Wave rock
The Wave Rock is about 2.7 billion years old granite -Gesteinsformation in Australia caused by erosion was formed and weather to a wave. The Aborigines already called it a wave made of rock. The wave is 15 meters high and about 110 meters long.
The formation is one of Australia's most popular natural attractions and is located near Hyden about 350 km east of Perth , where the Western Australian wheat belt borders the outback . The site can now be reached via paved roads. More than 140,000 visitors come year after year to see the impressive wave.
history
According to rock art (hands), the area around Hyden was inhabited by Aborigines in the past. But according to tradition , Mulka's spirit drove away the indigenous population. According to legend, Mulka, the cross-eyed illegitimate son of a secret pair of lovers of two rival tribes, lived in a cave. Frustrated with his visual impairment, he became a tyrant of the community, hunting and devouring small children. When his mother tried to confront him about it, he killed her too. With this act he was finally outlawed. He fled his cave, but was tracked down by his pursuers and stabbed to death. The idea that the spirit of Mulka still lived in the cave was handed down from the coming Aboriginal generations. Traditional Aborigines still avoid the area today; however, members of the tribe working for the tourism authority tell this story to several groups of visitors every day.
The first whites to set foot in the country at the beginning of the 20th century were sandalwood cutters . One of them with the name Hyde, which the surveyors Tom Kerrigan and Milo Price got to know in 1920, was decisive for the naming of the present-day city; The granite formation to which Wave Rock belongs is also called Hyden Rock on this map .
In the 1920s, the first areas were used for agriculture and sheep breeding. Large-scale wheat cultivation, which is the region's main source of income today, began in 1927. A reservoir was built on the "Wellenkamm" in 1928 to ensure the water supply for the growing city. From 1932, the construction of a railway line to Kondinin, 58 km away, made transport easier , which previously had to be carried out with carts.
After the Second World War, more settlers were attracted in the course of the economic boom. In 1951 the reservoir was expanded; a stone wall was also built to keep the water on the surface.
Wave Rock became known as a tourist attraction in 1963 through a photograph by Jay Hodges, which won a prize at the International World Fair in New York and was then published in National Geographic Magazine . Since 1998 there has been a resort with accommodation, restaurants, an information center, shops and a number of other excursion destinations in the area. From Perth there are daily organized group excursions by bus from numerous tour operators; the individual journey from Perth takes about three hours.
Geology and nature
The Wave Rock is part of a flat, 65 hectare granite formation, which protrudes up to 60 m above the surrounding plain. Around 2.7 billion years ago it was formed in a melt deep underground. It took until about 60 million years ago to uncover the granite that has since been exposed to erosion. At Wave Rock, according to the prevailing opinion, the wave form goes back to the list of rainwater. The granite is harder on the surface than on the sides, so that over the course of millions of years running water has washed away the rock and created the present shape.
Various chemical processes when it came into contact with water created the vertical stripes that characterize Wave Rock. Washed out carbonates form the black, iron hydroxide the red stripes.
In the vicinity of Wave Rock there are several other granite formations of national importance. The geologically younger Hippo's Yawn (around 700 million years old) is so named because, with a bit of imagination, its shape is supposed to be reminiscent of the open jaws of a yawning hippopotamus. The Humps (10 miles north of Wave Rock) are smaller granite waves; Under a single monolith, which was detached from this formation, lies the cave with rock carvings of the Aborigines, in which according to legend Mulka lived ( Mulka's Cave ). Another drinking water reservoir was created near the Humps in 1981 after the original one at Wave Rock was no longer sufficient.
The plain around the Hyden Rock is about 160 hectares of sparse bushland with casuarina , acacia and eucalyptus . The sandalwood that was sought after in the early settlers is still available. The color variety of wildflowers, orchids, Grevillea , Bottlebrush -Büsche and Pigface make especially in spring (September to November) the attractive area for walkers. There are several marked routes ( bush walks ).
Other attractions
- The Lace Place at the Information Center is a permanent exhibition of over 2000 exhibits of handcrafted European lace from 1650 to the present day, which formerly constituted the largest private collection in Australia (Margaret Blackburn). Outstanding is a piece of Chantilly lace from a robe that Queen Victoria wore.
- A small wildlife park extends over 3 hectares behind the resort with kangaroos , koalas , wombats , emus and various species of birds.
literature
- Janine Günther, Jens Mohr: West Australia and the Top End , Verlag 360 °, 1st edition 2005
- R. Luxford et al. a .: Wave Rock , Verlag Rise 'n' Shine Images, ISBN 0-646-15068-5
Web links
- Wave Rock homepage
- Spektrum.de : Amateur recording " Wave Rock at night "
Coordinates: 32 ° 26 ′ 40 ″ S , 118 ° 53 ′ 53 ″ E