Derby
The town of Derby, located on King Sound was settled in the 1880's and it's port primarily serviced the brief gold rush in Halls Creek (1885). This gold fever died down as it was discovered that gold was not as plentiful as was thought and the natives rather hostile. It has the highest tides with a differential of 11.8 metres between high and low tides. Derby has a population of approx. 3000 with half being of aboriginal descent. Derby was bombed by the Japanese during the second world war because of the pier and air base that was used by the Australian forces. Derby was also known as the first scheduled aviation service in Western AustraliaAirways Ltd, with the first flight being on Dec 5, 1921. Now the town boasts the Kimberley School of the Air base and a strong history of involvement with the royal flying doctors. Many whistling Kites circled the town, and we enjoyed a very brief overnight stay at the caravan park to recharge batteries and supplies.
The Derby wharf, picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby,_Western_Australia
Just out of Derby is a famous Boab Tree, once used as a makeshift prison camp.
Now the Prison Tree is home to birds, snakes and bees.
More about Boab trees later- they are just incredible, bold, unapologetic and majestic! I love them.
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