Wallal is the location of a bore in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The bore is located 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Broome and has an elevation of 10 metres (33 ft). The nearest town is Marble Bar, 140 kilometres (87 mi) south of the bore.[1]
The bore falls within the boundaries of Wallal Downs Station, a historical pastoral lease, that operates in the area. The station also has a caravan park situated in close proximity to the bore and Eighty Mile Beach. An airstrip suitable for light planes is also located nearby.
The station is the most southerly cattle station in the Kimberley. With a size of approximately 500,000 acres (202,343 ha), the Wallal Downs property stretches from the coastal flats into the Great Sandy Desert. Cattle reared in the area are mostly sent to market in Port Hedland or Broome and are occasionally sent to Darwin after being fattened up in the Northern Territory in lean seasons.[2] The property is family owned and run along with Warrawagine Station. Wallal was stocked with 8,000 head of Brahman in 2015.[3]
Wallal is also of historical interest as the location of an international effort to observe the solar eclipse on 21 September 1922, to validate Einstein's theory of relativity.[4][5][6]
See also
References
- ↑ "Bonzle Digital Atlas - Map of Wallal Bore WA". 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
- ↑ "Surf and Turf Tour - Wallal Downs". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ↑ "Warrawagine Station Cattle Company". Central Station. 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ↑ Campbell WW. The Total Eclipse of the Sun, September 21, 1922. The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 35, No. 203, 11-44, 1923.
- ↑ Barker G. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Proven in Australia, 1922. Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. August 22, 2012. https://maas.museum/inside-the-collection/2012/08/22/einsteins-theory-of-relativity-proven-in-australia-1922/ Accessed August 16, 2018
- ↑ Chant, C. A.; Young, R. K. (November 1923), "Evidence of the Bending of the Rays of Light on Passing the Sun, obtained by the Canadian Expedition to observe the Australian Eclipse", Publications of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 2: 275–285, Bibcode:1923PDAO....2..275C.