North West Housing Prices?

While their has been many comments in the past few years about the need to reduce housing prices in the North West of Western Australia (both purchase and rental), this is a much more difficult problem than it seems in passing. Currently, due to limited supply, the cost of housing in places like Broome, Karratha and Port Hedland is at an almost unsustainable level. For a number of years their has been discussion regarding the inability of people on low-average incomes to afford basic housing and the pressures this is putting on these communities.

When in Broome recently I heard of a family that had just moved to Perth as, even though they were both working full time, they couldn’t even afford to rent accommodation in Broome, much less purchase anything. For the whole of their marriage they had been sharing a property with one of their sets of parents however they had decided that they needed to change something as they didn’t want their kids to continue to grow up in such a cramped environment, especially since their was no expectation that they were going to be able to change these circumstances in the foreseeable future. This is certainly not an isolated case in these areas.

The solution that is often spouted is simply to release enough additional residential demand to remove the demand-side pressures. This however doesn’t take into account either the higher building costs in these areas than Southern areas of WA or the local negative social and economic ramifications this sort of policy could create if it isn’t thought through and planned carefully.

The building cost issue isn’t easily solved, but initially an understanding of what the current premium is and the likely escalation caused by increased construction demand is needed. The only way to ease the construction demand is to increase the number of builders in the area – this of course initially hits a hurdle as their is a need to accommodate them. The trade shortage in the area due to the demand for trades from within the mining sector also means that residential housing construction costs are largely driven by the incomes available within the mining sector, otherwise the majority of trades people are going to continue to be syphoned into the mining sector.

The second issue is that of land pricing. Even if the State Government made a policy decision to develop large scale residential developments themselves and release them at a price point that matches the affordability level they are chasing, the risk is run that anybody who has already made a commitment to the area and purchased at current prices will be significantly disadvantaged. This is because all property values will be devalued if land starts being released at a significantly lower price than is currently available. It is not too much of a stretch to see a large number of people being made insolvent through this type of policy and this is clearly intolerable.

The answers therefore need to include mechanisms to ensure that construction costs at least stay at current levels and existing property owners aren’t disadvantaged.

The property value issues could be easily solved by gifting current owners the equivalent value in land within the new sub-divisions that they have lost from the reduction in land costs caused by the reduced land prices would maintain peoples existing equity levels as well as providing these people with the option of either on-selling this land or building on it. The additional benefit of this is that, while the State Government has effectively made a significant loss on the early land releases, land has very quickly been spread across the community to give impetus to getting new residential construction occurring.

Maintaining construction costs in the face of the potential increase in demand is a whole different issue however. One solution may be to offer tax incentives to people working in the residential building industry for the time they are within the North West to allow real incomes to match those earned within the mining industry without increasing the amount businesses having to ay trades people. Additionally, relocation assistance to people currently unemployed in other areas of Australia who are prepared to move to the North-West (provided they have immediate employment) could be made available. In order to ensure that this achieves its objectives this money would need to be repayable if the recipients didn’t stay within the residential construction industry within the North West for at least two years.

I am sure there are other ways of achieving these objectives and I hope that policy shapers fashion something soon as the current availability of housing and the price of the housing that is available appear to be two of the most significant limitations to these communities benefitting from the resource boom currently occurring in this region.

The Homeward Leg

The trip from Tom Price was pretty uneventful, although we did clock our 25,000th km almost exactly at Nanutarra.

We were heading for Bullara Station for the night, but after a lengthy stop at Tom Price I suggested to Max that we just find somewhere to lay up for the night, however he was adamant that we should keep going no matter how late it got as we really needed to find a shower. Given his desire to avoid showers wherever possible up until this point I needed no further urging and it was Bullara here we come.
When we arrived there Max was excited to finally be on a real working station, after visiting historic homesteads several times on the way down. As far as a campsite went it was one we really enjoyed – even though we were the only people there. Apparently they had had a mass exodus the day before…
There were fire pits set up with wind breaks in the required areas, plenty of fire wood available and comfortable showers/toilets. As far as we were concerned it was luxury!
Next morning we set off for the Ningaloo. On the way down we had heard from a few people that the area was starting to clear out a little with many of the longer term campers starting to find it a bit warm so thought we may even be lucky enough to find a camp spot with some room for us, especially given the school holiday rush was still a couple of weeks away.
We headed up through Yanda Station, along the coast, rather than straight into Exmouth so that we could check on the camping options as we went. It was quickly apparent that there was some room along the station and is some of the caravan parks, but the National Park sites were all full, which was a shame as that was ideally where we wanted to stay.
At lunchtime we pulled in at the beach and Max went back into construction mode. It was quickly apparent however that beach going wasn’t particularly attractive as the wind was up and it was like being in front of a sand blaster.
In the end we sat in the car to eat and then kept poking around on the way into Exmouth. Once in the town itself I was able to check the weather forecast and it was clear that the wind was in for a few days at least so we decided that rather than wasting our time in the area this trip we may as well cut short the stop and head for home, with a return trip to be planned in the future. This was fairly disappointing for me as taking Max over the reef was supposed to the final major event.
In the end we made it another couple of hundred kilometres towards Carnarvon before pulling over for the night. Once again Max was happy to be in a roadside campsite – as for some reason he has come to largely prefer them over virtually all other options.
Next day we headed in to Carnarvon with the first aim being to visit Mum’s aunt – Ena. Luck was with us as it turned out and Mum’s cousin’s Roger and Jan, were visiting from Geraldton. Given I hadn’t caught up with them since I had left Geraldton in 1996 our quick stop ended up becoming a much longer and more relaxed affair.
In the end we left with enough time to get just past the Overlander Roadhouse, leaving us with a fairly simple run on home the next day – and a Saturday arrival at home meaning Max and Harry would have a full day together before school reared up.
That morning Max pronounced our campsite the best we had stayed in for the entire trip, which I think was more of an emotional call based on realising it was the last one, than any really substantial feedback on the campsite itself (although it was pleasant enough).
As we set off Max confided that he was a bit conflicted, really looking forward to seeing Mum and Harry after several weeks apart, but very sad about the prospect of travelling, exploring and camping out coming to an end. He also decided that the last few weeks had been his favourite part of the entire trip, mainly because he had enjoyed being able to sleep out under the stars. I do think that being just the two of us had a big impact as well, largely because it meant he felt a little more grown up, he regularly referred to himself as my ‘travelling companion’ while we were going along.
Given the longest stop we made on the run into home was the time it took to fill up the car with fuel I was very impressed with the change in Max’s ability to withstand, and now enjoy longer drives. As we headed down the Forest Highway he turned to me and said that the 3/4’s of an hour to the farm didn’t seem like such a long drive any more and he now understood why I considered it close enough to head down for dinner. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts!

In the driveway at home!!!

Arriving home was obviously joyous for all involved, however I hope we an hold onto some of the changes in priorities we managed to develop over the past six months. I also hope that the travel bug has been well and truly installed in the kids!!
All in all a well worth while exercise – now how do I settle down into one place again?

Karijini Revisited

The drive out of Port Hedland was fairly uneventful, although when we reached the Karijini Visitor Centre it was disappointing to find that Hamersley Gorge was closed due to roadworks. We set ourselves up at the Dales Campground and headed off for Circular Pool as a way to stretch out our legs following the drive in.
Max loved the climb down to the pool and the pool itself, although we both thought the water a little on the chilly side. Max however found that sections of the waterfalls were considerably warmer as it was running down rocks that had been warmed by the sun prior to reaching the pool. This made the swimming experience much more pleasant as well as doubling as a shower.
The trip back up the gorge was tougher than the downwards journey (funny that) with Max doing a good impression of a fish out of water when we reached the top.

Why did I buy Max a swag?

The next day (which was also my fortieth birthday – terrible chore spending it surrounded by the most fantastic of National Parks with my oldest son) we revisited the entry to the gorge but turned right instead of left and made our way up to Fortescue Falls. This was also fairly chilly but a very enjoyable swim was had by both of us. By making our way up past the falls we found Fern pool which Max insisted was much warmer (by this stage I had decided I had had enough of cold water and satisfied myself with watching Max and a couple of other kids enjoying themselves in the water).
After lunch we headed back the way we had come and continued past the entry/exit to the gorge and back to Circular Pool. The evening before i had forgotten the camera and wanted to make sure I had some shots for Liz when we get home, as well as thinking the opportunity for a semi-warm shower was to good to pass up. By the time we made it home that night Max certainly knew he had been on a jaunt.
Next on the list was Weano and Hancock Gorges. We had left these to last as they contained higher category treks than Dales Gorge and I wanted to build Max’s confidence first. We started with Hancock Gorge, however I only have photo’s of the early stages as I decided to be fairly risk adverse and left the camera behind as soon as we reached water stages. Max was absolutely enthused when we reached the Spider Walk through to Junction Pool and I was impressed with how easily he navigated most parts.
The return journey was fairly uneventful except that I managed to slip in six inches of water and completely immerse myself (meaning that the decision to leave the camera and range of other bits and pieces behind was vindicated).
After a relaxed lunch at the top we set out for Weano Gorge. We had already decided to concentrate on the higher category trails as Max wasn’t interested in adding an additional 3km to do the loop.
Once again I left the camera behind at the first sign of water so we again miss out of the photo’s that we could have taken at places like handrail pool. Max thought it was the right move however as he didn’t think his Mum would leave me in one piece if I damaged her camera. This time however it was Max who slipped and drenched himself.
The gorge leading on from Handrail Pool finally became Max’s stopping point and he was adamant that it must have been a category 6 area (even though there was a category 5 trail marker a tits entrance) as he decided it was a little too scary for him to continue down. for all of this he still managed to navigate a reasonable distance before he called it quits.
The journey back was reasonably eventful as we missed the exit trail and continued another 600+ metres down the gorge. Eventually we wandered back and up the hill to the car.
At this stage Max was a bit tuckered out so we tooled along to Junction and Oxer lookouts. Max was very interested in the memorial to the SES volunteer who died in 2004 while trying to rescue an injured walker.

Random Emu family encountered on our travels

On the way back to camp we also visited the Knox and Joffre lookouts. Knox lookout kept us for about an hour just appreciating the scenery and serenity. Max also viewed the trail along the bottom of Knox Gorge as the next challenge when he is a little older and up to it, so we may have the perfect excuse for another trip up here in a few years time (if Liz and Harry missing this visit isn’t excuse enough ).
The next morning was our Karijini exit, with a stop at Mt Bruce on the way out. Sadly we missed Mt Meharry, although Max’s major reason for wanting to visit was to see if he could upset his brother when we got home by going on about how he could walk all over Harry.
First stop on the way out was Tom Price, which we ended up stopping at for quite a while as we checked emails and phone messages. While I had a very peaceful birthday, the result was a lot of messages to go through – which was nice given that Max completely forgot my birthday and then remembered the next morning and tried to tell me that he had known it was my birthday but ignored it as ‘every day should be my birthday’???
From here it was into the final stages. with Ningaloo the last major destination on the list.

Big Ships and Red Dust

Heading back up to Port Hedland was an interesting experience. It was probably the first time we had driven a significant distance away from home since we turned the corner.
First stop was the harbour. The magnitude of the shipping operations is one thing – seeing the expansion plans another entirely. Currently almost the same amount of bulk exports are sent out of Port Hedland each week that leave Bunbury in a year and Bunbury is a major exporter of resources!
Other than that Port Hedland gave us the opportunity to catch up with a close lifetime friend who I hadn’t seen for around five years and another set of friends we had made in Bunbury, who had a child almost exactly the same age as Max. Micky and Liz had originally met through Mother’s group and kept in touch ever since. I think Max really appreciated a chance to have a play with someone the same age even if the kids didn’t actually remember each other initially.
We stuck around in Port Hedland until Sunday morning to enable us to ring Liz for her Birthday before heading into the Karajini. This stage of the trip has been much anticipated by me as I visited the Karajini as part of a school trip when I was 16 and my memories of it still captivate me all these years later.

In Search of Red Dog

This morning was kicked off with many games of Yahtzee. While in Broome Lucy had insisted we borrow it for the remainder of the journey, which gives us an additional game to play and provides Lucy with a reason to make sure she comes and visits when she is next down in Bunbury (I think this is what people have in mind when they bandy around the term win-win around).
First stop, and the major part of the reason for continuing on past Karratha last night, is to find the memorial to Red Dog. This ended up being easier than we expected. On arriving in Dampier we stopped at the information bay to use the map of the town and found the memorial sitting in front of it. Max proceeded to photograph it from ever conceivable angle before we continued on into town. After driving around Max absolutely blew me away by deciding it was a town he quite liked and would happily live in. Given that this is only the second place that has received this level of approval (after Magnetic Island) to say it was unexpected would be an understatement. It does however prove that at this stage in his life cities hold very little attraction. I am wondering how much credit (blame) should be accredited to the movie ‘Red Dog’ however.
We finished our tour around Dampier by stopping at a shop to pick up a Red Dog postcard for Max to send back to his class. As we left the shopkeeper came racing out with three others that he wanted us to take as well??, which I thought was lovely and Max wasn’t too pleased about as he saw it as just more work. The best part was that they were all of different parts of the Pilbara, most that we will be visiting over the next week so Max is probably right, they will become more work for him.
Karratha was next on the list mainly because the Red Dog monument stated that full information on Red Dog was available at the Karratha Library. When we got there however we found it was closed for renovations so Max’s opinion of Karratha was certainly lower than that of Dampier. Karratha for me was just another town so we didn’t spend too much time there.

Wyndham from the lookout

We had already previously decided to head back to the Sherlock River campsite we had stayed Tuesday night at, so used the afternoon to visit Wyndham and Point Sampson. Wyndham was worth the visit just to look over what a real mining town, built by a mining company, looks like, while Point Sampson was interesting given the information we had found out the day before about it superseding Cossack as a port location.
Sadly, after the effort that has gone into the restoration of Cossack, which was absolutely marvellous, Point Sampson fell a little flat. We followed a sign to the ‘historic jetty’ but found a small section (about 15 metres) still remaining in a very dilapidated state and completely fenced off with 2 metre high cyclone fencing. Other than that some remaining rails and pylons could be seen around the water and that was it.
We therefore headed back up to camp, ready to try and catch up with Pete in Port Hedland tomorrow.

The History Lesson



From the swag in the morning

from the swag in the morning

  This morning we set off for Roebourne and Cossack, although not in that order.
I knew that a museum had been set up in Cossack, which was once the central hub of the Pilbara but is now a ghost town, with my ancestors being central to the story. This was therefore my opportunity to find out more of this as well as giving Max an opportunity to discover and appreciate part of where he comes from.
My knowledge was limited to knowing that my Mothers family (on her Mothers side) came out from England in 1830, bringing seven children with them and having one more after arriving. From there the children radiated out across the state with my particular ancestor ending up in the Pilbara. How that happened and what went on up here was pretty much unknown except for stories from my Grandma about growing up on Sherlock Station and taking a steam ship to Perth from Roebourne for school each year. Due to the trip taking a week each way she only got to go back home at Christmas holidays and had to stay in Perth for other school holiday periods.
When we reached Cossack we started at the cemetery, (sort of starting at the end I guess). Here we found a large marble slab erected in honour of William Shakespeare (Shaky) Hall (my ancestor), with his wife and three children all interred together. Interestingly the last of these sons died well after Cossack had all but disappeared so the importance of the place in their lives can be gleaned from the fact that his remains were brought back there.
Shaky’s importance to the area is probably explained from him being part of the original exploration team that travelled to the Pilbara before he headed back up to manage the first pastoral property.
Finding his own relatives in a cemetery seemed to really pique Max’s interest and he was quite engaged in the morning we spent in town, even though much of the information and artefacts were quite dry.
We started back down at the cafe, which also doubled as an information centre, where we picked up a heritage trail and a historic facts brochure. The old gaol was the starting point and Max found the whole idea of being able to lock me (and himself) up fascinating while the story boards of the town itself gave me a great overview before moving on. The fact that the major part of Cossack’s history fits into a 40 year period makes it much easier to present. Cossack was named in 1871 (although had slowly become a town over the preceding 5-8 years) and then a municipality in it’s own right in1877. At its peak it had over 1000 people residing in it, which is very significant given its remote location and the paucity of inhabitants across Western Australia at that time.
At this time it was the region’s only Port, with supplies being brought through it initially for the pastoral properties that were being developed and then also to supply the Pilbara gold rust of the late 1880’s. It also had up to 80 pearl luggers operating out of it (these subsequently moved on to Broome after the local pearl oysters were largely fished out).
The construction of better port facilities at Point Samson and the end of pearling effectively resulted in the death of the town although the last residents didn’t leave until after the 2nd World War.

Shakespeare Hall Social History Museum

We then headed on up to the old Court House which now house the Shakespeare Hall Social History Museum. The court house itself is still in largely original condition, as a re the majority of the remaining buildings and this was as interesting as the artefacts now contained within.
One of the interesting things for both Max and i was the opportunity to view photo’s of three generations of Hall’s, which effectively covered the generations who had lived in Australia up to my Grandmothers generation. Talking to Max he said he is now really interested in finding out more about the family history as having relatives involved made history much more interesting. Somewhere at home I have a book centred on the life of Sarah Theodosure Hall – Shaky’s mother, so I guess I better dig that out for him when we get home. His Grandad has also been doing his genealogy so Max might be able to go through that with him as well, although he has said that a lot of the reason he has got so interested in this has been the opportunity to actually visit a series of places they were associated with, meaning that deeper interest in his Grandad’s research might not happen without traipsing around England (I am sure he would be prepared to do so if the opportunity arose however!).

What is left of Cossack

After then touring around the remainder of town we headed back to the cafe for a drink and ice cream. Max found a table and started doing some more work on his journal while I was inside and when i came out I found him in a very animated conversation with a lady who also had ancestral links to the town.
Eventually we moved on to Roebourne and spent a significant part of the afternoon exploring the old gaol museum, including Max carefully reading the partial transcript of a royal commission into the treatment of Aboriginal prisoners conducted in the late 1800’s. While there I also picked up the full information on the Emma Withnell Heritage Trail. This trail is named after the first female European Settler and includes all the places we had already visited in Cossack – so gave us some additional information. Interestingly, when we were reading through the introduction we found that WS Hall, in addition to being part of the original exploration team, had been part of Walter Padbury’s team that established the first station in the region, had then assisted the second settler, John Wellard on his arrival, before becoming close friends with the Withnell’s – who were the third settlers, following leading them to water on their arrival in the district.
After this abundance of history we headed further down the road before stopping at Miaree Pool, on the Maitland River, for the night. This campsite was almost more attractive than the one the previous night on the Sherlock River, with plenty of water also in this river.