Meekatharra Western Australia | |||||||||
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Coordinates | 26°35′37″S118°29′43″E / 26.59361°S 118.49528°E | ||||||||
Population | 675 (UCL 2021) [1] | ||||||||
Postcode(s) | 6642 | ||||||||
Elevation | 517 m (1,696 ft) | ||||||||
Area | 26,588.7 km2 (10,266.0 sq mi) | ||||||||
Location | |||||||||
LGA(s) | Shire of Meekatharra | ||||||||
State electorate(s) | North West | ||||||||
Federal division(s) | Durack | ||||||||
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Meekatharra is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Meekatharra is a Yamatji word meaning "place of little water". At the 2016 census, Meekatharra had a population of 708, with 34.0% being of Aboriginal descent. [2]
Meekatharra is a major supply centre for the pastoral and mining area in the Murchison region of Western Australia. It is located 764 km (475 mi) north-east of Perth and may be reached by the Great Northern Highway. It is a centre for sheep and cattle transshipment, initially by rail but now by road trains. It is also a regional home to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the School of the Air. No viable horticultural industry exists in the area[ citation needed ], although extensive but poor cattle stations in the Murchison and Gascoyne exist.
Meekatharra is a former gold rush town. It seems the first settlement at Meekatharra occurred in 1894 and that, in May 1896, after the prospectors Meehan, Porter and Soich discovered gold, miners moved to the new settlement from the other East Murchison fields and mining grew rapidly in scale and sophistication.[ citation needed ] The Peak Hill mining town was founded in 1892 approximately 100 km up the road during this initial gold rush.[ citation needed ]
Success in the Meekatharra field was short-lived. It was only because a second gold discovery occurred in 1899 that the town survived. In 1901 the Meekatharra State Battery began operation and by Christmas Day 1903 the township had been officially gazetted. [3] [4]
In 1906 Alfred Wernam Canning was appointed to develop a stock route from the East Kimberley to the Murchison. The stock route, comprising 54 wells, was completed in 1908 and, when the railway arrived in Meekatharra in 1910, the town became the railhead at the end of the route. In many ways the railway ensured the town's survival. In 1910 it took the first shipment of wool out of the area and it continued to serve the local pastoral interests until it was closed down in 1978.
The town and surrounding stations were isolated by flood waters in 1926 resulting in provisions in the town running low after supplies were unable to get through after a week. [5]
From 1927 until 1931, a railway line operated from Meekatharra to the manganese mine at Horseshoe, some 130 kilometres (80 miles) distant. [6]
Meekatharra underwent a significant gold rush during the mining boom of the 1980s, with mining continuing until May 2004 at St Barbara Mines's Bluebird Gold Mine. Exploration restarted in the area and St Barbara sold out to a company known as Mercator Gold in October 2005. [7] Mercator Gold then conducted an extensive drilling programme and re-opened the mill, commencing production in early October 2007. [8] This mining phase, however, was short-lived, with Mercator going into administration in October 2008 [9] and closing the mine. [10]
A substantial gold deposit which lies just south of the townsite called the Paddy's Flat area was explored and mined by Western Mining Corporation and Dominion Mining Ltd in the 1990s. [11]
The climate is hot and dry. The annual rainfall is between 200 and 300 millimetres (8 and 12 in). The driest months of the year are August through to November.
Climate data for Meekatharra (Meekatharra Airport) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 47.1 (116.8) | 45.5 (113.9) | 44.5 (112.1) | 40.6 (105.1) | 36.0 (96.8) | 29.0 (84.2) | 29.2 (84.6) | 32.6 (90.7) | 37.7 (99.9) | 41.0 (105.8) | 42.6 (108.7) | 46.0 (114.8) | 47.1 (116.8) |
Average high °C (°F) | 38.3 (100.9) | 36.7 (98.1) | 34.2 (93.6) | 29.3 (84.7) | 23.8 (74.8) | 19.7 (67.5) | 19.1 (66.4) | 21.5 (70.7) | 25.7 (78.3) | 29.8 (85.6) | 33.3 (91.9) | 36.5 (97.7) | 29.0 (84.2) |
Average low °C (°F) | 24.4 (75.9) | 23.8 (74.8) | 21.3 (70.3) | 17.1 (62.8) | 12.1 (53.8) | 8.8 (47.8) | 7.4 (45.3) | 8.6 (47.5) | 11.5 (52.7) | 15.3 (59.5) | 18.8 (65.8) | 22.1 (71.8) | 15.9 (60.6) |
Record low °C (°F) | 12.2 (54.0) | 12.3 (54.1) | 10.3 (50.5) | 5.7 (42.3) | 1.7 (35.1) | 0.4 (32.7) | −0.2 (31.6) | 0.0 (32.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | 4.3 (39.7) | 8.0 (46.4) | 11.1 (52.0) | −0.2 (31.6) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 29.7 (1.17) | 36.9 (1.45) | 29.9 (1.18) | 18.9 (0.74) | 22.1 (0.87) | 29.6 (1.17) | 20.8 (0.82) | 10.8 (0.43) | 4.4 (0.17) | 6.1 (0.24) | 12.0 (0.47) | 14.5 (0.57) | 237.9 (9.37) |
Average precipitation days | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 6.0 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 46.4 |
Source: [12] |
Meekatharra was an important location in the Western Australian Government Railways system – being the northernmost location in the Northern Railway railway network, apart from the isolated Marble Bar Railway branch out of Port Hedland. For a while a further branch line continued eastwards to Wiluna. The line was closed from Mullewa and pulled up in the 1970s. In the 2000s, new iron ore prospects may see the railway return. [13]
A 2,181-metre (7,156-foot) runway, now known as Meekatharra Airport, was built by the Americans during World War II. It serves as an important ETOPS diversion airport for inbound transcontinental flights to Australia. Skippers Aviation provide services to Perth on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. [14]
Transwa operates coach services from Geraldton to Meekatharra on Mondays and Thursdays, returning Tuesdays and Fridays with connecting services to Perth. [15] Integrity Coach Lines operates services between Perth and Port Hedland on Tuesdays, stopping in Meekatharra. The return service operates on Thursdays.
Meekatharra is mentioned in Kevin Bloody Wilson's 1985 song Living Next Door To Alan . [16]
Wiluna is a small town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It is situated on the edge of the Western Desert at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. It is the service centre of the local area for the local Martu people, the pastoral industry, the Wiluna Gold Mine, and many more people who work on other mines in the area on a "fly-in/fly-out" basis. Wiluna's climate is hot and dry, with an annual rainfall of 258 millimetres (10.2 in). Mean maximum temperatures range from 19 °C (66 °F) in July, to 38 °C (100 °F) in January.
Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east.
The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to 450 kilometres (280 mi) east of Wiluna in the Gibson Desert.
Cue is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia, located 620 km north-east of Perth. At the 2016 census, Cue had a population of 178. Cue is administered through the Cue Shire Council, which has its chambers in the historic Gentlemans Club building. The current president is Ross Pigdon. The Cue Parliament is held twice yearly in May and November.
Newman, originally named Mount Newman until 1981, is a town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is located about 1,186 kilometres (737 mi) north of Perth, and 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It can be reached by the Great Northern Highway. Newman is a modern mining town, with homes contrasting with the surrounding reddish desert. The 2021 population of the Newman suburbs and localities was 6,456. The Hickman Crater, a meteorite impact crater discovered in 2007, is 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Newman.
Mount Magnet is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is one of the region's original gold mining towns, and the longest surviving gold mining settlement in the state. The prominent hill that is adjacent to the current townsite was called West Mount Magnet in 1854 by explorer Robert Austin, having named a smaller hill 64 km away, East Mount Magnet. Both hills had an extremely high iron content which affected the readings of his compass. West Mount Magnet had its Aboriginal name reinstated by the Surveyor General in 1972, "Warramboo," meaning campfire camping place. The magnetic variation at Mount Magnet is zero: magnetic north equals true north.
Koolyanobbing is located 54 km (34 mi) north-northeast of the town of Southern Cross, Western Australia. Iron ore has been mined here since 1948 by a series of companies, with a break between 1983 and 1993. The ore is currently railed to the port at Esperance for export. The current owner and operator of the lease is Mineral Resources Limited.
The Murchison is a loosely defined area of Western Australia located within the interior of the Mid West region. It was the subject of a major gold rush in the 1890s and remains a significant mining district. The Murchison is also included as an interim Australian bioregion. The bioregion is loosely related to the catchment area of the Murchison River and has an area of 281,205 square kilometres (108,574 sq mi).
Nannine is a ghost town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is located on the northern bank of Lake Anneen, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) south-southwest of Meekatharra, and 735 kilometres (457 mi) north-northeast of Perth.
Railways in Western Australia were developed in the 19th century both by the Government of Western Australia and a number of private companies. Today passenger rail services are controlled by the Public Transport Authority through Transperth, which operates public transport in Perth, and Transwa, which operates country passenger services. Journey Beyond operates the Indian Pacific.
The Northern Railway has had a number of meanings in Western Australian railway history.
Pilbara newspapers is a selection of newspapers published in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Peak Hill is the name of a goldfield, locality and the site of a gold mining ghost town in the Murchison Region of Western Australia. The gold mine covers 2,162 hectares and consists of four open-cut mines, titled Main, Jubilee, Fiveways and Harmony.
The Division of Durack is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Western Australia.
The Bluebird Gold Mine is a gold mine located 15 km south-south-west of Meekatharra, Western Australia.
Gold mining in Western Australia is the third largest commodity sector in Western Australia (WA), behind iron ore and LNG, with a value of A$17 billion in 2021–22. The 6.9 million troy ounces sold during this time period was the highest amount in 20 years and accounted for almost 70 percent of all gold sold in Australia.
The Mullewa–Meekatharra railway was a section of the Northern Railway in Western Australia.
The Meekatharra to Wiluna railway was a 113-mile (182 km) branch line of the Western Australian Government Railways that extended the Mullewa – Meekatharra railway from Meekatharra to Wiluna. Wiluna was the furthest rail terminus from Perth on the Western Australian Government Railways system. Paroo was the highest station, at 1,916 feet (584 m) above sea level; the highest point on the Western Australian railway network, west of Paroo, was 2,134 feet (650 m).
Geraldton railway station was originally the terminus of Northampton lines in Western Australia. It is located in Geraldton.