While relatively unknown, Charles Cooke Hunt played a crucial role in opening up of country east of York and ultimately the eastern goldfields. Hunt was born in England 1833. He joined the Royal Navy acquiring his Masters Certificate in 1859 but was injured and pensioned off.
Hunt arrived in WA in early 1863 and completed some survey maps in the northwest. Hunt also appears to have been employed as a surveyor by Roe – completing survey maps and survey logbooks of roads.
In 1864 Hunt was employed to explore east of York for agricultural and pastoral potential making two explorations
(1) one month as far as the Koolyanobbing Ranges.
(2) four months to Hampton Plains (SE of Kalgoorlie) – Both trips were hampered by lack of water.
In 1865 Hunt was employed and supplied by the Government to clear a track from York to the Hampton Plains and sink wells at convenient intervals. His well-supplied party consisted of six pensioner soldiers, 10 probationary prisoners, and a native tracker. Over nine months Hunt cleared tracks and developed a permanent supply of water for 500 kilometers from York, by building wells/tanks/dams as far as Lake Lefroy.
In 1866 Hunt was employed to survey and explore further east of Hampton Plains. Over four months Hunt explored even further east and northeast but Hunt considered the expedition of limited success due to extreme drought conditions.
Hunt married Mary Ann Seabrook of Beverley WA in December 1864 and they had two children. In 1867 he worked as a road surveyor around Geraldton but was very ill by December and died of heart disease on 1 March 1868 at the age of 35. He is buried at Geraldton in an unmarked grave.
Hunts Soak at Morine Rock
The Significance of Hunts Wells and Track
Hunt’s wells (including dams/tanks/soaks) along with extant remnants of his track clearly have significance at a State level and require protection.
Hunt certainly did explore new areas, however, the substantial and lasting contribution to the development of Western Australia was the 1865 clearing of the track along with the development of water sources. Hunt’s Track opened up the interior to explorers, travellers, and pastoralists. Most importantly his track and series of wells, dams, tanks, and soaks, secured a safe reliable route to the Hampton Plains. Whilst over two decades later, Hunt’s track and the watering points played a crucial role in prospectors discovering gold at Southern Cross in 1887, Coolgardie 1892 and Kalgoorlie 1893, and the huge influx of gold miners.
The gold boom created a massive population increase (from 49,700 in 1891 to 184,000 in 1901) and brought great wealth to the state funding roads, railways, and the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme. The road, the railway, and then the pipeline mainly followed Hunt’s Track and water sources.
We can justifiably say that the discovery of gold, development of road and railway access, and a water pipeline to the goldfields, along with massive population growth leading to Western Australia’s yes vote to Federation is part of the legacy of earlier work by Charles Hunt. You can contact Eric if you wish on –Eric Hancock
The Bicentennial Plaque at Tammin Well
The following biographical details are added by Outback Family History – Charles Cook HUNT was born in July 1833 in Brighton, Sussex, England. He was the son of John James Hunt and Mary Ann nee Cooke. He had one brother, Walter Davidson Hunt born in 1834. He travelled to Western Australia in 1863 where he went to Newleyine Station where he lived with his uncle John Taylor Hunt.
The following year, on 27th December 1864, he married Mary Ann Seabrook, There were two children of the marriage.
Emily Mary Hunt 1865-1903, Walter Henry Hunt 1867-1896.
He died of heart disease on the 1st March 1868 in Geraldton Western Australia at the young age of 35yrs. He is buried in the Geraldton Cemetery (now Apex Park), in an unmarked grave. Mary was to remarry to a Charles Frederik Edwards in Canning, Perth WA in 1864.
Perth Gazette and West Australian Times 20 March 1868, page 2
Unfortunately, there appears to be no photograph of Hunt that has been found to date, but you never know one may come to light one day. Perhaps his family back in England may have one.
Moya Sharp
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