great. In the branches of the mulga round the rock-hole I noticed what I have seen in several other places, viz., stones wedged in the forks—dozens of stones of all sizes and shapes. I have no knowledge of their true significance. - David Carnegie – Spinifex and Sand 1897
PlaceID78258
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Wildflowers

Weather

Closest Weather Station

Warburton at 14/10:30am WST
Distance from McPhersons Pillar 214.68km SE
TemperatureFeels LikeRel. HumidityDew PointPressureRainfallWind DirectionWind SpeedGusts
33.7°C29.2°C18%6.1°C1015.1hPa0.0mmNE19km/hr
10knots
30km/hr
16knots

Closest Climatic Station

Warburton Airfield
Distance from McPhersons Pillar 214.68km SE
 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Mean Max. °C38.036.533.929.324.320.720.723.127.931.634.336.6
Mean Min. °C22.922.119.915.110.46.45.77.111.215.518.521.3
Mean Rain mm28.536.731.418.015.417.912.99.85.714.824.731.5

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