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Length: 1.4km
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Duration: 0.5hrs
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Grade: 2
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Style: Circuit
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Start: Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station
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End: Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station
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Location: Hamelin Pool
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Closest Town:
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Distance from CBD: 735km
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State: WA
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Latitude: -26.399727
Longitude: 114.165543
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Select items to indicate conditions for access to the trail.


2WD Access


4WD Access


Public Transport


Bitumen Road


Gravel Road


Steep Road


Winding Road


Speed Bumps


Vehicle Ford


Entry Fee


Large Car Park


Small Car Park


Accessible Parking


Accessible Toilet


Public Toilets


Drinking Water


Untreated Water


Picnic Shelter


Picnic Table


BBQ Facilities


Campfire Pit


Camping Area
Keep the Trail Features current...

Hamelin Pool...
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Concrete Path


Timber Boardwalk


Gravel Path


Sandy Trail


Rough Trail


Undefined Trail


Prams & Strollers


Manual Wheelchair


Motorised Wheelchair


Bicycle Trail


Mountain Bike Trail


Historic Rail Trail


Dog Friendly


Urban Walk


Coast & Beach


Historic Lighthouse


Waterfalls & Lakes


Rainforest Walk


Goldfields & Mining


Heritage Walk


Aboriginal Art


Alpine Region


Alpine Huts


Exposed Ledges


Rock Scrambling


Steep Terrain


Bush Bashing


River Crossings


Scenic Viewpoints


Well Marked


Drinking Water


Untreated Water


Fishing Spots


Swimming Spots


Overnight Campsites


Trail Running


Horse Riding
Hike Summary
The Boolagoorda Trail starts and ends at the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station. It takes the visitor on an easy flat 1.4 kilometre loop walk to a 200 metre Boardwalk. From there you can experience the world’s oldest lifeforms, known as stromatolites, thriving in the shallow seas.
The Boolagoorda Trail offers the visitor a unique insight into ancient lifeforms as well as much more recent human activity. Near the trailhead is an assortment of station buildings including the Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station. Built in 1884, the station provided a vital link between Perth and Roebourne, until closure in the 1950s. It's worth paying a small fee for entry into the museum. Just beyond the trailhead is a quarry site where tiny shells compacted over time to form a huge mass. Early settlers cut out blocks which were solid enough for building materials. The old pearler restaurant and St Andrews Church in Denham are built of this shell grit. The trail's furtherest point is where people can get a glimpse of what life was like 3500 million years ago in the primeval seas. These stromatolites look like mushroom shaped rocks, but are infact colonies of cyanobacteria.
About the region
Hamelin Pool is home to the most diverse and abundant examples of stromatolites in the world. Also referred to as 'living fossils’, stromatolites are living representatives of life over 3500 million years ago when there was no other complex life on Earth.
A 200m boardwalk at Hamelin Pool provides excellent views of the stromatolites, microbialites and microbial mats. Please help protect these structures by staying on the boardwalk.
Nearby is the Old Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station which was built in 1884 as part of the communication line between Perth and Roebourne. The original building is now a museum housing many artefacts.
Getting there
Hamelin Pool is accessed from the Shark Bay Road 27km from the North West Coastal Highway. The road is sealed apart from a short unsealed two-wheel drive section to the carpark. It is an easy 750 metre return walk between the carpark and stromatolites.
The 1800 metre Boolagoorda loop trail goes through the old coquina quarry and telegraph station. You can also drive to the telegraph station which also has a commercial campground and tea rooms and offers tours of the telegraph station museum.
Tips
Start Point: Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, 30km west of Overlander Roadhouse, 735km north of Perth
End Point: Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station, 30km west of Overlander Roadhouse, 735km north of Perth
Region: Hamelin Pool, Coral Coast
For more information, a location map and GPS file please visit Trails WA.