Day 54 – 12th July – Derby

At last we have left the crowds of Broome… to make it up the road to Derby.  We set up camp then headed out to explore Derby in an afternoon (which is easily done).  On the road into town is the Prison Boab Tree.  Aboriginal prisoners in the late 1800s and early 1900s were kept here as they were marched toward some established prison elsewhere.  Old boab trees can be hollow inside, and as you can see, there is a convenient ‘door’ on this one.  I am not sure how many people were forced inside the tree at any given time but there is no doubt it would have been cramped and uncomfortable.  

Next stop was the Derby jetty whose boast to fame is its location for watching king tides.  Apparently a spring tide here can reach up to 11m.  That amount of water coming in or out every day means the sediment never gets a chance to settle out, so the water is a lovely shade of brown soup…  The Derby mud flats was not the prettiest location we’ve been to… 

We did a quick stop at the Old Derby Gaol.  It is rather disturbing to read the information about the conditions the aboriginal prisoners were kept in… and even more horrifying to know this prison was active up until the mid 1970’s. 

On to something a little less morbid… art!  We visited two art galleries which, not surprisingly, featured local aboriginal artists.  One of the galleries contained very traditional aboriginal art and the other had a more contemporary feel to it.  This sculpture was outside the contemporary gallery. 

Everywhere we have been lately we come across boab nuts that have been engraved.  Our favourite so far are these one carved to look like birds and even mice…