Northam, Western Australia

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Location of Northam, Western Australia

Northam (31°38′S 116°40′E) is a town in Western Australia, situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers. Home to an estimated 6,227 people in 2005,^[1] it is the largest town in the Avon region. It is also the largest inland town in the state not founded on mining.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Government
4 Railways
5 Sport
6 Events in Northam
7 Notable people
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] Geography

Typical Northam street

Northam is located 96km North East of Perth in the Avon Valley.

Elevation: 155 Metres (508 Feet)

[edit] History

The area around Northam was first explored in 1830 by a party of colonists led by Ensign Robert Dale, and subsequently founded in 1833. It was named by Governor Stirling, probably after a village of the same name in Devon, England. Almost immediately it became a point of departure for explorers and settlers who were interested in the lands which lay to the east.

This initial importance declined with the growing importance of the other nearby towns of York and Beverley, but the arrival of the railway made Northam the major departure point for fossickers and miners who headed east towards the goldfields.

A notable scandal occurred in 1933 when the town's entire Aboriginal population were rounded up by police and dumped in the Moore River Native Settlement. The Northam Shire Council said they had scabies and were a health risk.^[2]

In the 1940's and 1950's in Northam there were extensive camps for displaced European refugees and immigrants.

Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone, non-stop, in a balloon when he launched from Northam on 19 June 2002, and returned to Australia on 3 July, landing in Queensland.

[edit] Government

Northam consists of the Town of Northam and Shire of Northam.

[edit] Railways

Northam is a major railway junction, and serves as the commercial centre for much of the western Wheatbelt. The dual gauge Eastern Railway terminates here and becomes the standard gauge Eastern Goldfields Railway. Narrow gauge radiates both south of the town to York and beyond (Great Southern Railway), and north to Goomalling, another rural railway junction.

The Northam Railway station is used for the Prospector and Avonlink rural train services. The original station on Fitzgerald Street was opened in 1900 and closed in 1966 when the new Eastern Railway route became operational.^[3]

The Australian Railroad Group have a large railway yard named Avon Yard west of the town.

[edit] Sport

Northam has some very committed sporting teams. Australian rules football is an obsession with many of the people of Western Australia. Northam has two teams that play in the Avon Football Association competition, the Federals and Railways.

Information on the Avon Football Association can be found here.

Field and indoor hockey, cricket, and netball also attract significant numbers of players and spectators. Individual sports such as tennis are also popular. Northam also maintains an active running club.

[edit] Events in Northam

The Avon Descent is held every year starting in Northam.

[edit] Notable people

It is the birthplace of Shirley Strickland, Frederick Henry Piesse and Carmen Lawrence

[edit] See also

Muresk

[edit] References

^ 2005 Estimate www.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
^ Northam The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February 2004. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
^ WA: Breath of life for old railway station www.railpage.com.au Retrieved 17 September 2006.

Peters, Nonja, and Fiona Bush and Jenny Gregory The Holden Immigration Camp, Northam / [Nedlands, W.A.] : Centre for Western Australian History ; [East Perth, W.A : distributed by the Heritage Council], 1993.