Wow, we are definitely back in civilization! This is the biggest town we have been in since Darwin, and the CBD is probably bigger here. Geraldton is a city undergoing quite a lot of urban renewal and is turning into another Fremantle like seaside resort town. Very pretty along the foreshore and quite a lot of touristy type attractions. There is the old hospital/gaol/Information Center, a branch of the WA Museum with Batavia shipwreck stuff and the RSL Museum, but the only thing we really had time to visit was the HMAS Sydney Memorial. To be honest, the loss of the Sydney is done to death between Coral Bay and Geraldton, with memorial plaques seemingly around every second corner. This however is different. It is a truly poignant, inspiring, thought provoking and beautifully symbolic memorial to 645 Australian Navy Seamen who were lost when their ship sank after it's encounter with the Kormoran. The original memorial was built before the Sydney was rediscovered over 200km off the coast of Steep Point (the most westerly point on the Australian mainland). Since then a final section has been added to the memorial which shows the WA coast in marble surrounded by 644 seagulls (which traditionally represent the lost souls of sailors who die at sea) with the 645th seagull's wingtip embedded in the ocean at the point of the wreck site. So glad we came here.
Oh, almost forgot. On the way to Geraldton, we saw the pink lake at Port Gregory (it looked a lot pinker in real life than in the photos I took with my phone - yep, the marks on the lens of the camera are terminal and we will be buying a new one in Perth) and stopped off for a gander at the Lynton/Port Gregory Convict Hiring Station which is slowly being restored. This place was a major project in the 1850s but only lasted for six years before it was abandoned. Interestingly (well we thought it was interesting), Anna Leonowens who was the 'I' of the book/play/movie "The King and I" was the wife of the storekeeper here before she achieved/invented notoriety as the governess of the King of Siam's children.
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| Some serious zooming may be required... |
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| Accommodation for up to 80 Ticket of Leave convicts awaiting hire |
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| If you have convicts, you've got to have a gaol. |
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| It really was pik. |
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| Anna's story |
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| Little shack built by the Governor of the Hiring Station (seems he left under a cloud of financial suspicion - go figure) |
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| It really was pink... |
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