Page 198 - Mit dem Wohnwagen durch Australien 2

lowest rung of the mining hierarchy but very well paid, have to manually sort the timber out of the cut out rock in
order to be able to process the rock through the large crushers; the last remnants of the good old golden days.

The owner of the local book shop tells us about an ingenious scheme miners had in her father’s days. They used
an old tunnel which ended right in the nearest Pub in front of the bar to get some sorely needed sustenance during
the shift. Her father was caught once and it was not pleasant. Today the opening can still be seen in the pub but it is
glassed over and no untimely smoko is possible any longer.

After the shift, there are no bars to hold the miners back. Off they go to the pub. Punctually at 5 pm the pubs
announce “Skimpies”. For those of us who are not familiar with the local lingo, there is also a sketch. We get it. A
Skimpy is a skimpily clad barwoman, like in a bikini or so. Sometimes also topless, depending on the money which
is amassed in glass jars on the bar. For Australia, this is very liberal indeed. But Kalgoorlie does not stop there. It is
the only town in Australia which has working brothels. This is so special, that there are tours on offer which lets the
brave and everyday citizen peek behind the scenes and enter such a house with a good conscience. Of course, no
touch!
EASTWARDS TOWARDS THE MIDDLE
Kalgoorlie did not let us go as quickly as we wished. We wanted to get our flue jab here and had a doctor’s
appointment arranged, when we got a call one hour before to tell us that we had to re-schedule, the doctor was sick.
One of those Monday sicknesses was my guess. But when on the next day the surgery called again to cancel and
said now the second GP was sick, I got a bit worried and we went to another Medical centre. So, we are here a little
bit longer.

There was a true competition going on between the men with money. We discovered that former US President
Edgar J. Hoover spent some years in Kalgoorlie as a young mining engineer. He loved the life here so much, that he
donated a huge mirror to the Palace Hotel. Could it be because of an earlier “Skimpy”? The most beautiful Victorian
building in my eyes is the York Hotel. Perfectly preserved in and out, it has a wonderfully curved stairwas and even
sports a balcony on which one could sip an evening drink above the hustle and bustle of the main Hannan Street.

We went up to Mt. Charlotte which houses the huge tank at the end of the water pipeline from Perth. One gets an
impression of the massive task which was undertaken in 1902 and 1903. The initiator of the pipeline had really
visionary ideas. He had to overcome about 230 m of difference in height over 650 km of pipeline. He came up with
8 large holding tanks each with their own pumping station. Then he took a very novel technology to get the pipeline
together. They used half pipes which traditionally had been put together with rivets, prone to rusting and producing
leaks. So he employed the new technology of inserting long metallic staves all along the length of the iron half pipes
which would then keep water in much better. He first opted to have most of the pipeline underground, which lead to
some corrosion. In the depression years the pipeline was taken above ground. In 1970 the pipeline was overhauled
and some parts are still the originals. The old steam pumps had only then been replaced by electric pumps.

Today we can hardly imagine what it meant to the population to have enough drinking water. No more Typhoid fever
through dirty water. Water then was almost as precious as gold. Before that, ladies wanting a second cup of tea
were told, that there was not enough water and were offered some Champagne. For the opening party of the water
pipeline in 1903 there were huge amounts of Champagne. A contemporary dignitary wrote that he had never been
to a party dedicated to water where so little of it was drunk.

THE NULLARBOR
This huge, vast stretch of absolutely flat land is very aptly named. After an initial stretch there are really no more
trees. We chose Frasier Range Station for our first overnight stop and stayed another day. It was really beautiful.
Quiet, peaceful and a camp fire in the evening restored our energies after the eventful stay in Kalgoorlie. Slowly
after a first drink the guys started to tell tales. One went back to the swinging sixties, when he drove with his parents
over the same 1000 km stretch of nothingness. Then the road in the Western Australian part was not sealed then
and had huge potholes in them which were filled with the very fine bulldust. The dust was the same colour as the
road so you would not see the holes, very devious. His father was told many times not brake at all costs should he
get into one of those holes, but drive straight through. Well, as men have it, they seldom listen. He drove into a hole
and hit unto the brakes. There goes. The two rear tires went and not a roadhouse, station or anything for hundreds
of km. The son flagged down a road train and went to the next roadhouse, only to be told, that: “No we do not have
any spare tires or tubes, sorry mate.” The son had to go for about 500 km to get the tires repaired and came back