Meeka Lookout Wall Art, Meekatharra, Western Australia
S 26° 35.784 E 118° 29.170
50J E 647983 N 7057406
A series of artistic pieces produced by laser cutting steel plate sheets, set into the walls of the Meeka Lookout shelter.
Waymark Code: WMEPMQ
Location: Western Australia, Australia
Date Posted: 06/23/2012
Views: 4
The first panel, below the 'Meeka Lookout' sign, features three kangaroos and an emu.
The second panel comprises three aboriginal images. The first image features four hand outlines in the corners around a boomerang, a kylie, a spear, a woomera and a calabash. The second image features a family of three, a woman seated with a child, and a man standing in the hunters pose, standing on one leg with the other leg bent, the foot on the knee, a long spear held upright in the left hand and a woomera held to the ground in the right hand. The third image depicts a large snake which is probably the rainbow serpent.
The third panel comprises three pastoral images, but was impossible to photograph the first image due the mix of sun and shadow from the second panel obscuring the panel. The first image appears to be a homestead and a series of yards and fences. It would be nice if a future visitor could get a good photo of this image, to the left of the Orientation Table, to add to the Gallery. The second image on this panel features a windmill, and the third a windmill head.
The fourth panel features various items of mining equipment including a pickaxe, wheelbarrow, and poppet head. The light and other obstructions made this one almost impossible to photograph. It would be nice if a future visitor could get a good photo of this panel from inside the shelter to add to the Gallery.
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.