Murphy’s Haystacks: On the West Coast in the Eyre Peninsula region of South Australia

When you drive along the Flinders Highway between Port Lincoln and Streaky Bay go through lush grazing country with the sandhills of Lake Newland Conservation Park as a distant coastal backdrop.

As you pass through this part of the West Coast of Eyre Peninsula keep a look out for the strange granite pillars and boulders known as Murphy's Haystacks.

In the 1880s they were a prominent feature for passengers on board the mail coach and on one occasion an agricultural advisor, extolling the virtues of harrowing the soil and storing hay, looked up and commended the farmer who owned these. Denis Cash takes up the story:

“He said ‘that man must harrow - look at all the hay he's saved.’ The stage coach driver, being a local man knew they were on the Murphys' property. And from that day on he told all the passengers - look up on the hill and you'll see Murphy's Haystacks.”

From a distance they probably did look like haystacks and for the well travelled today they sometimes conjure up images of Stonehenge in England. But they were here long before the mysterious Druids.

One thousand five hundred million years ago, give or take a few million, boiling magma spewed forth from cracks deep below the earth's surface and slowly cooled. Initially these dollops of granite were hidden seven thousand feet below the earth's surface, but the wind and rain and the slow march of time have gradually uncovered what you see today.

“That's only roughly a quarter of an inch every thousand years - that you can understand. But seven thousand feet over one thousand five hundred million years is a little bit beyond normal comprehension.”

Denis' grandfathers, Denis Murphy and John Cash took up their holdings in the late 1880s and members of the Cash family have been farming here ever since.

Now their little secret gem on Eyre Peninsula is gradually attracting more and more visitors since Denis opened it to the public in 1990. But the Haystacks sit in the shadow of Mount Hall, the site of another West Coast secret with a more sinister past.

There’s a little monument there in memory of a young lad who worked in the area back in 1897.

“The lad that was murdered was a frequent visitor to the homestead to get supplies. He was only a nineteen year old boy and was well known to my family.”

Walter Richards had just finished helping with the harvest and was due to leave in a matter of weeks. He camped out with a local kangaroo shooter, named Joshua Beard. Little did he or any of the locals know that Beard was a psychopath -one of the State's first serial killers.

“Folklore has it that Richards awoke to find Joshua Beard standing over him with an axe. When questioned Beard said that he was going to cut down some local sheoaks for horse feed. Now whether or not he was anxious to leave as a result of this early morning encounter isn’t known. But what is known is that Richards intended to catch the mail coach to Port Lincoln soon after. He never made the trip.”

Walter Richards was due to pick up supplies from Denis' grandfather but never showed. Soon the alarm was raised.

“His body was found under the ash heap from the camp fire. Joshua Beard was also charged with murdering another bloke named Joseph Marlo near Streaky Bay and he was also suspected of murdering another bloke named Mundy. The main evidence being that Mundy disappeared while old Joshua was still around.

Joshua Beard was later hanged in Adelaide Jail and buried within the jail's confines. The monument to Walter Richards is located at the base of Mount Hall, just three kilometres from Murphy’s' Haystacks. A visit to the Haystacks costs two dollars and you can deposit your money in the honesty box at the carpark. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Excellent beach front accommodation is available at the Streaky Bay Community Hotel & Motel. www.sahotels.com.au/streakybay