Research

Researching Kimberley History

At the KHS Museum a great deal of time has been spent showing visitors how to get started on research, which is always greatly appreciated. If you would like to research Kimberley or other history see KHS Links - History Research Links for some useful information to help get you started.

Research from KHS

Kimberley History Research Chronology - Compiled by KHS

1921 - Read more about the WA/NT Border determinations from the Anniversaries History page as well as in a news article corrected by KHS and illustrated with images from the KHS archive. The article was found on the wonderful, "Trove" (National Library of Australia's history search engine). Read the KHS version of the 1921 WA/NT Border Determinations article, interwoven with photographs from the Hambidge Collection as well as with entries from MP Durack's diary.

1941 - Carlton Reach experimental station was set up by Kimberley Michael Durack, with support of the WA Department of Agriculture and the Public Works Department. Read some interesting history about the 1st industrial pump engine on the Ord, from - Carlton Reach Pump Engine - a KHS Research page.

Also see Carlton Reach Set (on Flickr) to read Bill Durack's accounts of his experiences assisting his brother in the early 1940s, at what was the very beginnings of the Ord River Irrigation Area.

1942 - On March 20th 1942, a 12 Squadron Wirraway, A20-62, was force landed on the coastal saltmarsh near the WA/NT border, after engine failure over the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Read about the "Wirraway - Challenge" permanent exhibit at the Kununurra Museum which details the story of their survival and rescue by four Aboriginal stockmen and Charlie Pretlove. The exhibit has the salvaged cockpit canopy and some of the few parts from the plane, that survived after 62 years on the saltmarsh. A DVD in eight parts, which details the stories of pilots, Lew Dwyer and Warwick Carmody, is also available to view at the Museum.

1959-1961 - Research into the process of Naming Kununurra - Correspondence on how the town of Kununurra got its name!

1961 - Kununurra Townsite Proclamation or read articles researched for the Kimberley Echo newspaper "Looking Back" history column.

1963 - See some KHS research on the 1963 Royal Tour and the RAAF Convair A96-353 - VIP Transport Aircraft that brought the Royal Tour party from Darwin to Kununurra then returned to Darwin, from where the Royal tour continued onboard HMS Brittania to Fremantle via Broome and Geraldton.

Ninbing Boab in Early Morning Twilight

Site Owners

Kununurra Historical Society (KHS)
 Archive, Gallery Library, Museum & Research
Kununurra Museum - Coolibah Drive & Online

Dates & Events
Next KHS Meeting
1st Tuesday of the Month at 7pm
All Welcome

11days until
KHS Meeting 1st Tuesday of the Month (March 5th 2013) at 7pm - All Welcome!

68days since
KHS Open Day - On Sunday, March 17th 2013, when it was 50 Years since the Royal Tour visited Kununurra on March 17th 1963.

57days until
July 20th 2013, when it will be 50 years since the Ord River Diversion Dam was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies

Kununurra Museum Events

For more information on Kununurra Museum Events, for the Australian "Year of the Farmer," see the KHS Events Page

1942

March 20th 1942

Wirraway A20-62

On March 20th 2017 it will be...

75 Years...

Since the forced landing of Wirraway A20-62, on coastal saltmarsh, just inside the WA/NT border, by Pilots Lew Dwyer and Warwick Carmody. See the permanent "Wirraway - Challenge" display at the KHS Museum.

65days since
March 20th, which was the date of the forced landing of 12 Squadron Wirraway A20-62 in 1942. Broome and Derby suffered air raids on this day, March 20th 1942.

1942

1943 (Dry Season)

70 Years ago at Carlton Reach

(Ord River Experimental Station)

During the dry season of 1943 Kim and Bill Durack continued their work on the "Ord River Experimental Station," which had been set up late in 1941 at Carlton Reach using the waters of the Ord. More information is available about the 36 HP Petters "Atomic" diesel pump engine, used to raise the water for these first major experimental attempts at irrigation, at the twenty acre farm site. available from the Carlton Reach Pump Engine

ABC Kimberley Radio Interview (March 2013) - About the "Petters Atomic Diesel Engine - See http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2013/03/18/3718139.htm?site=kimberley

News Flash!
In April 2013 the 36 HP "Petters Atomic Diesel Engine" was donated to the Kununurra Historical Society by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA - Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture (formerly the Kimberley Research Station, where the engine was also in use until the 1950s), KHS plans to display the original pump engine by the entrance gate of the Kununurra Museum.

Events from 2011

Wyndham and Hall's Creek (aka "Kimberley") were established.

1886

125 Years Ago
(In 2011)

In May and June 2011 It was
90 Years
Since the WA and SA Government Astronomers came to the Kimberley in
1921
to determine the position of the WA/NT Border on the ground by using the new technology (in 1921), of radio time signals. This exepedition in 1921 would locate the border position and a WA Survey crew would come back in 1927 to build the Kimberley Obelisk, which still determines the border today.
Read More about the 1921 WA/NT Border Determinations

1941

1941
Carlton Reach

"Thethebeleng" or "Carlton Reach"
:-( now sadly, referred to as Lake Kununurra)
Was the largest permanent waterhole in the entire Kimberley Region, held back by a place called "Tharram," the "Rocky Falls" or "Jasper Bar" or "Bandicoot Bar," stretching all the way to "Carlton Ridge" or the head of the "Sleeping Buddha, as it is known today."

"Kim's Place"  or "Ord River Experimental Station" or "Ord River Experimental Farm" or "The Cabbage Patch" - No matter what it has been referred to in writing, this was the WA Government's precursor to the joint Federal (CSIRO) - State (WA Ag. Dept.) Kimberley Research Station (KRS).

The 1941 experimental station was set up at Carlton Reach, by Kimberley Michael Durack, for the Department of Agriculture WA, with assistance from the Public Works Department, along with his brother William A. (Bill) Durack, and other helpers along the way.

It will be 75 Years Ago
(in 2016)

Read More on the Carlton Reach Pump Engine Research Page

Top (Top of page text start - Starts below header photograph of the Diversion Dam)

844days since
This site was started on January 31st 2011

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