The
Canning Stock Route is a track that runs from
Halls Creek in the
Kimberley region of
Western Australia to
Wiluna in the
mid-west region. With a total distance of around 1,850 km (1,150 mi) it is the longest historic
stock route in the world. The stock route was proposed as a way of breaking a monopoly that west Kimberley cattlemen had on the
beef trade at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1906, the
Government of Western Australia appointed
Alfred Canning to survey the route. When the survey party returned to
Perth, Canning's treatment of
Aboriginal guides came under scrutiny leading to a
Royal Commission. Canning had been organising Aboriginal hunts to show the explorer where the waterholes were. Despite condemning Canning's methods, the Royal Commission, after the Lord Mayor of Perth,
Alexander Forrest had appeared as a witness for Canning, exonerated Canning and his men of all charges. The cook who made the complaints was dismissed and Canning was sent back to finish the job. Canning was appointed to lead a construction party and between March 1908 and April 1910, 48 wells were completed along the route. Commercial
droving began in 1910, but the stock route did not prove popular and was rarely used for the next twenty years. The wells made it difficult for Aboriginal people to access water and in reprisal they vandalised or dismantled many of the wells.