Laverton, Western Australia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laverton is a town and shire in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The town of Laverton is located at 28°37′S, 122°24′E, on the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, 957 kilometres north north east of Perth and 124 kilometres east north east of the town of Leonora. The Shire of Laverton has an area of 179,476 square kilometres, and a population of about 1,200 people, almost all of whom live in the town. About a third of the population are of Aboriginal descent. The area is extremely arid, with a mean annual rainfall of just 230 millimetres (9 inches). It is also quite warm, with mean daily maximum temperatures ranging from 17°C (62°F) in July to 36°C (97°F) in January.

Laverton is primarily a mining area. There are two major gold mines in the Shire: Granny Smith owned and operated by Placer Dome and Sunrise Dam owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti. Both are now enormous open pits. The Murrin Murrin laterite nickel project is also located nearby, just over the shire border in Leonora. The area is too arid to support agriculture, but very low density grazing of sheep and cattle is feasible, and a substantial area of land is used in this way.

A number of early explorers travelled over the Laverton area, including John Forrest, David Carnegie and Frank Hann. Gold was discovered in the area in 1896 and many prospectors and miners moved into the area. Among them was Dr Charles W. Laver, who became an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of the region. One of the most successful mines was Craiggiemore, and by 1897 a residential and business area had sprung up on the west side of the mine. This area came to be known as Laverton, in honour of Laver. In 1899, the residents sought to have a townsite surveyed, but by then the original location had become unsuitable, so a new site was chosen about three kilometres from the original lots. The site was surveyed in July 1899 and the town of Laverton gazetted in July 1900.

By the late 1960s, Laverton was in decline, mainly because of the very low price of gold. But in 1969, a prospector named Ken Shirley discovered a huge nickel deposit in the area, prompting the famous Poseidon bubble. This deposit was developed into the huge Windarra Nickel Project, which mined and processed nickel for over 20 years.