Greetings fellow Foxies,
Over the years my family and I have visited an interesting group of ruins that nestles below a large granite dome in the Pingeculling Nature Reserve, 14kms east/south east of Brookton. The easiest way to get there is to take the Brookton-Kweda Road from Brookton, turn right on Ashfield Road and right into a gravel entry on a ridge shortly after. From Narrogin the visit could be combined with a stop at Mourambine church and then approach from the south via Mourambine Road, Davis Road then the winding Ashfield Road.
Over the years my family and I have visited an interesting group of ruins that nestles below a large granite dome in the Pingeculling Nature Reserve, 14kms east/south east of Brookton. The easiest way to get there is to take the Brookton-Kweda Road from Brookton, turn right on Ashfield Road and right into a gravel entry on a ridge shortly after. From Narrogin the visit could be combined with a stop at Mourambine church and then approach from the south via Mourambine Road, Davis Road then the winding Ashfield Road.
The ruins on private land are fascinating if one has the time to explore them and an understanding of the site. However this is not a good place for families with young children and the infirm, as tourist facilities have deteriorated, there are no paths or directions, and one could trip over objects hidden in the weeds.
In the excellently written book ‘Kalkarni the Brookton story’, Athol Thomas describes Johan "Jack" Hansen, Brooktons’ first illegal immigrant; a Danish national who jumped off a whaling ship in Albany and made his way to the goldfields before taking up the ‘Rock Hill ‘farm in 1907. For the next 54 years, until his death at 81 in 1961 he only left the district once for a one-day trip to Narrogin.
To quote the book
…he was seen in the town only on Thursdays, when he took his produce to market in his horse-drawn dray. This was mainly fruit and vegetables from his well-maintained orchard and garden. He returned with stores to eke out his meat supply of kangaroos and rabbits. His skills as a shipwright were of little use at Nine-Acre Rock but his manual dexterity enabled him to create axles and pulleys from bush timber and grass-tree butts, make his own bolts and nails on his rough forge, and build his own baker’s oven and meat smoker. He contrived a hay shed on several levels, enabling him to gravity-feed chaff to his horse troughs by pulling on a rope near his bed. His water system also relied on gravity; water was siphoned from a pool high on the rock to supply kitchen and bathroom.
In the excellently written book ‘Kalkarni the Brookton story’, Athol Thomas describes Johan "Jack" Hansen, Brooktons’ first illegal immigrant; a Danish national who jumped off a whaling ship in Albany and made his way to the goldfields before taking up the ‘Rock Hill ‘farm in 1907. For the next 54 years, until his death at 81 in 1961 he only left the district once for a one-day trip to Narrogin.
To quote the book
…he was seen in the town only on Thursdays, when he took his produce to market in his horse-drawn dray. This was mainly fruit and vegetables from his well-maintained orchard and garden. He returned with stores to eke out his meat supply of kangaroos and rabbits. His skills as a shipwright were of little use at Nine-Acre Rock but his manual dexterity enabled him to create axles and pulleys from bush timber and grass-tree butts, make his own bolts and nails on his rough forge, and build his own baker’s oven and meat smoker. He contrived a hay shed on several levels, enabling him to gravity-feed chaff to his horse troughs by pulling on a rope near his bed. His water system also relied on gravity; water was siphoned from a pool high on the rock to supply kitchen and bathroom.
 Jack's bath |  Possible wool scouring vat |
If the weeds aren’t too high one can wander around the ruins of shacks, sheds, machinery, orchard and animal pens.
Jack was a man after my own heart who wasted nothing.
Jack was a man after my own heart who wasted nothing.
 Water supply |  The house that Jack built |
The rock is culturally significant as an initiation place for Noongar men. It is separated from the farm by a wild thicket of dead and living sheoaks that is not for the faint-hearted. However but the effort is rewarded by great views and unspoilt rocks and plants. Winter-wet depressions with Pincushion plants, scented sun orchids, Prasophyllum gracile leek orchids and book triggerplants can lead to shallow pools that are teeming with life. I spent some time watching strange wormy things devouring a drowned caterpillar. Groves of pink everlastings on the western side were stunning this season. Boulders
 boulders on eastern face |  View towards Brookton |
 Everlasting carpet |  Pincushion plants moss and book triggerplants |
Attached is an extract from
Thomas Athol 1924-
Kalkarni: the Brookton story
ISBN 0-646-38104-0
1. Brookton (WA:shire) – History.I. Brookton Shire (W.A.:Shire). Council
Thomas Athol 1924-
Kalkarni: the Brookton story
ISBN 0-646-38104-0
1. Brookton (WA:shire) – History.I. Brookton Shire (W.A.:Shire). Council
| jack_hansen.pdf |
