10 August 2013 - A1 Cabins & Caravan Park, Ceduna, South Australia

We have spent the day in a far more relaxed manner, rising late, then heading into the town after doing a load of washing, to re-provision with fresh food. It was such a delight to discover that the Foodland IGA is such a modern and spacious store full of well-priced goods. I had been psyched up to pay highly inflated prices for fruit and vegetables, so was amazed to find many of the prices less than we have paid since leaving Perth. Needless to say, we spent up large. What a difference fair prices make to attracting people to stay longer and thus spend more. 

Back at camp, I gave Chris a quick haircut before lunch and then we headed out to play the last two holes of the Nullarbor Links Golf Course, here at the Ceduna Golf Club.

I did wonder as we drove in the gates whether we would encounter the same elitism as that at Kalgoorlie. We thought we should report in at the Clubrooms, however were unable to raise the attention of those obviously in behind the bar. We called and knocked to no avail, so gave up and went out onto the excellent course, green grassed, and well formed. Today there was no excuse for bad play; however we were able to exercise our right to bad scores all the same. I did find two stray balls, so should have taken two off my score, but thought better of it.

Such mastery on the last hole

The next stop was the Information Centre where our cards were stamped and converted into very smart certificates. My own score was a grand 271, Chris’s 230, Par’s 73 and the highest so far recorded in the four years of the course’s life, over 450. We could have lied about our scores, but have recorder these honestly, which in turn may help other people feel more relaxed about confessing their own true performance. It is also evidence that this is a course for all comers, the skilled and unskilled alike.

Discussing the course with the woman behind the counter was most interesting. She said that little money to develop the course had come from the government, and that profitability was not yet happening, however there had been a pronounced reduction in road accidents across the route. People were taking more time to travel and enjoy the journey rather than drive exhausted.

Ceduna's jetty

We left clutching our precious certificates and several brochures suggesting destinations for the road ahead, before heading down to the town jetty. The main street was now quite deserted except for several groups of wandering aboriginal folk. It is so sad to see people who are obviously affected by alcohol or illnesses from poor diet.

Out on the jetty we exchanged pleasantries with a couple of young boys who were having no luck with their fishing, a few other couples of our own ilk and a young couple wandering up the jetty with their wee tot between them. It turned out that they had broken their journey from Sydney on to Kalgoorlie, here in Ceduna just for a few hours. They intended to head off again in a few hours and drive the 1416 kilometres without break, right through to home, the very sort of travellers the SES do not like to see on the road. The young wife, soon due with their second child, expressed concern about the roos on the road during the hours of dark, however her husband was quite gung-ho, as all young men in their early thirties are and expressed great faithe in his extra strong headlights. The young couple were from New Zealand, he from Northland whence we come. His cousins had played soccer with my older son and we had all lived in the same suburb at the one time. Yet another co-incidence; I will in the end accept that Australia is just fully of Kiwis! We wished them a safe journey, to take it easy, that the birth would go well and that they might have an excellent life, before heading off once more to explore the immediate environs.

Ceduna has a population of about 4,000; this includes those who live in the satellite town and Port of Thevenard. The 2011 census showed that over 25% of the population were Aboriginal, which fits with my earlier guess.

The area was first sighted by Europeans way back in 1627 when the Dutch ship, Het Gulden Seepart, under the command of Francois Thijssen landed along the coast. He charted the main islands of the Nuyts Archipelago lying to the south of the coast, and named St Francis and St Peter. He mapped the coast and called it Peter Nuijtsland in honour of his Supercargo. However it was not until 1802 that the area caught any further interest, when Matthew Flinders finished the task.

A pastoral lease was taken up on St Peters Island in 1865, and another on St Francis in 1880. On this second island there were attempts at cereal growing, vegetable cropping, casual sealing, fishing and guano collection. A lighthouse was erected on the island in 1923 but by 1988, all men and beasts, other than those native to the island, were long gone.

Toward Port Thevenard

During the later part of the 1920s, Thevenard was a busy centre with two plaster factories processing gypsum, and the Hume Pipe Factory, well known in this part of the globe, was operating. Fishing came into its own in the 1930s with the help of a swelling Greek population. These days with fishing so heavily regulated, fishing is left to the big boys of the industry.

Since 1961, bulk grain facilities have dominated the port, and continued to grow during the years since. Today Thevenard is the second busiest port in South Australia, which was a surprise to me, because there were only two ships loading in port and none seemed to be queuing for the same service. In little Esperance, we had seen two ships in port and two more waiting their turn.

In 2011, the Thevenard Port statistics included an annual average export of 1.8 million tonnes or eighty five ships of gypsum, 130,000 tonnes or five ships of salt mined from the Cheetham Salt Mine a little to the south of Penong, 140,000 tonnes or twelve ships of grain and 600,000 tonnes or thirty ships of mineral sand. 1,800 tonnes of fish were unloaded from ninety trawlers; perhaps that was mostly processed at the fish factories also situated at the Port?

Grain silos at Port Thevenard

Denial Bay was the first settlement and port in the area. The town of Ceduna and port of Thevenard was developed from the foundations set down at Denial Bay. One William McKenzie was one of the first to settle in the area in 1880 and worked as blacksmith, builder and harbourmaster. He assisted many new settlors in establishing properties with lots of advice and in many cases chipped in with some physical labour. One of those guys who are both an asset and a pain in the bottom. He was the in the district to desalinate water from the sea for stock use, and many pioneers followed his example and prospered.

Aquaculture oysters are a relatively new industry in the district and have developed rapidly into a major part of the districts economy. The first experiments with oyster farming began in Venus Bay, but soon failed. Denial Bay was next trialled and today there are eighty five hectares under cultivation in the bay and another forty off St Peters Island.

The sun was shining and the bay glistening as we headed back to camp. I suggested a couple of other places to drive before we returned but Chris said he had had enough of driving for the moment. Fair enough too. In fact, he added, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to head off tomorrow. Perhaps we could delay a day or even two before heading out on the road again. I am happy to oblige however I also know that the lay of the land may change tomorrow. Such is the fickle nature of a man’s mind.