Bush Legends: WA’s unique wreath wildflowers get tourists trekking far and wide in the outback

There is a magic in WA’s unique round mounds of wreath flowers that even their closest custodians can barely understand. “I’m just gobsmacked that people come from all over the world every year just to see the wreath flower ... every phone call and every inquiry is about the wreath flower,” Perenjori Tourist Centre and Museum volunteer Paddy King said. “They come from places like Switzerland, England, Japan and Canada and honestly, we have so many people come here just for that. I’m not quite sure why that is, but there are so many shapes and colours and formations that there is just something about them.” Originally from Bindoon, Mrs King reveals her real name as Lois, but is known as Paddy because of her robust entry into the world. “I was being delivered by an Irish nurse and apparently I came out with a vengeance and her name for me stuck from there,” she explained. Mrs King, whose husband Rodney is a long-time Perenjori local, has always been taken by the town’s wide open spaces from the time she would visit her elder siblings during her school holidays. And the spectacular scenery in the sky and on the ground pretty much triggered a love at first sight. “It’s just so open, there are no traffic lights and the night skies are amazing,” she said. “You look up in the silence and it’s just awesome. “We’ve lost a lot in population and the sports have died because of that, but there is a spirit in this town and you just get on with it.” As described on WA’s “Wildflower Country” website, the dedicated “Wildflower Way” runs 309km from Dalwallinu in the south, to Geraldton in the north — also passing through Perenjori, Morawa and Mullewa. It boasts a series of 21 interpretative sites developed to educate travellers, each highlighting a diverse and fascinating range of themes and issues. All sites are clearly sign-posted and feature an engaging and informative interpretive panel and uniquely designed sculpture. The region bursts into bloom between each August and October and this year’s colour explosion has been one of the best in recent memory because of the ideal rains. Driving on Boundary Road between Perenjori and Morawa, both roadsides are flushed with different colours of purple, yellow, orange, white, pink, blue and green, but with a uniform brilliance. In other parts of the region, the beautiful, white Goodenia rosea cover wide grounds like snow and the historic Camel Soak features stunning everlastings and orchids. The wreath flower, known scientifically as the Lechenaultia macrantha, is found usually on sand or gravel in areas north-east of Perth up to Shark Bay and spreads to about a metre in diameter. The branches are twiggy with linear, narrow leaves to about 40mm long and there are many examples where they join together for all manner of shapes. Its colour is usually a deep pink to red with yellow or white in the centre and flowering occurs in late winter and spring. A magnificent gathering of wreath flowers appears almost weirdly along a fence line at Mellenbye Station, between Morawa and Yalgoo. Seeing them in that location for the first time even leaves Glenda Blyth spellbound, despite the fact that she has been instrumental in helping tourists find them for more than a decade via her well-regarded “Wildflower Report”. “Sometimes it still even makes us go, ‘Wow’,” Mrs Blyth said. “This would definitely be the best season I’ve ever seen and I’d give Mellenbye 10 out of 10.” Originally from New Zealand town of Picton, Mrs Blyth came to Australia in 1971 when she had run out of places in her home country to explore on her motorbike. She had made it to WA by 1976 after securing a kitchen-hand job at the Fitzroy Crossing Inn. It was there she met her husband Murray, who worked at WA’s Agriculture Department for 40 years, and the pair later spent a decade in Kununurra before settling in the Mid West. And it was in Northampton at the local visitor centre where her love for wildflowers was triggered, along with a passion to let others know the best places to find them. “Just observing how pretty they were, how amazing that you got rain and then all of a sudden you had this vista,” she said, revealing the Kalbarri National Park as her favourite viewing ground. “Just the colour, just the variety, just everything about them. It was just something to behold if you hadn’t seen it before. It was a totally new experience.” Mrs Blyth said her knowledge of finding them was organically demanded by the volume of visitors passing through and asking where they could see them. She then started taking notice of road names and distances from certain points, but admits she is still no botanist. “I’m lucky to remember my own name sometimes,” she laughed. “I don’t get into the specifics because there are way too many of them and even some botanists get confused. “Some of them can be something you’ve never seen before and depending on who you talk to, they say there are up to 13,000 different wildflowers here in WA. But you’d know where little pockets of orchids were or where there might be some beautiful everlasting areas. “The trick is just knowing the good places to send people and that if you go 14km up the highway, there are some really lovely orchids on the right-hand side.” Over the years, Mrs Blyth has built a wide network of wildflower information suppliers to help broaden her report, which has grown from simple notes for the visitor centre staff. “I don’t think people can believe what they’re seeing sometimes,” she said. “This year we’ve seen them for kilometres on end with every colour you can imagine. They are great conversation starters and when people see them, they’re all happy so that’s a good thing to start with. “The very best tip — and I’ve imparted it a few times — if you see colour, particularly if you haven’t seen it before and it’s safe and interests you, just pull over and walk. What you see doing 90km/h is nothing in comparison with what you see when you stop. “You’ll finish with a camera full of wildflower photos, but the trade-off is seeing things you never would have dreamed of — and that’s worth it every time. It’s our winter playground and people are finally seeing their State through new eyes.” Perenjori, located on the Wongan Hills to Mullewa railway line in WA’s northern agricultural region, was gazetted as a town in 1916. Just months ago, it was on its knees trying to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Seroja, which tore apart the town’s pub and left bricks from the general store strewn across the main street. Mrs King also said the uncertainty over the initial coronavirus lockdown “consumed us for a while”. But Perenjori Shire’s community service manager Nola Comerford-Smith said recent wildflower-friendly weather combined with West Australians wandering out yonder and the reopening of the pub, had given the town a timely boost. “You can tell the different types of tourists who are coming through,” she said. “Usually, it’s the grey nomads and families on weekends, but now there are a lot of people from the city who normally wouldn’t have come up here. “That first lot of visitors last year came from everywhere, it was amazing and they all spent money. From the moment I got to Perenjori three months ago, I’ve just found it so friendly. It’s so inclusive and there’s a really good feel to the town.”