Ancient life forms - Hamelin Pool

28th June 2014

Hamelin pool is a huge shallow bay which is bordered on the seaward side by Faure Island and sandbanks.  The sandbanks have been formed by the seagrass growing in shallow water trapping sand and sediments.  This does not allow much water to flow into the pool on the high tide, yet the shallow water evaporates quickly.  The result  is water which has double the salinity of normal seawater making it quite hostile to a lot of life.

Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool

This has allowed stromatolites to flourish in the shallow warm water much as they would have done 3.5 million years ago when they were the only life form on the planet.  Stromatolites are formed by a colony of different microbes working together and they look like rocks.  However the surface is alive and growing.  These particular examples are about 4,000 years old.   The other organism to do well here is a small cockle which flourishes in the high saline environment.

The cockle shells have built up over thousands of years to a depth of about 10 metres on the shore.  Rain washing through the shells has dissolved some of the limestone and effectively cemented them together.  In the absence of other materials, the early settlers cut blocks from these cemented shells to use for buildings.  There are still some examples around.

Shell quarry

Building made from shell blocks

The land adjacent to Hamelin pool is where the telegraph station for the Perth to Roebourne line was built in 1884.  In 1950 it was superseded by a telephone line though the morse code link came in handy in 1964 when the phone link was disrupted by a lightning strike during the Gemini space capsule take off which was being tracked across Australia via the Carnarvon Tracking Station.  The information was relayed in morse code instead.

Hamelin Pool telegraph station

The area containing the old telegraph station is now a caravan park /museum /cafe that seems to be lost in a time warp. We declined the opportunity to pay to view the captive stromatolite they have on display!

The eagles have put the old telegraph poles to good use