W is for WALPOLE

WALPOLE is a town in Western Australia. 432 km (268 miles) SSE of Perth and 66km west of Denmark.  The town lies very close to the northern point of the 100 hectare Walpole Inlet, from which it takes its name.  (My thanks to Wikipedia and other websites where I found these magnificent photographs.  I love the one at the top of the page that changes every couple of seconds and hope it will do so on your screen too).  I am sorry these pictures overlap the bits and pieces on the right side of my blog but they need to be seen in large size as they are so gorgeous.

The inlet in turn is named for the Walpole River, discovered in 1831 by Captain Thomas Bannister. and named by Governor Stirling for Captain W. Walpole, with whom he had served aboard HMS "Warspite" in 1808.

The first European settlers to arrive in the area were Pierre Bellanger and his family in 1909.  They travelled aboard the "Grace Darling" from Albany to take up 4,000 acres (16 sq km) of land.

Land in the Walpole area was reserved for a national park in 1910, and the area subsequently became a popular holiday destination.  Major development began to occur in the 1930s as part of the land settlement scheme.  The railway reached Nornalup in 1929, and the Walpole town site was gazetted in 1933.

Walpole was always the preferred name. but it was believed this was already in use in Tasmania.  So the newly-gazetted township was officially named Nornalup, but this caused confusion with the railway terminus 13 kilometres east.  Eventually the Post Office advised there was no Walpole in Tasmania and in 1934 the town reverted to its original name of Walpole.  It is one of the few towns through which the Bibbulmun Track passes.

The area is famous for the giant tingle and karri trees of old growth forest.  Another attraction is the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park.

and some of the beautiful wildflowers found in the area.

When I was holidaying in Pemberton with my daughter and granddaughter some years ago we went to Walpole for the day.  It is a wonderful place to visit but I've never stayed there overnight.  While there I bought myself a 'dream catcher' from a local gift store.  I still have it and  I am sure it catches all the bad dreams so we only have good dreams, or at least I do.  According to Konrad J. Kawedzynski "Only good dreams are allowed through the filter...bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day.  Good dreams would pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper"  Am I a superstitious person?  No, actually I'm not but I love my dream catcher and the legend that goes with them.  Mine is very similar to this one although it's lost an odd feather or two over the years.