Eucla, Western Australia

The name Eucla is believed to originate from an Aboriginal word "Yinculyer" which one source gives as referring to the rising of the planet Venus. It was first used by Europeans for the area at some point before 1867.

In 1841, Edward John Eyre became the first explorer to visit the area. In 1867, the president of the Marine Board of South Australia discovered a port at Eucla in 1867^[1], and in 1870, John Forrest camped at the location for nearly two weeks. In 1873, land was taken up at Moopina Station near the present townsite, and work commenced on a telegraph line from Albany to Adelaide. Land was set aside at Eucla for the establishment of a manual repeater station, and when the telegraph line opened in 1877, Eucla was one of the most important telegraph stations on the line. The station was important as a conversion point between the two telegraphy standards used in Western Australia and South Australia before the introduction of morse code in Australia. A jetty and tram line were also constructed for offloading supplies brought in by sea. The town was proclaimed a township and gazetted in 1885, and reached its peak in the 1920s, prior to the construction of a new telegraph line further north alongside the Trans-Australian Railway in 1929.^[2]

Telegraph Station

In the 1890s a rabbit plague passed through the area and ate much of the Delisser Sandhills' dune vegetation, thus destabilising the dune system and causing large sand drifts to encroach on the townsite. The original town was abandoned, and a new townsite established about 5 km to the east. The ruins of the telegraph station still stand amongst the dunes, and are a local tourist attraction.

In 1971, world-wide media publicity came to the town after reports and photographs emerged of a half-naked blonde girl who had gone wild and lived and ran with the kangaroos, who came to be known as the "Nullarbor Nymph". The story subsequently turned out to be a hoax cooked up by the residents of the tiny settlement.^[3]

[edit] Present day

Eucla has a population of about 50 people, and is the largest stopping point between Norseman and Ceduna for travellers and trucks along the Eyre Highway. It has a hotel and restaurant, a golf club (7km to the north), a museum dedicated to the Old Telegraph Station, and a meteorological station. These together with fishing are the town's major activities.

[edit] Transport

In October 2005, Greyhound Australia announced the closure of their Nullarbor service due to rising fuel prices and declining passenger numbers.^[4]

[edit] Climate

Eucla's climate is dry and usually mild, though very hot days can occur accompanied by hot northerly winds from the Great Victoria Desert. Average maximum temperatures vary from 25-26°C from December to March, to 18°C in July. The average annual rainfall of 267 mm is evenly spread through the year, with monthly totals ranging from 14 mm in January to 31 mm in May. The highest temperature was 47.9°c (118.2 °F) on 3 January 1979.

[edit] See also

Rabbits in Australia

[edit] References

^ Department of Land Information. History of country town names - E. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
^ Walkabout Australia. Walkabout - Eucla. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
^ Dora Dallwitz. The Nullarbor Nymph Hoax. Retrieved on 2006-10-17. - contains scans of media articles, photos and interviews with the locals.
^ "Nullarbor bus service proves too costly", ABC Online, Australian Broadcasting Commission, 10 October 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -31.675° 128.883°

Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
Shire of Dundas - Towns of the Eyre Highway
Eucla travel guide
Climate averages for Eucla

Towns on the Nullarbor Plain, Australia
Western Australia: Norseman \| Balladonia \| Caiguna \| Cocklebiddy \| Madura \| Mundrabilla \| Eucla \|
South Australia: Border Village \| Nullarbor \| Yalata \| Nundroo \| Penong \| Ceduna \|