About 5kms south of the centre of Pingelly on the Great Southern Highway, this 93 hectare reserve is a historic spot with lovely wildflowers. It was originally selected for gravel as ballast for the adjoining railway some time before 1900, then became a gravel pit for Pingelly shire in later decades. The northern side of the reserve is prime agricultural land and great wildflower country, which was saved from the plough by the gravel pits.
There are many bush tracks and an unofficial trail bike circuit. Apart from a high gravelly ridge to the south and a dolerite spur to the north, the land is gently sloping granitic sand or gravel over clay with a number of small waterways. Many of these tracks are only fit for 4-wheel drive vehicles due to boggy spots at waterway crossings.
There are many bush tracks and an unofficial trail bike circuit. Apart from a high gravelly ridge to the south and a dolerite spur to the north, the land is gently sloping granitic sand or gravel over clay with a number of small waterways. Many of these tracks are only fit for 4-wheel drive vehicles due to boggy spots at waterway crossings.
White lines=contours, red = ridges, blue = waterways
Anigozanthus bicolor Northern Side of Station Road
The landscape changes from gently sloping open Wandoo woodland to the east which gradually rises to a Wandoo, York Gum and Rock Sheoak dolerite loam spur. It is excellent walking and wildflower country. Amongst the orchids I saw lots of Stark White Caladenia longicauda subsp. eminems and Green Spider Caladenia falcata orchids, a hybrid of the two, and an unusual Green Spider Orchid variant. I found some threatened Anigozanthus bicolor. I suspect that there are other interesting species to find on the winter-wet flat.
The landscape changes from gently sloping open Wandoo woodland to the east which gradually rises to a Wandoo, York Gum and Rock Sheoak dolerite loam spur. It is excellent walking and wildflower country. Amongst the orchids I saw lots of Stark White Caladenia longicauda subsp. eminems and Green Spider Caladenia falcata orchids, a hybrid of the two, and an unusual Green Spider Orchid variant. I found some threatened Anigozanthus bicolor. I suspect that there are other interesting species to find on the winter-wet flat.
 Unusual Caladenia falcata |  C. falcata C. longicauda hybrid |  Caladenia longicauda subsp. eminems |
Southern Side of Station Road
The reserve was designated for collection of gravel for railway line ballast before 1900, and this side is extensively disturbed. Most of the gravelly ridge has been mined for gravel, and gently sloping land to the north is a patchwork of tracks, clearings, soil heaps, and very weedy patches interpersed between almost pristine bush. Unfortunately some locals have also dumped rubbish here.
According to Peter Narducci, The ballast pit in Station Road was used to supply screened gravel for the Great Southern Railway. A spur rail line crossed the highway to the ballast pit from the Pingelly end and another spur line crossed the highway from the ballast pit towards the Popanyinning end. A railway station was constructed near to Station Road. The name Station Road has remained. In later years, the Shire of Pingelly excavated many metres of gravel from the ballast pit and was used to construct many of Pingelly's town streets.
Despite much searching of the area and adjoining railway line I could find no sign of railway station or lines. A spot shown on Google Maps labelled "Old Ballast Pit' coincides with a linear weedy area in a well defined waterway, and there is a similar linear weedy spot in an adjoining waterway to the north (see green areas on the map). I am intrigued about the locations as these areas would be waterlogged in winter, and certainly not suitable for train lines. Gravel dug by pick and shovel at the gravel pit was loaded on horse carts and screened at the ballast area.
This was dangerous work.:- Eastern Districts Chronicle. 27th October 1900.
News reached York yesterday morning of a railway fatality, which occurred at the ballast pits some three miles from Pingelly, the previous evening. From the particulars to hand a railway employee named George Gould, whilst engaged "breaking" trucks out of the ballast pit in question accidentally slipped down between the trucks and was crushed to death instantaneously.
The police authorities at Beverley were immediately apprised of the terrible casualty, and P.C. Campbell was despatched to the scene of the occurrence for the purpose of conveying the body into Pingelly, pending a coronial enquiry.
A post-mortem examination will be made by Dr. House upon his return from Katanning, and an inquest will follow.
The reserve was designated for collection of gravel for railway line ballast before 1900, and this side is extensively disturbed. Most of the gravelly ridge has been mined for gravel, and gently sloping land to the north is a patchwork of tracks, clearings, soil heaps, and very weedy patches interpersed between almost pristine bush. Unfortunately some locals have also dumped rubbish here.
According to Peter Narducci, The ballast pit in Station Road was used to supply screened gravel for the Great Southern Railway. A spur rail line crossed the highway to the ballast pit from the Pingelly end and another spur line crossed the highway from the ballast pit towards the Popanyinning end. A railway station was constructed near to Station Road. The name Station Road has remained. In later years, the Shire of Pingelly excavated many metres of gravel from the ballast pit and was used to construct many of Pingelly's town streets.
Despite much searching of the area and adjoining railway line I could find no sign of railway station or lines. A spot shown on Google Maps labelled "Old Ballast Pit' coincides with a linear weedy area in a well defined waterway, and there is a similar linear weedy spot in an adjoining waterway to the north (see green areas on the map). I am intrigued about the locations as these areas would be waterlogged in winter, and certainly not suitable for train lines. Gravel dug by pick and shovel at the gravel pit was loaded on horse carts and screened at the ballast area.
This was dangerous work.:- Eastern Districts Chronicle. 27th October 1900.
News reached York yesterday morning of a railway fatality, which occurred at the ballast pits some three miles from Pingelly, the previous evening. From the particulars to hand a railway employee named George Gould, whilst engaged "breaking" trucks out of the ballast pit in question accidentally slipped down between the trucks and was crushed to death instantaneously.
The police authorities at Beverley were immediately apprised of the terrible casualty, and P.C. Campbell was despatched to the scene of the occurrence for the purpose of conveying the body into Pingelly, pending a coronial enquiry.
A post-mortem examination will be made by Dr. House upon his return from Katanning, and an inquest will follow.
The reserve was also the site of Pingelly Race Club's first racing track, which I suspect is in one of the dense wild oat patches. Race goers who came down by train were outraged by the exorbitant one penny train fare!
The railway gravel pit forms a series of gently sloping north/south trenches in sandy/stony laterite on the northern side of the ridge. Perhaps horse carts ran down the trenches to be filled. The shire pit is clearly different because it occurs on loamy dolerite gravel to the south east and was more extensively mined using bulldozers. I think that the railway builders wanted ironstone gravel rock for the ballast that was sieved out from the the fines. An old railway pit at Yornaning was also stony gravel.
One side of the upmost railway trench will interest geology and landscape freaks like me because it reveals an ancient ironstone profile, which has been modified by time and climate change. More than a metre of ironstone overlies an ancient sloping mottled zone. From a distance the mottled zone looks like a normal dense white clay with iron-rich mottles, but it it contains light weight hard silcrete nodules in a compacted silty sand.
The profile suggests that over millions of years there has been a drier climate period when Proteceae was replaced by other vegetation - possibly eucalypts that created the silcrete nodules. I guess that they made good railway ballast.There is a 30 metre higher ironstone ridge to the southwest of this spot, so I think that the pit location was originally a sloping gravelly spur coming down from the ridge.
The profile suggests that over millions of years there has been a drier climate period when Proteceae was replaced by other vegetation - possibly eucalypts that created the silcrete nodules. I guess that they made good railway ballast.There is a 30 metre higher ironstone ridge to the southwest of this spot, so I think that the pit location was originally a sloping gravelly spur coming down from the ridge.
|
|
Did you know that most gravel pits are on dolerite dykes because they have more minerals that weather to clay needed to form a compact road surface? |
A sign "Pingelly Understorey Seed Farm" at the entrance of a track to the pits appears to be a local Decade of Landcare Initiatve with ALCOA and Greening Australia. Sides of the pits have been planted to a range of mainly Proteaceae species, which are seeding prolifically.
 |  |  |