Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 12 July 1923, page 42


J BEADON. j

I THE NEW NORTH-WEST PORT.

(By "Jabyn.")

There are, doubtless, very few of tbe inhabitants of Western Australia, who are aware that a new township Ls aris-ing on the North-West coast. "This town-ship-Beadon-is to take the place of Onslow as thc port of the Ashburton district, and mayhap, in the fture, be-come the principal city in a new State.

It is situated north-east of Onslow, about ; 15 miles by aeroplane, although about 24 mlies by road (or rather track). A new port has been rendered necessary by | the conditions of Onslow Jetty. To those

who have not travelled up the north-west |

coast, it may be explained that Onslow j

Ls about three and a half miles from the i

coast and separated therefrom by j swamps and marshes. The existing jetty i runs into about 10f t. of water, atrdow j tide, and to give berth to present-day! coastal steamers it would be necessary to

extend this jetty at least half a mile j into an unprotected area. At the present j time vesseis trading along this coast j stand out in tue Roads about one and i a half miles. The method of transit for

goods is by lighter betweeu the jetty ! and the ship, and by horse-tram from jetty to Onslow. Passengers follow the \ same proceedute, except that an oil ! launch takes the place of the lighter j (as a general rule). Should the weather be inauspicious thc port is avoided, and goods and pasesngers carried on. Natu-1 rally this mode of transit between boat 1 and township adds materially to the cost

of goods and the inconvenience of pas- ? sengers, and for many yeats it has been

realised tEStr some alteration must be | made. Sheep and wool, the main opm

inodities for export, have been eartcd by j

road either to Roebourne or to Carnar-von and at times owing to rains render-ing che roads almost impassible, the coast baa been prohibitive as far as auj prospect of return is concerned. i

Beadon is situated in a sheltered bay, protected by islands on the north, and

by a strip of land on the north-east and east. It has the advantage of being on the coast, with undulating country at hack. Near tie metropolis, it would- take its place as a popular seaside resorta sheltered bay, suitable for yachting and boating, a_ fine sandy oeack for bathing, good fishing grounds, and hills overlooking the sea. .Running into the centre 'of the bay, and ou the eastern side of the townsite is Beadon Creek, a tidal creek of many branches. On the western side, separating the back bench .there ere a cluster of rocks on which oysters abound and the home of crayfish and crabs.

It Ls from ihese rocks that the jetty now in course of construction will bave its solid foundation; it will be half a mile long and reach a depth of six fathoms at low water, so that any boats now on the coastal trade or likely to be for the nftxt few years, can get a berth at any tide. There is a rise of tide of about 10ft to high water. The jetty ruiis out due north, and is, at present, the most interesting clement of the new township, especially in view of thc fact that it Is the first, jetty to be construct-ed of reinforced concrete, a meretricious effort of the Public Work« Department to cope with the heavy maintenance ex-penses of all the jetties hitherto con-structed on the North-West coast; in fact, round the whole coast of Western Australia. The termites at the shore end, and the teredo navalis at the sea «nd, have rendered it imperative that an altogether new type should be» in-augurated, which, without material-ly increasing täie cost of construc-tion, will reduce the cost of maintcnauce -to a minimum. There being no timber in the northern areas suitable

for the. purpose, all piles, beams, etc., have had to be transported from the South-West, and being very cumbrous, the freight and handling has been a speedily heavy hem. apart fiom the fact that long jarrah piles are now getting scarce and have to be fetched some distance before reaching a rail-head. At Beadon, the piles, beams and decking are of concrete, reinforced by steel bars; likewise the walIngs- and braces are built in during construction of the same material, thus forming one homogeneous mass, which neither the termites nor teredo will be tempted to attack. The details of construction are not interesting to the general reader, but suffice it to say that the contractors, Messrs. Atkins and- Finlayson, have spared no expense to make a good bid for a successful undertaking. Ma-chines are everywhere; a successful pumping scheme for a water supply which reticulates the camp, a circinar saw bench, stone crushing plant and concrete mixers all worked hy motor power. The stone from the quarry 1«. brought in by carnell teams. Rails are laid out to low water so that goods can be taken direct from lighter on to the trucks. The toilers are housed in G.C. iron and hessian barracks, with shower baths adjacent, and a good dining

room and kitchen of similar construc-tion is provided, lt..is realised that two years will be-occupied in the erec-tion of this jetty, of which time, one half has not yet passed, but some 70 spans are completed ag a spectacular sampîe of what the work will be tike. The township is to be laid out by the .Lands Department immediately, to en-able the would-be immigrants from Ons-low to choose their future homes. The Government departments will be busy preparing for transferring the post office. Customs, hospital, police station, etc., and arrangements made for leading lights to enable vessels to come in at night with safety. But when complete, it is doubtful whether there will be a safer port «nd prettier little township on the

North-West coast.