Take a trip through the many and varied landscapes of the north-east goldfields – from dramatic breakaways to samphire flats and salt lakes, and from vast mulga plains to magnificent marble gum on spinifex sands. This Loop is your introduction to a fascinating natural environment, and to the human influences that have shaped it over the last hundred years.
At close to 350km this is a long day’s outing. It is designed to be travelled in a clockwise direction, initially heading north from Leonora on the Goldfields highway. Note that approximately 70% of the Trail is gravel – this is generally of good quality, but can suffer after rain. Check with the Shire for latest conditions!
The Darlot Loop trail has 15 interpretive sites, spaced roughly 15 – 30kms apart. At each of these locations you will find an interpretive panel and, somewhere nearby, a figure, a ‘ghost’ from the past or a creature from the present, waiting to share a story with you… Let these rusty steel story tellers introduce you to the people and the places and to the pests and the perfectly natural – but you will need to go out and find them first! At each stopping place along both loops someone (or something!) is waiting to tell you their story – go and explore, see who and what you can discover, and learn about the lives and landscapes of this remarkable region.
How to Use this Trek Note
- To download this information and the route file for offline use on a phone, tablet, headunit or laptop, go to the app store and purchase ExplorOz Traveller. This app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage and the EOTopo webpage.
Environment
There is possibly no more widespread tree species in the dry heart of Australia than mulga. On these two trails, you are well and truly in Mulga country.
There are two broad types of mulga woodland – one has a shrub understory, while the other has grasses and spinifex. Both will be seen along the loop trails.
Of course, the landscape out here is not all mulga – far from it! In particular, the northern and eastern sectors of the Darlot Loop showcase a delightful variety of landforms and vegetation species. Hard spinifex makes an appearance as you leave the Goldfields Highway, bringing with it another sand-loving species, the magnificent marble gum. Desert oak, white Cyprus pine, prickly wattle and the water bush can all be seen along the trail. Hard stony quartz flats and sharply-defined watercourses bring variety, and breakaways (especially the terraces) are always a visual treat.
Wildlife you can expect to see along the trails include; Kangaroos, Euros, emus, wedge tail eagles, a vast array of birdlife (particularly around the watercourses), and all manner of reptiles, particularly goannas.
History
The Goldfields region has a strong and proud Aboriginal population, who inhabited the area for thousands of years before European settlement.
The first contact the area had with Europeans dates back to 1869 when explorer John Forrest and his party, in search of the lost Leichhardt Expedition, made camp near a hill and named it Mount Leonora. It was then some twenty five years before more Europeans came to the area – but this time it was prospectors, not explorers, who came prowling around the area covered by the trails.
In 1894 Paddy Lawler stumbled on a scattering of alluvial gold 125km north-west of Leonora, sparking a rush to the area from both Cue and Coolgardie. In the same year gold was found near Lake Darlot, which quickly emptied the fledging camp of Lawlers of most of its men! When the rich Sons of Gwalia reef was discovered soon afterwards in Leonora, Leonora was well on its way to becoming the centre for a major mining area – just as it remains today.
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