Hanns Track

The slow bounce over shimmering spinifex plains, a true test of your 4WD’s suspension; the frantic twisting and turning to find a way through a maze of mulga thickets; the intricate threading of dune country or the careful negotiation of a web of stony, dry watercourses; relieved by the occasional refreshing halts beneath huge, shady Marble Gums – and then the reward.  Finding the precious gnammas and waterholes that were the desert nomad’s stepping stones to survival and the campsites of the latecomers; the prospectors and sandalwooders who explored this vast lonely wonderland.  At these special places, red cliffs and mesas blaze crimson at dawn and dusk, desert dingoes howl and the wild ones come alive as birds and animals move to drink. Here, rocks and trees sometimes bear the daubing and scratchings of those who passed this way on their long ago quests.

Frank Hann was a pastoralist and explorer, born in 1845.  At the age of 50, he travelled from Lawn Hill Station (QLD) to Halls Creek and carried out numerous expeditions with support from the Western Australian government. In 1897, while based in Nullagine, he explored the East Pilbara. After noticing that the majority of the creeks in the area flowed inland, he followed them, expecting to find a large fresh water lake.  To his disappointment, the lake ended up being salty and he named it Lake Disappointment.
It was while searching for mineral wealth and pastoral prospects in 1903, where he was camped approximately 10km from Laverton, that the basis of this guide has been created.