Mt Dooling (Mt Manning) Meteorite Site/Faye Bluff

[rod1949]

One of my other interests is Bush Camping and exploring. Below are details of a trip I'll be doing in the first week of May 2005. All are welcome but in reallity its closer for West Aussies to tag a long if you so wish.



Date: Departing Saturday 30/4/05 for a week, or whenever you wish to return.

Trip Leader: Rod Watson

Contact: Ph 0429 709 177 or email [email protected]

Meeting and Departure Place:
KFC car parking area, lefthand side Gt Eastern Hwy Mundaring. Look out for my Red Troopy.

Departure Time: 8:00am SHARP (no waiting).

Equipment:
Be self sufficient with Camp equ, Food, Drinking/Shower Water etc. Vehicle recovery equ (not limited to but should at least include eg. minimum – Tow rope/strap, Snatch strap, 2 x rated Shackles) appropriate Jack, Shovel etc.

Fuel:
Southern Cross is the last town to fill up. From here you'll need sufficient fuel for 700ks minimum. If you wish to trip around to other locations, and there are lots, then you should carry additional fuel.

Type of Camp:
Bush camp. Will be a combination of static and/or moving. The only facilities/comfort out there will be what you bring.

Other Information:
* NO SHOOTING.
* NO PETS.
* Tracks would be deemed suitable for trailers etc with care.
* Expect close encounters with the Bush and scratching to your vehicle.
* Expect punctures. So you will need a vehicle jack, patches, plugs, glue, compatible cleaning fluid etc.
* Expect boomerangs (back tracking).
* Expect some walking/clearing/searching.
* Expect the weather to be ?????


Itinerary:
NOTE: This is NOT a rush trip. The intent is to complete the erection of a rock cairn in the proximity of where the meteorite landed. Some further exploring of the Mt Manning Range. After this it will be back to the Faye Bluff region to tag/mark/clear a through track to and going past this magnificent feature. This will mean a bit of physical work.

There will also be further exploring of this fascinating, harsh and rugged region.

For walking you should seriously consider taking/carrying sufficient drinking water, food, a whistle (in case of separation), torch and anything else you consider you necessary, backpack to put your gear in.

[Optimark]

Isn't that on the short cut from Leonora. That's the track that in the late seventies I traversed with a couple of mates from Alice Springs.

We had a great time and only got seriously lost once. Bit of a problem with fuel as we were on motorbikes, no one out there had anything except diesel and kerosene. We did over 900 Klm's between fuel stops, got a bit close as we had just and I mean just, 1,000 Klm's range only.

I remember that we hit civilisation at a funny named place called bullbird or bull something. There was a farmhouse near an intersection and we didn't know which way to go but the kids put us right.

Does or did the meteorite have a name?

Mick.

[rod1949]

[QUOTE=Optimark]Isn't that on the short cut from Leonora. That's the track that in the late seventies I traversed with a couple of mates from Alice Springs.

We had a great time and only got seriously lost once. Bit of a problem with fuel as we were on motorbikes, no one out there had anything except diesel and kerosene. We did over 900 Klm's between fuel stops, got a bit close as we had just and I mean just, 1,000 Klm's range only.

I remember that we hit civilisation at a funny named place called bullbird or bull something. There was a farmhouse near an intersection and we didn't know which way to go but the kids put us right.

Does or did the meteorite have a name?

Mick.

Mike, depends which direction you're heading from Leonora. The town you probably mean is Bullfinch. So if you hit Bullfinch heading for Perth then yep its the shortcut.
The meteorite is named Mt Dooling. It didn't leave/make a creator where it landed. It is a delta wing shape and was found partly buried in 1979. The meteorite dimensions: 150cm x 90cm x 25cm thick front tapering to a thin jagged rear edge. Weight 700kg.

[Termite]

Headlines in the paper in a few weeks time.
"GROUP OF MAD HIKING WOODIES MISSING, ALIENS SUSPECTED"

[Optimark]

Yeah, Bullfinch that's the name, not much there except the road changed from a track to a road.

We were heading to a place called Dumbleyung where a mate lived on a wheat farm.

Funny story about my mate and his new motorcycle. The shire he actually lived in was Dundas Shire all vehicle number plates start with DS followed by numbers. Shortly after he purchased his new pride and joy he put his designated plates on, Reg No DS 2 he wondered who had the first motorcycle registered.

One day at the shire offices he enquired (while two of his friends were present) who owned the other bike in the shire. The office bird looked up from her desk and casually replied, "the DS 1 motorcycle plate, is on the council lawnmower". We nearly fell on the floor laughing and we remind him every time we meet up which is roughly every 10 years.

Why is the small 700 Kg meteorite that never made a crater, called Mt Dooling?

Mick.

[rod1949]

"Why is the small 700 Kg meteorite that never made a crater, called Mt Dooling?
Mick."

I'll get back to ya tomorrow on this one (I've got the written details at home) particulary as it was found near the Mt Manning Range and the maps don't show a Mt Dooling, but there is a Dooling Soak. Stay tuned.

[Rocker]

Is the meteorite a metallic or a stony one? Is it still in situ?

Rocker

[Optimark]

Hmmmm a Dooling Soak, that implies that it was named or discovered during a shower.

There was a camel station I visited in 1974 whilst I was living near Norseman. It basically was just as the cameleers left it around 1906 when the arrival of the internal combustion engine vehicles arrived. The windmill was fabricated out of broken drays and sulkys, that kind of stuff.

It was behind (sort of) a place called Sunday soak, so named as some bushmen stumbled across it during bad weather and managed to get some water from the rock pools. That was how it was named according to old Arthur (as he was known) who was in his nineties and fighting fit in 74!

Mick.

[Optimark]

Rocker, the fact that it's been weighed, implies it isn't where it fell anymore.

Apart from that, in WA anything that falls from outer space is property of the WA Government as far as I remember.

There was a question or two raised on this very subject when Skylab fell in WA and that fella took it to the USA to collect his reward.

The real funny thing was, he didn't have a passport but he still got there as the publicity was worldwide and the Americans seemingly didn't wish to let a little technicality like no passport get in the way.

Mick.

[rod1949]

"Why is the small 700 Kg meteorite that never made a crater, called Mt Dooling?
Mick."


Mick, answer to your question.

This particular meteorite (the location of which I am going to) is the third and latest find in the region. It was found in August 1979. The first one was found in 1909 (weighed in excess of 31kgs) at a location east of Mt Dooling. However, Mt Dooling has/cannot be found in on any maps of the area, nor does it exist in Mines Department records. There is a soak to the south of the finds named Dooling Soak. To the west of the finds there is the Mt Manning Range, which runs basically north south. At the respective ends of the range there is the North West Peak and South East Peak. The North West Peak coincides with the co-ordinates given for the 1909 find. Mt Dooling may have been the local name at the time given its proximity to Dooling Soak with it being a source of water (more valuable that gold) for the early explorers. It is very harsh country.

See ya

[rod1949]

Is the meteorite a metallic or a stony one? Is it still in situ?

Rocker

Rocker, Its iron and its in the WA Museum.

See ya

[Rocker]

Rocker, the fact that it's been weighed, implies it isn't where it fell anymore.

Mick.

Mick,

Not necessarily; it would be easy to make a fair estimate of a meteorite's weight from its dimensions, if you know its composition. If it weighed 700 kg, I suppose a crane would have been necessary to remove it. I have seen a large nickel-iron meteorite in Tanzania which was still in situ; it must have weighed several tonnes.

Rocker

[Optimark]

Rocker, yeah that's a point I hadn't thought of.

Rod, I've looked up the map to refresh the memory of just where you are going. Looks like it'll be an interesting trip, wouldn't mind being there except I'm still working and I reside in sunny Victoria.

Mick.