Local Government
Karratha
Region
Pilbara
Old Roebourne-Tablelands Rd between Cooya Pooya Stn & Hicks Gap
Situated on the old Roebourne to Tablelands Road between Cooya Pooya Station and Hicks Gap
The Springs
Karratha
Pilbara
Type | Status | Date | Documents | More information |
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Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | More information | |
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Category | Description | ||||
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 01 Sep 2013 | Category A |
Category A |
The homestead was on one of the early pastoral leases in the Pilbara, being taken up by Henry H Hicks in the 1860s. It was a key node in the route between the coast and the Tablelands and was also used as a stop over by mail carters and others who were travelling the road.
The archaeological remains provide well preserved information about the organisation and character of the early pastoral stations and of the beginnings of sheep farming.
The site contains the earliest known rock art depiction of a European building. The rock art is a powerful testament to Aboriginal experiences during a period of rapid dispossession.
The ruins are situated on the banks of a creek and spring, a short distance from the old road. Local stone was used extensively in building the homestead, out buildings, paved areas, walls, tank stand and well. Evidence of garden beds marked out with corrugated iron is still evident at the front of the house. Small humpies or hides are located along the edge of a stone ridge, possible for itinerant workers or Aboriginal residents. They overlook the substantial ruined stone yards and paved wool shed that would have been used for shearing and possible storage of the fleece. In the river bed stone walls were used either to keep stock away from the river or to water them.
There is a significant amount of rock art at the site on the low outcrop of stone that divides the homestead from the sheep yards. The rock surface is inferior to other rock surfaces in the region preferred for the execution of rock art, yet still hosts a large number of motifs.
The land now falls within the water catchment area for the Harding Dam. It is used by occasional visitors being located on a track between Cooya Pooya and Hicks Gap. This is a preferred route for off-road enthusiasts who use the centre of the old homestead complex as a camping place.
The Springs Station appears to have been established as early as 1865, given a photograph of owner Horace Hicks published in that year entitled ‘ Horace H. Hicks of The Springs Station, Denison Plains Co.’
The Lockyer family would take up the station, presumably after the late 1870s. Mr and Mrs A.B. Lockyer are described as leaving the Northwest in 1899 after 21 years on the station, having
owned Cooya Pooya, then Springs Station. The station was then managed by their son Arnold Lockyer.
Chief Protector of Aborigine Files suggest an ongoing presence of Aboriginal people during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In the twentieth century it was part of the Cooya Pooya lease, and managed presumably as an outstation (at least the functioning yards and well etc.) by the various owners of Cooya Pooya. It appears the paving stones that once graced the verandah at Cooya Pooya were sourced from Springs Station.
The site has an excellent archaeological record of the station organisation, which appears to involve distinct areas for the homestead, different areas for types of residents, working areas, execution of rock art, and animal management. The rock art is important as a tool for communicating and recording the colonial-era for Aboriginal people, as happened at nearby stations like Inthanoona and Old Woodbrook stations. The art depicts horses, new European costume such as women’s dresses, and the earliest known depiction of a European building in the state – of the smithy.
The spatial organisation of the site is intact, although
the buildings are ruins.
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
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Australasian Historical Archaeology | Paterson, A. G. | Towards a Historical Archaeology of WA's Northwest. p. 91-103 | 2006 |
Ref Number | Description |
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58 | Municipal Inventory |