Wiluna, Western Australia

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Wiluna
Western Australia

Main Street in Wiluna

Population:

681 (2006)^[1]

Established:

1898

Postcode:

6646

Elevation:

521 m (1,709 ft)

Location:

947 km (588 mi) NE of Perth
182 km (113 mi) E of Meekatharra

LGA:

Shire of Wiluna

State District:

Murchison-Eyre

Federal Division:

Kalgoorlie

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
29.1 °C ^{84 °F}	14.2 °C ^{58 °F}	257.6 mm ^{10.1 in}

This article is about the town of Wiluna. For the local government area, see Shire of Wiluna.

Wiluna is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is situated on the edge of the desert at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route and Gunbarrel Highway. It is the centre of an area primarily dedicated to mining, and many more people work on mines in the area on a "fly-in/fly-out" basis. Wiluna's climate is hot and dry, with an annual rainfall of just 254mm (10in). Mean maximum temperatures range from 19°C (66°F) in July, to 38°C (100°F) in January.

1 Overview
2 Railways
3 People from Wiluna
4 Books
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Overview

The closest mine site to town is the Wiluna Gold Mine, approximately 3 km south of Wiluna. It is currently under care and maintenance, but is still an active mine site and not open to visitors.^[2]

The Wiluna area was first explored by Lawrence Wells in 1892. Gold was discovered in the area in 1896, and within a few months there were over 300 prospectors in the area. The town of Wiluna was gazetted in 1898, the name Wiluna being the Indigenous Australian name for the area. By the 1930s, the town had a population of over 9,000 people, but World War II severely affected the gold mining industry, and many mines were shut down. By 1963 the population had fallen to less than 100. Gold mining resumed in the area in 1981.

In October 1960 the two station workers named F. Vicenti and F. Quadrio were opening a fence gate on the Millbillillie-Jundee track 11 kilometres from Wiluna when they witnessed a bright fireball falling into spinifex (Triodia) grassland to the north of their location. The debris from this meteor became known as the Millbillillie meteorite and are understood to be actual pieces of the asteroid Vesta that had at some point been knocked off by a collision in the asteroid belt. Although no official specimens were recovered until 1970 it is understood that members of the local Aboriginal community had collected pieces [1].

[edit] Railways

Wiluna was the furthest away from Perth part of the narrow gauge Western Australian Government Railways system that was connected to Perth, and the Wiluna branch was connected to the main Northern Railway at Meekatharra. This line was closed in the 1970s. With the emergence of iron ore traffic, this railway may be rebuilt in whole or in part, possibly as standard gauge.

[edit] People from Wiluna

The current Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery was born in Wiluna on 12 December 1937. A new primary school was constructed in Wiluna^[3] after Jeffery visited the town in 2006 and criticised the condition of the existing school.^[4]

[edit] Books

In 1996, P. Heydon published a very informative book on the history of Wiluna and its gold mine, titled "Wiluna: Edge of the Desert" (ISBN: 0859052168). It contains many black and white pictures from the early days up to 1996.