The Australian Mookaite is an amazing stone. It is named after the area that it comes from – Binthabuka more commonly known as Mooka Creek. This is a sheep farm of around 700,000 acres located approximately 100 miles inland of the small coastal town of Carnarvon in Western Australia and is surrounded by the Kennedy Ranges.Ron Butler put in the first mineral claim over the stations Mookaite deposits around 1964 which is still managed by members of his family.
A Dutchman by the name of Dirk Hartog was the first known Westerner to land in the region in 1616. European settlement began in the 1860's with pastoralists enticed to take up leases for grazing of sheep. The town of Carnarvon developed as a port for shipping livestock and wool and took its name from Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of the State for the Colonies in the 1870s. Its streets were made wide enough for the Afghan camel teamsters to turn their teams of thirty camels and wool wagons.
High numbers of sheep grazed the area around the Kennedy Ranges until the late 1930s, when drought, depression and overgrazing caused many businesses to crash, however the area today is semi-developed . One of the best times to visit the range is the months after good winter rains when the usually dusty red landscape changes to rich, vibrant hues.
The landscape is transformed by Everlastings, mulla-mullas, rich herb fields, native cornflowers and other wildflowers flourish, carpeting large areas of the surrounding plains.
Mookaite is found exclusively in Australia. Windalia Radiolarite is the Geological terminology and it has been described as chert, opalite, chalcedony or combinations of the three and on occasions has been known to contain traces of fossils. The colours of this gorgeous stone reflect the environs it is mined and range in shades of red, purple, tan, white and pink.
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