This morning, sleeting rain replete with tiny hail stones greet me, suggesting I stay in bed and keep reading. I’m getting lots of reading done this trip. Eventually, I emerge from my little capsule like a reluctant numbat and set off to explore more of the district. (more about the numbat later) Deanmill is where my father first found work when we migrated to Australia. He would ride his bicycle to and from the farm each day but it is not a place I ever visited in the past. Today it is a small historic time warp. Row upon row of tiny identical jarrah weatherboard houses still stand, mostly in good repair so I’m guessing they are still occupied. Apart from the houses, there is a large Mill Workers’ Club but nothing else. The town is deserted as I drive around. The workers must all work elsewhere. I pass what could have been the sites of timber mills but they are guarded by large gates with forbidding signs.
I am snooping around the old farmhouse again when I remember I didn’t take a photo of the houses in Deanmill. When I return, a woman is hanging out washing on her verandah. I stop to ask about the place. She is friendly but I don’t find out much. She said she didn’t know if the mill was still running and they rent the house from a Queensland mining company that owns the town, and much of the land in the vicinity. I’d like to ask more but it starts to pour and I don’t get invited onto the verandah so I scurry back to the car. Not for the first time, I get the impression that Manjimup is a district that has closed ranks against ‘Greenies’. But how could they think Iam a Greenie? I’m just a little old lady.
Next, I drive to Yanmah expecting to find a small community. When Mrs Google announces: ‘You have arrived’, I am at a bus shelter with the sign YANMAH painted in large letters. The undulating farming country is lush and picturesque and the remnant forest especially in the valleys is spectacular. A few wildflowers, perhaps impatient for spring, are to be found but fungi is still hiding.
I spent the rest of the day in the library and adjoining art gallery where I enjoyed seeing an exhibition of works depicting the six Noongar seasons. Apart from being able to keep warm, I can look up a few books and use the internet which is not available at the caravan park.
