Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 23 September 1950, page 5


MODERN HOTEL

Madura Station Project CATERING FOR ROAD TRAFFIC

Perth, Sept. 22.— About 30 motor vehicles going either east or west across Australia, travelled through Madura Pass in three days recently, while three Perth men were installing two petrol bowsers at the homestead of Madura station. Messrs. Raymond Hinchcliffe and' Robert Hinchcliffe, con

tractors, of Cottesloe, installed a bowser for one oil company and another company, being assisted in the work by Mr. Stanley Arnold, a taxi proprietor, of Claremont. The installation of the bowsers will facilitate overland motor travel which is becoming increaseingly popular.It It had been decided by Mr. Robert Mackie, the owner of Madura station, to conduct the homestead as a model hotel to cater for motorists. The pass is on the Eyre highway. 330 miles east of Norseman, which has two large hotels. Describing the visit to Madura Pass, Mr. Arnold said to-day that generally speaking the road was very good, much better than he had expected. He and his two companions had travelled in a utility truck, and the only trouble they experienced was two blow-outs. Everybody they encountered on the way was as helpful as it was possible to be. All sorts, of small cars were going to, and coming from, the Eastern States, and having no trouble at all. Some sections of the journey were dusty. The road was good with patches of loose stone on the long stretch from Norseman to Madura, but the country was not barren, there being a fair amount of vegetation, including trees, scrub and grass. The view from the top of the pass was rather spectacular, Mr. Arnold said. A huge piece of land seemed to have been stamped down 300 or 400 ft., and then the country continued to be flat, as it was before the pass was reached. The pass was about a mile west of the homestead, and the road from the top of the pass wound down by a circuitous route for about half a mile.