Alan McCall traces the route of legendary explorer David Carnegie, reflecting on his journey and the places he named along the way—from Mount Bannerman to Shiddi Pool in northeast Western Australia.

The turnoff was about 23 kilometres south of the junction to Wolfe Creek Crater on the Tanami Road, and the travellers in our convoy of four vehicles eagerly awaited the change in direction. The pastoralists from Ruby Plains Station were out aerial mustering along the track with a helicopter and motorbikes. The crater from the road looked like nothing more than a small range as we drove past.

Arriving at our turnoff, we stopped for some morning tea and had a look at the track. This track, which starts in station country, heads due west before eventually passing the community of Wangkatjunka (Christmas Creek), which is not far from the Great Northern Highway. Most of the track parallels the northern boundary of the Great Sandy Desert and follows the dune corridors.

Our destination was Mount Bannerman, some 50 kilometres away. Explorer David Carnegie had his seventy-fifth camp on his 1896 expedition from Coolgardie to Halls Creek just south of the mount. He subsequently explored the ranges to the north, naming Mount Bannerman, Shiddi Pool and Redleap Pool.

We followed the track to the west, and it never deteriorated to an extent that would warrant worry—a good track. A single gate signified the end of pastoral country. The track followed along a dune corridor with the usual desert spinifex interwoven across the surface of the sand.

We had a big day planned and hoped to make it to Shiddi Pool on the northwestern side of the range to camp. First, though, we would make for Mount Bannerman. We left the track to the north and began cross-country 4W driving. We followed along the large creek on its eastern side—many large gum trees were growing along the creek line.

Arriving at the mount, we settled in for a long lunch stop. From the summit, the view from all angles was superb. To the south was the Great Sandy Desert, extending as far as the horizon would allow. West again, the desert, this range, and isolated peaks southwest, including Mount Erskine, which Carnegie later named. To the north is the range which we hoped to go around this afternoon, and more desert to the east with a natural amphitheatre forming between Mount Bannerman and the adjacent peak.

Leading the team out, we made for the eastern section of the range.  Every now and then we would come across some old tracks and try to make use of them. Mostly, though, they were overgrown and too thick to conveniently follow.

The range consisted of a number of breakaway groups of outcrops, which looked stunning as we passed them by. It was really slow going—we kept as close as reasonably practicable to the range. One dune was genuinely too large to easily get over, so we had to follow it around to the west, where a nice view presented itself with a huge gap between sections of the range.

There were dry creeks cutting our path, and one of these stopped two of the vehicles in their tracks. To get to the other side of the creek required hauling the vehicles over. The ground was quite rocky, and a lot of weaving around the small tributaries of the creeks was required. Our course veered west after we passed the northern extent of the range, and the number of rocks and boulders increased significantly, as did the thickness and impenetrability of the vegetation.

My sump hit and scraped boulders in this section twice. It required constant attention to pick your line of travel. There was a sand ridge running east-west in sight, and the terrain would have been easier on the other side. However, I decided to maintain the vector we were on, as it was closer to Shiddi Pool by direct line. In hindsight, it would have been better to follow the north side of the dune.

Another three kilometres later, we arrived at a pleasant natural clearing around half an hour before sunset and decided to camp within walking distance of Shiddi Pool. It ended up being a long day; however, we eventually made it. We set up camp and had a brief look at the pool, which was of great beauty. I imagine tomorrow will be just as big a day, as the pool and the surrounding creek system were indeed worthy of exploration.

David Carnegie himself arrived at the pool on 1 November 1896 and stayed in the general area for fourteen days, not for want of relaxation in a desert oasis, but for necessity. Three of his camels saw their fate in this vicinity — Shiddi, from whom the pool was named, Redleap and Prempeh. They all died from eating poison bush. Further, two of his men, Charles Stansmore and Joe Breaden, were overcome by sickness, Breaden with dysentery. Carnegie had called Shiddi Pool ‘Bronzewing Pool’ prior to Shiddi’s death.

In this area, Godfrey Massie, one of Carnegie’s men, found another pool a mile downstream where he stayed overnight after some hunting. Another larger pool was then found further downstream, which was named Redleap Pool, after the deceased camel.

In the morning, after breakfast, we all went down to Shiddi Pool to have a good look. The pool was at a point in the gorge where it turned at right angles. It was a nice sight to see so much water here; we were still within the boundaries of the Great Sandy Desert. There were many petroglyphs engraved upon the rock faces in many different forms.

Then we began to hike downstream to try and reach Redleap Pool, about three kilometres away. We walked upon the sandy base of the creek, which had large white gums encroaching upon it. There were a number of pools on the way, and we thought we had worked out which would have been the one Godfrey Massie hunted at, as it was larger than the others.

It was a hard walk, and there were many twists and turns. At one stage, we had to get out of the creek and walk along the bank as the creek became a thin gorge with huge drop-offs to the creek below. Eventually, we reached Redleap Pool, and some of us cooled our feet in the water. Here we looked for a tree marked by Frank Hann in 1896, which Carnegie mentioned he saw when he was there; we did not find it. Gee, that Hann bloke got around!

After resting for a while, we started to head back to camp, hoping to cut some distance off the journey by travelling above the creek. This worked, as we could mostly walk in a straight line, and the terrain was easy to traverse. I found an old tin can in the bush along the way. We were all tired and rested for a while before a meal of barbecued bacon and eggs was whipped up.

A few of us went exploring the next day along a tributary of the creek that we were on now. We sought out any other pools that may have been upstream to the northeast. A large pool was the reward for our labours, and we were quite excited and happy at that. There were more of the ancient petroglyphs along the walls of the pool. The pool was about 25 metres long by seven metres wide and would probably be as deep as two or three metres at its deepest.

We stayed for quite a while before setting off for camp. We followed the creek back all the way to Shiddi Pool and wondered how old the engravings on many of the walls were. We took our time. When it rains, it must surely be quite a sight, and I wouldn’t want to be in the way.

Our camp was a compact and efficient unit. With the generator as backup, we were able to maintain the power to the fridges and the lighting. One campfire, four vehicles, six people, a dog, a million stars—and no one else in sight!!

We all agreed to walk along the creek to the new pool again in the morning and left camp about 8.30 am. Now we all had a chance to see the engravings and to marvel at some of the pools along the way. There was heaps to see, with someone calling “hey, come have a look at this!” frequently.

We stayed for three nights here at Shiddi Pool, and our time there was worth it. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the remote oasis. There was so much to see, inspect, and wonder at. We all agreed that it would be easy to spend more time here exploring, if only time would one day allow it. As I left that morning, I hoped someday that this would be the case.