The drive from Perth to Kalgoorlie is becoming a holiday in its own right with the recent launch of the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail.

Weaving romantic stories of Western Australia’s Gold Rush era with tales of hardship, water shortages and human endeavour, the Golden Pipeline follows the water pipeline between Mundaring and the Goldfields.

The statistics about the pipeline are amazing. Few would realise that it is regarded as one of the world’s greatest engineering feats and is the longest fresh water pipeline on earth.  Still operating, it provides water to an area of 44 0000 square kilometres, 100 000 people and about six million sheep.

Now, this piece of WA history is being brought to life and made accessible to visitors through a series of walk and drive trails along its route.

There are information points along the way revealing the history of the project and stories of the many thousand people who were involved in its construction.

Photographs, diaries and reminiscences are helping to build a picture of the past and are bringing once derelict pump stations and other buildings to life.

Six buildings that remain of the original eight steam pump stations are being conserved with signs, oral history and photos.

As much as possible, the drive trail takes visitors off Great Eastern Highway to less-travelled areas, which are rich in history and tales from the past.

The York to Goldfields Road is now suitable for two wheel drives, but during the construction of the pipeline is was a dusty rutted track on which men walked pushing wheel barrows laden with equipment or rode on bicycle.

The Golden Pipeline trails are delivering new visitors to wheatbelt towns such as Cunderdin, Kellerberrin and Merredin.  Many of these towns were established on the back of the pipeline which delivered water to the region, making farming possible.

Travelling the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail also brings visitors in close contact with nature and is great for bushwalking, bird watching and wildflowers.

There is plenty of country style hospitality along the way with farm stays and historic hotels good options for accommodation.

Traversing the trail has been made easy thanks to a guidebook which is full of maps and stories about life past and present in Golden Pipeline country. It’s available from visitor centres, bookstores and the National Trust.

For more information visit www.goldenpipeline.com.au or contact the Western Australian Visitor Centre on 1300 361 351.

October 2003