The Canning Stock Route is one of the toughest and most remote tracks in the world. It runs from Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Wiluna in the mid-west region. With a total distance of around 1,850 km (1,150 mi) it is the longest historic stock route in the world.
The stock route was proposed as a way of breaking a monopoly that west Kimberley cattlemen had on the beef trade at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1906, the Government of Western Australia appointed Alfred Canning to survey the route. When the survey party returned to Perth, Canning's treatment of Aboriginal guides came under scrutiny leading to a Royal Commission. Despite condemning Canning’s methods, the Royal Commission exonerated Canning and his men of all charges.
Canning was appointed to lead a construction party and between March 1908 and April 1910, 48 wells were completed along the route. Commercial droving began in 1910, but the stock route did not prove popular and was rarely used for the next twenty years. The wells made it difficult for Aboriginal people to access water and in reprisal they vandalised or dismantled many of the wells.
A 1928 Royal Commission into the price of beef in Western Australia led to the repair of the wells and the re-opening of the stock route. Around 20 droves took place between 1931 and 1959 when the final droving run was completed.
The Canning Stock Route is now a popular but challenging four-wheel drive adventure. On rare occasions, people have traversed the track on foot, by bicycle, and in two-wheel drive vehicles.
The building of the stock route impacted on the cultural and social life of the more than 15 Aboriginal language groups and today the Aboriginal history of the track, recorded through oral and artistic traditions, is increasingly being recognised.
Read more about Canning Stock Route: History, Traverses, Aboriginal Perspective, Journey Distances
Famous quotes containing the words canning, stock and/or route:
“A steady patriot of the world alone,
The friend of every country but his own.”
—George Canning (1770–1827)
“In the case of our main stock of well-worn predicates, I submit that the judgment of projectibility has derived from the habitual projection, rather than the habitual projection from the judgment of projectibility. The reason why only the right predicates happen so luckily to have become well entrenched is just that the well entrenched predicates have thereby become the right ones.”
—Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)
“A route differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A route is the triumphant devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)