Next stop on from Yannarie Roadside is Onslow. We had stops at Gladstone, and at Woorrara station planned, weather permitting. However, rain was on our tail, so weather wasn’t permitting, so we let those two places wait for another year. Onslow wasn’t originally on this year’s travel route, but with time to spare it seemed like an opportune point in time to take a look. Having heard not so great things about Onslow in the past, and as the road to get into Onslow is approximately 80kms off the main highway it’s a place we’ve always by-passed. As part of our new dedication to a slower rate of travel and with spare time saved by excluding Woorrara and Gladstone, we decided we’d give it a whirl this year. We phoned ahead, and as they had an ocean view site available. We decided to stay for a week.

With beautiful views over the ocean from our site, and views of both sunrises, and sun sets, it took us only two days to decide a second week was a good idea. That’s the sun rising in the photo above. Here I am 11 days later, sitting overlooking the beautiful Indian Ocean from our campsite, typing up this post.

With a population of less than 1000, there isn’t much in the way of facilities in Onslow. There’s a general store, a hardware store, and there’s a beach club with a restaurant/cafe. Of course at this time of year the town swells with tourists utilising the two caravan parks (one of which has just undergone a big new extension). The general store has most of what we all need. It’s pricey, very pricey, but it’s good quality, so can’t complain.

In front of our caravan park is a wooden boardwalk which I think is more than a kilometre in length. It starts at Back Beach (so named because it’s the best place to view the sunsetting at the back end of the day), and it finishes just past ANZAC park. From there it’s a short walk along the front of the town to Front Beach. Front Beach is the best place to see the sunrise I believe, but we’ve been happy watching it rise from our caravan. Neither beach is great for swimming, although we did manage a quick dip at Back Beach the other day. (Quick being the operative word – there’s some big fish in the water’s around Onslow!)

It looks like the towns folk are trying hard to tidy up the town. It’s very tidy, and it’s peaceful, and it feels very safe.
Feeling safe is one of the things that’s been missing in recent years when visiting any town in WA north of Dongara. A few years ago there seemed to be an unwritten rule that caravanner’s gear was a ‘no go’ zone for would be thieves. Not now though. Now we’re told to sleep with our car keys under our pillows. As I said though, Onslow feels realtively safe. ANZAC park photographed above is an example of how tidy the town is. There’s barbecues, picnic tables, and there are no obvious signs of vandalism or litter.

As I said we’ve had one swim, but I doubt we’ll go in again. The town may feel relatively safe, but I’m not so sure about the ocean. If I could say there’s one thing missing from the town, it’s a good swimming beach. Perhaps one day there will be, maybe an ocean fed infinity pool built out over the close to shore reef. But that’ll definitely be years away, if at all. Apart from that we’ve done some beach combing, we’ve taken a look at Old Onslow (Onslow was relocated about 100 years ago), and we’ve tried our luck at fishing, successfully I might add on two out of three occassions. It’s been a relaxing stay, and could well be on our travel map again future years.

Not much remains of Old Onslow except the old cemetery, and the ruins of the police precinct. The rings attached to the floors in the remains of the cells was a reminder of the cruelty with which we treated our criminals in days gone by, and in particularly, indigenous law offenders. They were certainly given a rough deal in days gone by, and that’s a shameful part of Australia’s history. Our indigenous population is still not given a completely fair deal, but it’s a complex issue. Living in this country, it’s a difficult problem to address, a problem that divides our country, and a problem that people from overseas may form an unfair judgement of when looking at isolated ‘facts’. The percentage of the jail population in the north of our country is primarily indigenous peoples. That taken at face value can appear to be a country that’s racist in its judicial system. However, this statistics need to be taken in the context of who is committing the most crimes! It’s not evidence of racism, rather it’s evidence of a system that doesn’t seem to be working at aligning the behaviour of the indigenous community with the expectations that society now has upon all of it’s citizens. As someone said to me recently in regards to our indigenous population, “never have we given them so much, yet never have they behaved so badly”. I don’t know what the answer is. I do know we haven’t found it yet, and I doubt we will for a generation or two yet. Those rings cemented into the derelict cell floors almost brought a tear to my eyes. So did some of the gravestones in the cemetery. 50 seemed to be past the general life expectancy. Most of the women’s headstones showed ages somewhere between 27 and 36. The headstone that I’ve included in the gallery above gave food for thought though, ‘ Some day, Some time, we’ll understand’. I wonder what happened to poor Walter, what was his story!

And that folks is Onslow. I’m sure there’s more to the town, more history, and much more to come in a few years of tomorrows. But for now, it’s been a pleasure for us to take advantage of Onslow as it is today. I’m sure we’ll be back this way again.

Yannarie to Onslow: 198kms

Fuel @ $2.70 litre. Total $150 (including filling jerry can)

2 weeks accommodation @ $315 per week. Total $630 (however torrential rain is expected on the two days prior to our scheduled departure, so we’ll pull up stumps two days early and head to Broome. Broome can ALWAYS be relied upon for consistently fine weather throughout the dry season.

Laundry – 3 loads @ $4 a load, total $12