Meeka Lookout, Meekatharra Western Australia
S 26° 35.784 E 118° 29.170
50J E 647983 N 7057406
A lookout on a hill overlooking the former gold rush town of Meekatharra, with views of the town and the open cut mine.
Waymark Code: WMEPH2
Location: Western Australia, Australia
Date Posted: 06/23/2012
Views: 2
The first settlement at Meekatharra occurred in 1894 and 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.
Success on 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.
Meekatharra exists now as a major supply centre for the pastoral and mining area in the Murchison region of Western Australia. It is located 764 km north-east of Perth on 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, although extensive but poor sheep and cattle stations exist in the Murchison and Gascoyne Regions.