One Year to Give: Derby

After a couple of weeks without power and running water in the camper, it was nice to get to Derby and do a bit of ‘house cleaning’ – get dust out of plates, cups and containers and dust out of linen etc, etc (not to mention ears, noses and eyes)!

A 'bright spot' in Derby - near wharfside cafe!

Boabs down Derby's main street

Derby was an interesting place. Some had said “why would you want to go there”? However, it was neat and tidy and seemed to have a reasonable amount of community services (even had a Woolworths). It was a town of about 5000 people, so should have been reasonably equipped I suppose.

However, if you wanted a nice beach, Derby is not the place. It is at the bottom end of the King Sound, located adjacent to tidal mud flats and the tide can change by up to 11.8 metres at peak tide times. Was amazing to see! And the water, just a muddy, reddish colour due to the constant fast tide movement.

Derby's "beach" at high tide and low tide!!

Derby, historically, was the Port where the Northern pastoralists used to drove their cattle to put them on a ship when selling. So there is evidence of quite an infrastructure that was used – the old raceway on to the jetty, holding yards, sheds etc. A few kms out of town there is a trough, adjacent to a bore, that is large enough to water 500 head of cattle at any one time. With plenty yard space for holding cattle until the right boat was in port. This holding/loading etc was probably on a bit of tight time schedule due to the tide changes. I can’t remember the date, but the shipping of cattle from Derby was abandoned some time ago.

Wharf

Ships anchor "decoration"!?

Raceway, used for loading cattle from holding yards, down
to jetty.

Hanging over side of jetty, watching fish negotiate the low tide and mud flat pools,
at low tide.

Australia's longest cattle trough, at 120metres in length, is able to water 500 head of cattle at once.

Derby is marketed as the boab capital of the North West and there certainly is a heap, in various sizes, shapes and angles. They are also a protected species within the Shire and consequently, some are in weird places and streets bend around them in certain places.