MARBLE BAR. W.A.

MARBLE BAR

I would just like to say how much we enjoyed Marble Bar. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but a very interesting area with a lot of history, especially the discovery of alluvial gold in the area in 1891. At its peak in 1893 boasted a population of 5,000, who were supported by the small scale of mining of gold, other minerals and the outlying sheep and cattle stations. Marble Bar derives its name from the immense band of Jasper, or column marble, (a highly coloured cryptocrystalline variety of quartz) which crosses the bed of the Coongan River about 5klms from the township. Marble Bar Pool & Chinamans Pool boasts large deposits of the marble and a lovely spot for locals to picnic and swim. Today the population is approx. 400.
Marble Bar also lays claim to be the “ hottest town in Australia”, as in April 1924 had 161 consecutive days of temperatures at 100deg.F or 37.8deg.C. The Comet Gold Mine opened in 1936 and was continuously worked until 1955. Also boasts the tallest smoke stack in the southern hemisphere @ 75mtrs. Today the Comet is a museum and tourist centre. A short drive of approx. 35klms. from town is the remains of Coruna Downs Airfield built in 1943 as a long range base for attacks on the Japanese-occupied islands in Indonesia.
Today the town’s only restaurant is in the Travellers Rest Motel, but unfortunately the holder of the liquor licence was not in town so could not purchase any alcohol for my birthday celebration. Not even B.Y.O. was allowed. The only pub is the Iron Clad Hotel, but they too were having renovations and no food available, so after a lovely meal we adjourned back to the caravan park where we joined by friends we had met in the park for a few drinks. Our group included, Jackie, John, Trevor, Carol, Joy, John, and our next door neighbour Graham who is a prospector. To my surprise he presented me with a birthday gift, a lovely gold nugget. I was just gobsmacked that someone would do that. He is such an interesting person to talk to, also being a geologist. His mate, Barry was also very helpful in showing D’Arcy many pointers about prospecting and his detector.
The town itself is very neat & tidy, but most days we didn’t witness hardly anyone walking around. The Church of Christ the King was constructed in 1941 (see my photos)but became a state of disrepair due to termite and cyclone damage until community action obtained funding to conserve the building in 1999. Today, church services are held subject to notice.
Another good picturesque outlook is the Flying Fox Lookout, which overlooks the Coongan River and surrounding hills 8klms. from town.
We did do quite a bit of prospecting but no luck, so will have to come back another day. A week is certainly not enough time in this area as there were places of interest that we didn’t get to see.
So reluctantly we said goodbye to Marble Bar and headed south for more adventures.

Till next post....