Spencers Brook, Western Australia

Coordinates: 31°44′13″S 116°37′52″E / 31.737°S 116.631°E / -31.737; 116.631

Spencers Brook is a waterway, locality and a district in Western Australia.

The locality is located between the towns of Northam and York, about 95 kilometres (60 mi) east of the state capital, Perth. At the 2006 census, Spencers Brook had a population of 195.[1]

It was an important junction point on the Eastern Railway. It was opened in 1886 as a stage of the Chidlow to Northam railway.[2] It was operating as a stopping place from 1888 at 50 miles 44 chains (81.35 km) from Perth.[3][4]

Spencers Brook was the site of a railway station until 1966, incorporating a railway yard, railway tearooms and a watering tank tower. It was a significant stop in the pre-1966 era of steam locomotives, being a junction where the line from Northam split south - the Great Southern Railway[5] - to York / Albany and west to Clackline / Perth. With the 1966 closing of the line from Spencers Brook through to Perth, all associated rail infrastructure was subsequently removed and nothing remains today of the former Spencers Brook junction/station. However, the Great Southern Railway does still arc through Spencers Brook between the towns of Northam and York.

Spencers Brook does retain some distant railway connection in that it remains home to the historical Spencers Brook Tavern established in 1884; it also features nearby the Muresk Institute, Curtin University's school of agribusiness, applied biosciences and environmental biology.

The closest commercial centre is Northam, located approximately 15 kilometres north of Spencers Brook.

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Spencers Brook (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  2. ↑ 1 May 1886, p. 9 The proposed Eastern Railway line to Northam; 9 Oct 1886, p. 12: About the Northam railway; 9 Oct. 1886, p. 14: Programme of sports, and celebrations for the opening; 16 Oct 1886, p. 18: Official opening of the branch line Spencer's Brook to Northam; 23 Oct 1886, p. 8 : Opening of the Northam Railway.The Western Mail
  3. ↑ Higham, G. J. (2006) Where WAS that?: an historical gazetteer of Western Australia Winthrop, W.A.: Geoproject Solutions Pty Ltd. ISBN 0-9758024-0-2
  4. ↑ "WESTERN AUSTRALIA.". South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) (Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia). 15 October 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  5. ↑ Railway Map of WA 1938, ARHS, Bassendean, W.A.

External links


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