Kendall
River Road is a less used road to western Cape York.
It goes
to the areas south
of Aurukun,
... that are not accessible to the public unless you join one
of the tours that takes you around in these areas.
The road itself is easy to describe in four different sections.
PDR to Crystal Vale Turnoff
The road turns in
about half way between Coen
and Musgrave
- at the turnoff
there is a sign to
Yarraden Station.
There are first a few
gates ...
... as
you pass through the station.
Then, on your right hand side, is the old Hamilton
Goldfield
with the site of
the old Ebagoola
township.
Later, you cross Holroyd River,
... and then Station Creek, both dry late in the dry season.
And then you come to the Crystal Vale turnoff.
Crystal Vale Turnoff to Holroyd
After Crystal Vale turnoff,
... there is a big hill,
... and you come to the land of Holroyd Station.
The road starts getting a little narrower,
... there are more gates,
... and you pass the homestead.
Holroyd to Merapah Track Turnoff
After the homestead,
... the road continues,
... through the Pretender Creek,
... and gets narrower,
... as it goes through some cattle yards.
More gates,
... dams,
... grids,
... and you come to the Merapah turnoff.
Merapah Track Turnoff to Kendall River
After the Merapah turnoff,
... the road gets even narrower,
... and gradually turns into a track,
... which will go through ...
... some bush that gradually gets thicker,
... as the track gets narrower,
... and finally straightens up,
... as it gets to the final gate.
Hamilton
Goldfield
Hamilton
Goldfield is an interesting piece of Cape York gold history.
If you
are
interested in history and discovering old goldfields, it may well be
worth turning into Kendall
River Road. Not long
after you pass by Yarraden
Station on your left hand side, on your right hand side is
this
shack:
There are a few tracks into the goldfield on your right hand side after
the shack.
The
deposits
were found in
the late 1800s, and in the early 1900s this was a working goldfield
with a few different mines and the township of Ebagoola as the
settlement.
Ebagoola had a school, a post office and a few hotels, but it didn't
last for long and today in fact very little remains of the town itself.
The surrounding goldfields have some old mining equipment left around.
You should turn into Yarraden Station and ask for permission to visit
Hamilton Goldfield.
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.