Morawa, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Morawa is a town in the Mid West region
Mid West region of Western Australia
The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a very sparsely populated region located on the west coast of Western Australia, extending about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton. To the east it extends more than inland to Wiluna in the Gibson...

 of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It is located within the Shire of Morawa
Shire of Morawa
The Shire of Morawa is a Local Government Area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about east-southeast of the city of Geraldton and about north of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Morawa.On 18 September 2009, it was...

, approximately 370 kilometres (230 mi) north of the state capital Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, on the railway line between Wongan Hills
Wongan Hills, Western Australia
Wongan Hills is a town in the Shire of Wongan-Ballidu, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The town is approximately 182 km north of the State capital Perth, at an altitude of 286 metres....

 and Mullewa
Mullewa, Western Australia
- External links :* *...

.

History

The name Morawa is an Indigenous Australian name; it probably derives from the Morowar, the local dialect's word for the dalgite
Bilby
Bilbies are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. Before European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. One became extinct in the 1950s; the other survives but remains endangered....

. The name was first used on maps of the area in 1910, in reference to a rock hole. When the railway was being planned in 1913, it was decided to locate a siding at the location, and the name Morawa was chosen for it. The Lands Department then decided to establish a townsite there, and Morawa was gazetted in September 1913. In 1921 the Railways Department decided that Morawa was too similar to Mullewa and requested a name change. In response, the town's name was changed to Merkanooka in January 1922. However the Railway Department, which had pressed for the name change in the first place, did not rename the siding, and in June the town's name reverted to Morawa at the request of the townspeople.

Most of the farmland around Morawa was given to returned servicemen after the First World War under the provisions of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Acts
Soldier settlement (Australia)
Soldier settlement refers to the occupation and settlement of land throughout parts of Australia by returning discharged soldiers under schemes administered by the State Governments after World Wars I and II.- World War I :...

 which spurred the growth of the town.

Population growth in Morawa has been fairly stable since the 1990s, without much increase, possibly due to more people, young people, moving out to the Perth metropolitan area. Farms had been amalgamating for a number of years for economic reasons and the larger farms required fewer staff.

Like much of the Wheatbelt area of Western Australia, the town is in a period of drought.

Farming

Morawa is primarily a farming town. The area supports a range of farming activities including wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, sheep, cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 and sandalwood
Santalum spicatum
Santalum spicatum, a species known as Australian sandalwood, is a tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of Southwest Australia. It is traded as sandalwood and its valuable oil has been used as an aromatic, a medicine and a food source. S...

.

Biodiversity

The rangeland area around Morawa has biodiversity. This has been reduced by land clearing, changed fire regimes, feral pests and weeds, pastoralism and mining but still remains an important characteristic of the region. The Department of Environment and Conservation (formerly CALM) is currently undergoing a biodiversity survey of the Yilgarn, a geological area encompassing Morawa. Some of the biodiversity values are concentrated on the ranges. These sporadic ranges have been separated by large areas of land for millennia and many have evolved their own unique endemic species and communities. Some of these are associated only with the BIF (Banded Ironstone Formation) rocks that are targeted by iron ore mining companies.

Mining

5.1 million tonnes of haematite iron ore was taken from the Koolanooka Hills mine between 1966 and 1974.

Due to renewed international demand for iron ore, and dramatic increases in prices being paid, the iron ore deposits around Morawa have attracted interest from junior mining companies such as Midwest Corp., Mount Gibson Mining, Gindalbie Metals and Red River Resources. Midwest Corp has spent several million dollars on infrastructure including roadworks to, and weighbridge facilities at, Koolanooka Mine. They are currently (May 2006) road-training haematite fines (<6 millimetres particle size) left over as waste from the 1966 - 1974 Western Mining iron ore operation. When the removal (to China) of these several million tonnes is complete, Midwest Corp plan to exploit further haematite discoveries on their lease (pending environmental assessment and approval).

Substantial quantities of magnetite ore are also understood to exist on their holdings. Mount Gibson Mining also hold mining tenements at Koolanooka
Koolanooka, Western Australia
Koolanooka is a small town in the MidWest region of Western Australia. It is situated between Morawa and Perenjori just off the Mullewa-Wubin road. At the 2006 census, Koolanooka had a population of 46....

 South, with reserves of magnetite ore. Magnetite mining operations would require the construction of a concentrator plant and either a rail link or magnetite slurry pipeline from Morawa to the port of Geraldton or to a new port to be built at Oakajee (north of Geraldton). Red River Resources hold tenements just 20 km south of Koolanooka at its Feral Prospect. They have currently identified 5 zones of iron enrichment in BIF ranging in strike length from 100m-500m.

Gindalbie Metals Ltd. has substantial holdings at Karara
Karara, Western Australia
Karara, Western Australia is the locality of a new iron ore mine. The ore will be shipped initially by a narrow gauge railway to the existing port of Geraldton in quantities up to 10 Mtpa...

 85 kilometres (53 mi) east of Morawa. They claim to have 1 billion tonnes of magnetite ore as well as significant haematite reserves. They have had an Aboriginal heritage listing over the mine area lifted and are currently undergoing environmental assessment, hoping to gain approval and commence production by June 2007.

Morawa is just south of Tilley
Tilley
Tilley may refer to:Places* Tilley, Alberta, a village in Canada* Tilley, New Brunswick, Canada* Tilley, Shropshire, a village in EnglandPeople* Tilley , people with the surname TilleyOther* Tilley's, a café in Canberra, Australia...

 siding, where the proposed rail line to Karara
Karara, Western Australia
Karara, Western Australia is the locality of a new iron ore mine. The ore will be shipped initially by a narrow gauge railway to the existing port of Geraldton in quantities up to 10 Mtpa...

 junctions off the Mullewa to Northam
Northam
Northam is the name of a number of places around the world:* Northam, Devon - a town in Devon, England.* Northam railway station* Northam, Hampshire - A district of the city of Southampton, England...

 railline.

Tourist Information

Accommodation in Morawa includes the Shire-owned Caravan Park in White Street, the Morawa Motor Hotel on Manning Road, Everlastings guest homes on Evans Street and the Morawa Marian Convent Bed and Breakfast in Davis Street. The famous miniature John Hawes Presbytery is located opposite the Bed and Breakfast. A former Western Australian Premier
Premier of Western Australia
The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...

, Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Mary Lawrence is a retired Australian politician; a former Premier of Western Australia and the first woman to become Premier of a State of the Commonwealth of Australia....

, attended the Morawa Convent School. One of her classrooms is now a B&B en-suite unit.

Climate

Morawa features a semi-arid climate with hot dry summers and mild to cool, slightly wetter winters.

External links

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