Three Springs, Western Australia

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Three Springs (29°32′S, 115°45′E), (pop: 850) is located 313 km north of Perth, Western Australia on the Midlands Road. Wheat farming is the main industry.

The first Europeans to pass through the Three Springs area were Lieutenant George Grey and his party in 1839. The next exploration of the area in 1846 was undertaken by brothers Henry, Francis and Augustus Gregory. This was a government sponsored trip to seek out new ‘runs’ for stock.

During 1867, while surveyor Charles Cooke Hunt was undertaking a road survey, he recorded the words ‘Three Springs’ at the site of the current town after some nearby springs. The name began to appear on official maps from then on and land in this region was soon taken up for pastoral leasing.

When the Midland railway from Midland Junction to Walkaway was opened in 1895, Three Springs was a siding on the line, and the area really opened up.

In 1907 the government decided to declare a townsite adjacent to the Three Springs Station, and it was gazetted as Kadathinni in 1908. It was also intended to change the name of the station when the townsite was named, but this was overlooked, and it remained Three Springs. The townsite was also locally known as Three Springs, and in 1946 the name was officially changed to Three Springs to conform with local usage.

Luzenac, a Rio Tinto Group company operates the largest talc mine in the southern hemisphere just outside the Three Springs townsite. Up until 2004, the talc was railed to Geraldton for export.