Day 37

Sunday 12th April 2015, showers

Gwelup, Perth

There’s rain on the roof again and much shouting outside. A 4WD complete with kid’s bikes on the roof drives out of the park with a very long orange electrical lead dragging behind…..I guess someone forgot to unplug their Waeco.

Passing showers keep us on our toes as we stroll around Kings Park. We visit the Bali Bombing Memorial and the War Memorial. The Botanic Gardens has a new glass walkway that takes you up into the treetops and unlike most things is free of charge. We find a huge tree that was planted by Queen Elizabeth during her visit in 1954. Are we really as old as that tree is tall? No, we’re even older!

 

As it is nearby, I drag poor Woody to the old Karrakatta cemetery to find the graves of his great grandparents, Michael and Elizabeth Flynn. They were the ones who went to Kalgoorlie for the gold rush. We find Elizabeth’s grave but not Michael’s, only the section where it should be. I get chatting to a woman who is photographing headstones for her website, I love those people their work is priceless when you live in another state or country, she tells me that Michael’s section of the cemetery has been ‘renewed’ and Elizabeth’s will go shortly. Renewed? Yes, they bring in the tractors and push over the graves. They save a few interesting headstones that are dotted about artistically and the site is replanted with gardens and new burials. Even the dead suffer the high cost of real estate.

Accom: $38.85

Travelling Kms: 0

Note: In 1907 Michael and Elizabeth sailed to Perth, Western Australia. They then travelled inland to Kalgoorlie camping along the way and living off possums. The skins were tanned and sold when they arrived. It is believed that Michael went mining for gold. It is said that he found gold and set up a business as a  Saddler and Collar Maker in Perth… As told by Woody’s brother, Woody the Elder.

Michael and Elizabeth had 10 children, some settled in Perth some remained in Melbourne. I’m still wondering who Jim Smith was.