The town of Roebourne is just 40 kms from Karratha and is
the oldest town of the NW coast (according to my precious resource Amazing
North.” It was established in 1866 and
many of the old buildings have been restored.
I visited the old gaol,
which now houses not only great museum items significance to the town, but
the Visitor’s Information Centre as well.
Roebourne Gaol - Visitor Information Centre |
Not far from Roebourne is Cossack.- actually about 11 kms
north. Cossack’s claim to fame was that
it was the site the earliest pearling industry, but sadly the pearls were
overfished and the industry moved on when Broome became the centre of pearling
in the area. The town’s population decreased from the heady days of the
pearling industry and by 1950 the town was abandoned.
However it has become popular as a tourist destination and a
lot of work has been done. Some of the buildings have been restored, and one
can go for a drive to see where other buildings were. There are signs along the roadways explaining
what used to be in place there.
There is some accommodation, but it was not operating when I
was there. I visited an old store, and
the old court house and of course took quite a few photos.
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