Balladonia is a small roadhouse community located on the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It is the first stop east of Norseman on the journey east across the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

. Between Balladonia and Caiguna is a stretch of the highway which is one of the longest straight stretches of road in the world.

History

The name is an Aboriginal word meaning "big rock by itself". The area was settled by Europeans in 1879, and the original Balladonia homestead was built away from the present townsite. From 1897 to 1929, Balladonia was a telegraph station on the East-West Telegraph, a

telegraph line Electrical telegraphy is point-to-point distance communicating via sending electric signals over wire, a system primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most wide ...

running from

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

telegraph line, due to a previous coastal line being shorted by salt spray from the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. The arid climate and lack of suitable water sources restricted the town's development. In July 1979, the area gained worldwide attention when the re-entry of the

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

space station left a trail of

debris Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded waste, garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can ref ...

across the nearby countryside.

Balladonia Station / Balladonia Aggregation

Balladonia Station is a

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

, originally run as a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

, adjacent to Noondoonia Station to the north, and Nanambinia Station to the south of the Eyre Highway. The station was visited and written about in a newspaper in 1924, and the reflections on the conditions at that time included concern about rabbits. By the 1930s, the homestead of the station was notable for its substantial size and architecture. An earlier photograph in the 1890s reveals the stone walls in the vicinity of the homestead, and a possible earlier stage of the homestead building. During most of the twentieth century the station was a popular stopping place on the Eyre Highway. In 2012, the property was converted into a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

, and the old

shearing shed Shearing sheds (or wool sheds) are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds a ...

was no longer used for its original purpose. In September 2019 the

known as the Balladonia Aggregation, comprising four stations – Balladonia, Nanambinia, Woorlba, and Noondoonia – was sold. It had been advertised for , including all stock, comprising 5,300 head of cattle. In September 2021, the station was operated by John Croker.

Facilities and attractions

The Balladonia roadhouse, located on the

, is known as Balladonia Hotel Motel, and includes a

caravan park Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel * Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop * Caravan (tra ...

. Its Balladonia Museum has a display of Skylab debris and newspaper clippings, as well as information and artefacts relating to Aboriginal heritage; European exploration and settlement; the history of the

Royal Flying Doctor Service The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...

; the construction of the Eyre Highway; and local

flora and fauna An organism is any living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have been pro ...

. Access via

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

is possible to the start of the cliffs, believed to be the longest in the world, of the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight (geography), bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern Coast, coastline of mainland Australia. There are two definitions for its extent—one by the Internation ...

from Balladonia. There is the ruined shell of the telegraph station just to the east of Balladonia at the start of the "Ninety Mile Straight". However, it is signposted as being private property.

Afghan Rock

Also in the area, on the Balladonia– Rawlinna Road, are freshwater pools east at Afghan Rock(s), named for an cameleer who was shot nearby on 13 October 1894. The pools were a vital stop for

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

during the 19th century, when goods were being transported across the

Nullarbor The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

by teams of horses or camels, especially during the days of the

Western Australian gold rushes In the latter part of the nineteenth century, discoveries of gold at a number of locations in Western Australia caused large influxes of prospectors from overseas and interstate, and classic gold rushes. Significant finds included: * Halls C ...

. On this date, there were two groups of men and their beasts: white men, using horses, and "Afghan" cameleers. Tom Knowles, after noticing one of the "Afghan" cameleers, Noor(e) Mahomet, washing his feet in one of the

rock hole A panhole is a depression or basin eroded into flat or gently sloping cohesive rock.Twidale, C.R., and Bourne, J.A., 2018''Rock basins (gnammas) revisited. ''Géomorphologie: Relief, Processus, Environnement, Articles sous presse, Varia, mis en li ...

s (known as gnamma in WA). After being met with a refusal to desist, Knowles knocked Mahomet down and drew his gun. Mahomet's friends came to his aid, throwing stones and waving sticks. Knowles shot one of the other men dead and wounded Mahomet, who died later of his wounds. After running out of ammunition, he ran away, but the cameleers caught him, tied him to a tree, and beat him until he lost consciousness. His companions came to the Afghan camp, where they were tied up against trees for the night. In the morning, the cameleers untied the men, whereupon Knowles rode to Israelite Bay (then referred to as Point Malcolm), away, and report the incident to police. The case was extensively reported in the newspapers at the time, which also followed the trial of Knowles, on charges of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

. Knowles was acquitted, but the decision was controversial and Knowles fled to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. The case is described in detail in ''The Ballad of Abdul Wade'' (2022), a book about cameleer Abdul Wade, by Ryan Butta. Today, Afghan Rock is accessible by soft roaders, but travelers need to obtain permission and directions from the manager of Balladonia Station. It is approximately above sea level.

Climate

Balladonia experiences a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BSk'').

References

External links

Shire of Dundas – Towns of the Eyre Highway
{{Authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Dundas Nullarbor Plain Roadhouses in Western Australia Pastoral leases in Western Australia Eyre Highway