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Roll Overs:
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Copyright (c) Herbert Raab.
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Find/Fall Anniversary |
171.1 gram individual. H5
TKW 150 kg. Observed fall 2 September 1967, Western Australia, Australia.
   
Herbert writes:
The Wiluna meteorite fell on September 2, 1967, 10:46 p.m. local time (14:46 GMT). Initially, 490 stones with a total weight of 150 kg were recovered from a strewnfield 7 miles east of Wiluna.
The specimen shown here is a 171,1 g individual. The color of the dirt adhering to the bottom of the specimen probably looks familiar to meteorite collectors, as it is very similar to the dirt typical for the Millbillillie Eucrites. The Millbillillie strewn filed is located 7-10 miles east-northeast of Wiluna. Actually, the Wiluna meteorite fell closer to the Millbillillie station than the Millbillillie meteorite, but as the more prominent landmark (city of Wiluna) was already taken as a namesake, Millbillillie was apparently named for the next available landmark. It's also interesting that Millbillillie fell in October 1960 (i.e. 7 years before Wiluna), but the first Millbillillie stones were not found in 1970 (3 years after the Wiluna fall). If Millbillillie stones would have been found soon after the fall, it's quite probably that this meteorite would be known as Wiluna now.
Note that the first Lunar meteorite found outside Antarctica - Calcalong Creek - was also found in this area.
The last image shows the Wiluna stone from the previous images, together with 175,3 g Millbillillie specimen, on a map showing both strewnfileds. The map was hand drawn by the finder of the Wiluna stone.
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Click to view larger photos
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Found at the arrow (green or red) on the map below
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Ben Fisler
9/3/2021 9:45:21 PM |
Wonderful background and a photographs.
Thanks Herbert, for posting them. |
Herbert
9/2/2021 2:01:30 PM |
Thank you, Keith. I was not aware that any Millbillillie stones were, in fact, found before 1970.
John, I agree that Millbillillie sound a lot more interesting than Wiluna 002.
Regarding the map (image #5): The large, hatched ellipse at right is the Wiluna strewnfield. The "X" within that ellipse is the Millbillillie homestead. The circle above the Wiluna strewnfild is the Millbillillie strewnfield. |
John Divelbiss
9/2/2021 1:34:05 PM |
awesome stones and related story...and Millbillillie sounds better than Wiluna 002. |
Keith Hicks
9/2/2021 7:12:29 AM |
Thanks Herbert for the photos and great account. I have fond memories of my many recovery trips to these strewnfields, some 1000 kms from Perth. Interestingly, there were in fact Millbillillie stones recovered before the Wiluna fall in 1967 but these were taken back to station homesteads by workers and stockmen and kept as mere curiosities. We were actually able to acquire one of these stones and re-locate it to it's rightful place at WAM some years back! Photo #5 shows a great example of what we refer to down here as a "mud map" from a time when outback travellers would meet by chance and draw a rough map or directions in the dirt or mud after rains. |
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