Trans-Australia trains pump dry Ooldea soak, ritual water source for northwest Aboriginals of South Australia
Using water for trans-Australia railway steam trains soon pumped the Ooldea soak dry.
On the edge of the Nullabor plain, Ooldea’s water soak Yuldi Kapi was one of the most important Aboriginal ceremonial sites in northwest South Australia. Trading routes and dreaming stories crossed through the soak for thousands of years.
The first European to discover the water at Ooldea (thought to be a local Aboriginal term for a meeting place near water) was Ernest Giles in 1875 on his epic journey from Beltana.
Ooldea's water source was crucial in an area where the average annual rainfall was below 200mm. This made the waterhole at Ooldea an important camp during construction of the trans-Australian railway line. On October 17 1917, the final link of the railway was completed at Ooldea, linking the western section from Kalgoorlie to the eastern section from Port Augusta.
Ooldea became a siding for the railway but its waterhole was soon pumped dry by too much water out from the aquifer for the old steam trains.
The incursion of European settlers disrupted the always challenging life of Aboriginal people living in the spinifex desert region of the northwest. They came to rely on government rations. They used the railway, travelling in open carriages, to attend ceremonies.
But Aboriginal people were prohibited from buying goods from the tea and sugar train that provides basic foodstuffs to European people at dozens of similar small outposts along the rail line. Aboriginal people were also shut out of medical services along the line.
The Ooldea Mission was started by the United Aborigines Mission (UAM) in 1933 at Ooldea Soak. A government Aboriginal reserve encompassed the mission. Its children's dormitory had up to 60 Aboriginal youngsters. Some children were moved to Gerard mission in the Riverland in 1945.
In 1952, the mission and the dormitory were closed after the South Australian government bought Yalata Pastoral Company for about £68,000 to be used as a Lutheran mission and training centre for 250 Aboriginal people living at Ooldea and along the Trans-Australian railway line. This involved moving them to the southwest of Eyre Peninsula, away from their homeland.
