Boondi is one of numerous rock catchments in the Great Western Woodlands that was developed for railway water supplies in the days of steam locomotive engines.

Steam locomotives used great quantities of water and needed to replenish it along their journey. A further complication in the supply of water for railway operations was the great rate of evaporation at the sites where the water was stored along the route.

The advent of diesel locomotives and the construction of a new line to the North saw an end to the days when the steam trains stopped at Boondi to refill their water tanks.

The water catchment system at Boondi is similar to numerous other catchment systems on granite outcrops in Western Australia. It consists of perimeter harvest walls and rock-lined channels that direct rainfall runoff into a storage reservoir. Generally the storage reservoirs were roofed to slow down evaporation and today the support posts can still be seen in a few of the various reservoirs

Boondi Rock, 103 kilometres east of Southern Cross and 83 kilometres west of Coolgardie, is in the Goldfields Woodlands National Park.

 

The reports of the various trips, tours and travels on the Adventures website have a lot of information about place names – their naming and features – toponymy. More information.

© Kim Epton 2019-2024
253 words, one photograph.

Feel free to use any part of this document but please do the right thing and give attribution to adventures.net.au. It will enhance the SEO of your website/blog and Adventures.

See Terms of Use.