Sunday’s bushwalk was around the old quarantine centre at Woodman Point. We are now into the “winter schedule” of late starts, but the weather played tricks on us and we found ourselves walking in 31 degrees. Arriving at Nyyerbup Circle, Coogee for 9.30 am, it was virtually impossible to find a parking spot. There were so many people there, including skuba diving groups. Fortunately I had my secret weapon, in the form of JL’s old disability sticker.
We followed Sue along the disused rail tracks, which had previously been used to carry ammunition to bunkers along this part of the coast:
The quarantine station was established in 1886, to house people arriving by boat at Fremantle who were suffering from contagious diseases. It operated up to 1979. This is what it looks like today, when it is used as a recreation camp:
We observed a monument at the nurses’ graveyard, since many of them succumbed to the diseases:
We also passed the small crematorium, where bodies were disposed of:
Three of us decided to take a short cut back to the start, since it was getting really hot and not easy to traverse the sandy tracks.
We all enjoyed lunch in the shade at the end of the walk:
What an interesting excursion, in spite of the heat!
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