Day 62. Fitzroy Crossing to Derby. 12/07/2015

One day to go and we will be in Broome. Hard to believe. 9,800 kms since we left the Village and everything is going well. The Prado is running like a dream and Calinda has proved we made the right decision in upgrading to a modern van with most of the bells and whistles.
Today started slowly and with a massive tail wind we cruised 230 kms into Derby by lunchtime. A quick set up and bite of lunch and we took to the town attractions with great enthusiasm.
All we can say is the tourist promotion people did a great job in selling the town. There really isn't anything that is worthy of drawing a crowd, perhaps the only exception would be the "Old Derby Gaol"
The wharf is old and really not used for any commercial activity. The water is brown and looks like "shite". The shopping centre, believe it or not, is a Woolworths store. The housing, apart from one home that looked cared for, is very poor.
The other attractions, included a large boab tree that some one believed could have been used as a gaol cell, a long cattle water tank and windmill that had been relocated close to town and we believe a small museum that we missed out actually seeing.
The highlight was the Old Derby Gaol that was used to accommodate rogue aboriginals that stole cattle during the early settlement days. The information detailed below paints a terrible picture of how the natives were treated. The gaol itself is built like a dog pen. The concrete floor still has the steel rings implanted where chains, locked to the prisoners necks, were attached. The whole story was very depressing.
Our trip to the wharf was short and sweet. One crabber had caught two mud crabs that were a good size. The water was so dirty we were sure that nothing else would live in the brown murky sea.
One thing that we did enjoy was driving down the top end of the "Gibb River Road" but only for a few kilometres. We did actually travel the beginning of the "Road" out from El Qestro some days ago.
Back to camp after some shopping for happy hour and preparation for the drive into Broome tomorrow.

The main street of Derby looked nice with green lawns and a plantation of boab trees.

The old wharf where crabbers used their nets baited with old meat to tempt the mud crabs.

These should be tasty.

The water looked a pretty terrible colour.

These are the original cages that housed the prisoners.

Worth reading.

Guilty of stealing from the early settler and sentenced  to imprisonment.

The prison Boab Tree ?.

The long water tank and windmill.

Our site at Derby.