The town of Ravensthorpe is situated 295km east of Albany and 200km west of Esperance, in the south coastal region of Western Australia where wildflowers abound in spring. The Shire of Ravensthorpe has some of the most diverse and spectacular plants in the world with more than 1,750 species recorded in the Fitzgerald River National Park, Ravensthorpe Range and Frank Hann National Park.
The Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show, held at the peak of spring flowering, has become known for the wide range of flowers displayed. Flower lovers, botanists and photographers come from all over the world to this remote little town, to see flowers that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world.
Armed with secateurs, buckets and gloves, a battalion of volunteer wildflower pickers go out at dawn, infiltrating the bush armoury of prickles, running the gauntlet of sleepy dugites and fighting their way through blockades of spider webs. Cars bursting with banksia, boronia and bottlebrush, utes laden with mallee, melaleuca and myrtle all converge on the Ravensthorpe Senior Citizens Centre. Their treasured cargo is carried in, filling every corner with colour, pollen and the wonderful smell of the bush. Delicate orchids and tiny drosera are carefully transported in containers brimming with colour. All this so that visitors may see in comfort, enjoy en mass, the botanical wonders of the environment.
Then comes the sorting. A small band of faithful botanists name all the specimens that are put on show, up to 800 of them. It’s a painstaking business, inspecting the tiny flowers through magnifying glasses or microscopes to check their parentage. The Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show has become known world wide for its scientific significance.
Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun have a colourful mining history, gold being discovered in 1898. There were no roads to the goldfield and Hopetoun became a busy port with ships bringing in all the supplies. A railway was built in 1909, which ran between the two towns for 30 years. A walk trail now follows the old railway line, offering a bonanza of flowers in spring.
There are spectacular drives and walks in the district, 12 of which are identified in a leaflet available at the Wildflower Show. Each drive is designed for viewing particular flowers. Visits to the local national parks should not be missed, each one shows its own character, Frank Hann in the north, in typical mallee country, with smoke bush, verticordia and grevillea, the Ravensthorpe Range with its wide vistas, with bottle-brush, hakea and eucalypts and Fitzgerald River NP along a wild and beautiful coast, with its famous qualup bell, weeping gum and banksias. Orchids abound in all three.
The Ravensthorpe Herbarium is in the same building as the Wildflower Show and botanists are on duty for any queries. The Wildflower Show Shop features books, photographs, posters, tea towels, locally produced crafts and flower related products. Devonshire Teas are available. There is easy parking and wheel chair access. And don’t miss the Ravensthorpe Museum and Visitor Centre, full of information and memories of the early days.
A Wildflower Expo day is held during September at which related displays and invited speakers cover environmental and botanical subjects. Details regarding accommodation, maps etc can be found on the Ravensthorp Wildflower Show website.
When: September
Where: Highway No.1, in the main street of Ravensthorpe
More details: www.wildflowersravensthorpe.org.au
