YOU DON’T TAKE A PHOTOGRAPH, YOU MAKE IT
The Kimberley is a vast and wild landscape, characterised by its rugged and untouched beauty .. a photographers joy!
A collection of images from the Dampier Peninsula and surrounds, featuring the Beagle Bay Church and its Pearl Shell Altar and a gorgeous old shack at Quandong.
The contrast between the aqua water and the red pindan cliffs makes for stunning backdrops for any photo. I have used our landscape to model clothes for retail, as a backdrop for a project to display children playing for a medical family centre, as well as a beautiful “Getaway” up on the Dampier Peninsula, near Broome.
The Buccaneer Archipelago is wild and pristine, rugged and beautiful and REMOTE. Not so many years ago the only way to see this amazingly spectacular country was by boat. Now many tourist operations are open to give tourists access whilst still enjoying life’s luxuries.
You can now fly over the Buccaneer Archipelago and be back in Broome to sip cocktails and watch the sun go down over Cable Beach but if you truly want to experience all this area has to offer, a trip on one of the luxurious yachts operating out of Broome will have you experiencing some of the best fishing in the world, visiting ancient Aboriginal Rock Art and if you time your visit for the end of the wet season, some truly spectacular waterfalls. Some tourist operators like the luxurious Karma IV yacht drive up under the falls, a once in a lifetime experience.
For me, the photography was all I had hoped for. Enjoy!
Please remember all images are copyright. If you wish to use any of these images please contact me.
WINDJANA GORGE – KIMBERLEY
Windjana Gorge, formed over 360 million years ago. is a stunning and ancient natural wonder, hidden behind a gorge wall, accessible through a gap leading to a beautiful sandy beach lined with paperbark trees and a few relatively harmless freshwater crocodiles, which generally ignore humans unless provoked. The Lennard River flows for 3.5 km through its majestic cliffs.
LADDER WATERFALL
Oomari Falls (King George Falls) features a dramatic 80-metre vertical drop down ancient sandstone cliffs. Ladder sometimes hidden by heavy falls. Photo taken at the end of the wet.
DENDRITIC TREES
As Roebuck Bay’s tide recedes, trickling water carves the sand into a living canvas that mimics the branching root systems of the Kimberley’s ancient trees.
KUNUMUDJ
Kunumudj is an ancient 1,500-year-old Boab Tree, incorrectly known since the 1940s as the boab prison tree. Researchers are pushing for the Kimberley icon to be correctly named and respected as a sacred site as there is no evidence that the tree was ever used as a lockup for prisoners.
In 1916, anthropologist Herbert Basedow photographed the tree and documented that its hollow interior was used as a habitation and an ossuary (burial site). He discovered bleached human bones resting on the floor inside the trunk. Sometime between 1940 to 1969 the ancestral remains seen by early visitors had completely vanished. Researchers believe they were likely stolen and illegally exported into private collections or museums.
The amount of graffiti on it continues to grow and while the tree is fenced, anyone who does a ‘Derby prison tree’ web search can see many trophy photographs of people standing inside the sacred site, often tour groups with the tour guide in it.
Read more about this on Broome and the Kimberley
BEAGLE BAY CHURCH
DAMPIER PENINSULA
Built in 1890, Beagle Bay Church is the spiritual centre of Beagle Bay Mission. The altar and the church’s interior showcase an extraordinary level of craftsmanship, with an elaborate design composed of mother-of-pearl, cowrie, volute, and olive snail shells. Many of the children that were educated at the Mission are victims of stolen generation. See more from this location on Broome and the Kimberley
SUNLIT GRASSES
BRADSHAW ROCK ART
These spindly, graceful human silhouettes are intricately detailed with remarkably fine 1-to-2-millimeter lines.
Spread across roughly 100,000 sites spanning an area of 50,000 square kilometers, traditional Aboriginal language groups of the region maintain a deep connection to these sites as part of their living cultural heritage, songlines, and Wunan law.
BERKLEY RIVER – KIMBERLEY
The Berkeley River is 135-kilometre-long and features ancient rock art sites, waterfalls and natural freshwater rock pools. This untouched part of the world invokes a feeling of timelessness and is only accessible by air and Kimberley coastal wilderness cruises. The fishing is amazing, crocodiles are plentiful, there are endangered Northern Quolls and elusive Scaly-tailed Possums, as well as wallabies.
If you would like to know more about the Buccaneer Archipelago, visit my other site, Broome and the Kimberley.
WILLIE CREEK
Willie Creek, situated 38km north of Broome is a scenic, tidal estuary popular for free camping, fishing, crabbing, and watching massive Kimberley tides.
DRYSDALE RIVER
The Drysdale River is located in the far north of the Kimberley and has no direct road access but you can fly or like me sail up the coast from Broome. Drysdale River National Park features a diverse landscape of open woodlands and the broad waters of the Drysdale River. There are pools, creeks, rugged cliffs and gorges and spectacular waterfalls.
If you would like to know more about this area, visit my other site,
TUNNEL CREEK EXIT
Dimalurru (Tunnel Creek) National Park is home to Western Australia’s oldest cave system, featuring a spectacular 750-metre subterranean river tunnel carved through the 350-million-year-old Devonian limestone reef of the Napier Range.
If you would like to know more about its fascinating history, visit my other site,
HORIZONTAL FALLS
The Horizontal Falls (known as Garaan-ngaddim to the Traditional Owners) is a stunning natural phenomenon located in Talbot Bay within the Buccaneer Archipelago of Western Australia’s remote Kimberley coast. Described by Sir David Attenborough as “one of the greatest wonders of the natural world,” the effect is created by some of the largest tidal movements on Earth.
Visit Broome and the Kimberley to read more.
