Northam, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Northam is a town in Western Australia
, situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers, about 97 kilometres (60 mi) north-east of Perth
in the Avon Valley. At the 2006 census
, Northam had a population of 6,009. Northam is the largest town in the Avon region. It is also the largest inland town in the state not founded on mining
.
, and subsequently founded in 1833. It was named by Governor Stirling
, probably after a village of the same name
in Devon
, England
. Almost immediately it became a point of departure for explorers and settlers who were interested in the lands which lay to the east.
This initial importance declined with the growing importance of the other nearby towns of York
and Beverley
, but the arrival of the railway made Northam the major departure point for fossickers
and miners who headed east towards the goldfield
s.
A severe thunderstorm
lashed the town and surrounding areas on 27 January 2011 resulting in roofs being ripped off, trees being uprooted and power lines being brought down.
About 50 houses were damaged in the town as a result of the storm but no injuries were reported..
s and immigrants from Europe.
The Northam Migrant Accommodation Centre closed in September 1951. It had been the first place of residence in WA for approximately 15,000 immigrants from the Baltic states
, Hungary
, Poland
, Czechoslovakia
, Italy
, Yugoslavia
, Ukraine
, Belarus
and Bulgaria
. During the peak immigration period, Northam had the largest immigrant receiving facilities within the State and the third largest in Australia. By 1950, the camp housed 4,000 people and two new blocks of huts were built to accommodate them all. By May 1954, 23,000 migrants had passed through the Northam Camp once the Accommodation Centre had closed.
and Shire of Northam
. After 53 years of debates and attempts, these two councils merged on 1 July 2007 to form one new council called the Shire of Northam.
Eastern Railway terminates here and becomes the standard gauge
Eastern Goldfields Railway
. Narrow gauge radiates both south of the town to York
and beyond (Great Southern Railway
), and north to Goomalling
, another rural railway junction.
The Northam railway station is used for the Prospector
and Avonlink
rural train services. The original station on Fitzgerald Street was opened in 1900 and closed in 1966 when the new Eastern Railway route became operational.
The Australian Railroad Group
have a large railway yard named Avon Yard west of the town.
is an obsession with many of the people of Western Australia. Northam has two teams that play in the Avon Football Association competition, Federals and Railways.
Field
and indoor hockey
, cricket
, and netball
also attract significant numbers of players and spectators. Individual sports such as tennis and cycling including BMX are also popular.
The BMX State Championships were held in Northam in 2003 with 3,000 competitors and spectators attending the event for over a week with Northam competitors showing their dominance in the sport in the state. Three local riders who participated in this event (Dale Reynolds - then ranked 3WA for 18 Men's, Chris Marris - then ranked 1WA for 18 Men's, and Kyle Martin - then ranked 4WA for 18 Men's) have subsequently completed cross country rides from Adelaide to Perth demonstrating the interest in cycling in Northam.
Steve Fossett
became the first person to fly around the world alone, non-stop, in a hot air balloon
when he launched from Northam on 19 June 2002, and returned to Australia on 3 July, landing in Queensland
.
is held every year starting in Northam.
The Northam Flying 50's, a historic car racing event, is held each year in early April and attracts around 5,000 spectators each year.
The Northam Agricultural Show is also a yearly attraction which is held over a Friday and a Saturday in mid September.
The Kep Ultra running race is held each year on the Foundation Day long weekend in early June. The race starts in Northam and includes 100km and 75km events finishing at Mundaring Weir.
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...
, situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers, about 97 kilometres (60 mi) north-east of 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....
in the Avon Valley. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Northam had a population of 6,009. Northam is the largest town in the Avon region. It is also the largest inland town in the state not founded on mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
.
History
The area around Northam was first explored in 1830 by a party of colonists led by Ensign Robert DaleRobert Dale
Lieutenant Robert Dale was the first European explorer to cross the Darling Range in Western Australia.Robert Dale was born in England in October 1812...
, and subsequently founded in 1833. It was named by Governor Stirling
James Stirling (Australian governor)
Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...
, probably after a village of the same name
Northam, Devon
Northam is a small town in Devon, England, lying north of Bideford and south of Westward Ho!. It is thought to have been the site of an Anglo-Saxon castle, and is said to have been where Hubba the Dane attacked Devon and was repelled . A little over a mile away along the coast is a town called...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Almost immediately it became a point of departure for explorers and settlers who were interested in the lands which lay to the east.
This initial importance declined with the growing importance of the other nearby towns of York
York, Western Australia
York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...
and Beverley
Beverley, Western Australia
Beverley is a town located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, south-east of the state capital, Perth, between York and Brookton on the Great Southern Highway...
, but the arrival of the railway made Northam the major departure point for fossickers
Fossicking
Fossicking is a term found in Cornwall, Australia and New Zealand referring to prospecting, especially in more recent times, when carried out as a recreational activity. This can be for gold, precious stones, fossils, etc. by sifting through a prospective area. In Australian English and New...
and miners who headed east towards the goldfield
Australian gold rushes
The Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...
s.
A severe thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
lashed the town and surrounding areas on 27 January 2011 resulting in roofs being ripped off, trees being uprooted and power lines being brought down.
About 50 houses were damaged in the town as a result of the storm but no injuries were reported..
Northam Migrant Accommodation Centre
During the 1940s and 1950s in Northam there were extensive camps for displaced personDisplaced person
A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...
s and immigrants from Europe.
The Northam Migrant Accommodation Centre closed in September 1951. It had been the first place of residence in WA for approximately 15,000 immigrants from the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. During the peak immigration period, Northam had the largest immigrant receiving facilities within the State and the third largest in Australia. By 1950, the camp housed 4,000 people and two new blocks of huts were built to accommodate them all. By May 1954, 23,000 migrants had passed through the Northam Camp once the Accommodation Centre had closed.
Climate
Northam has a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and cool wet winters.Government
For many years Northam consisted of the Town of NorthamTown of Northam
The Town of Northam was a Local Government Area of Western Australia for the town of Northam in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, north-east of the capital, Perth along Great Eastern Highway...
and Shire of Northam
Shire of Northam
The Shire of Northam is a Local Government Area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, beyond the northeastern fringe of the Perth metropolitan area centred on the town of Northam itself. The Shire covers an area of...
. After 53 years of debates and attempts, these two councils merged on 1 July 2007 to form one new council called the Shire of Northam.
Airport and roads
Transport
Northam is connected to Perth via coach services N3 and N5 and rail services Prospector and Avon link provided by TranswaTranswa
Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 275 destinations within Western Australia, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south to Esperance in the east along with the regional centres of Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Northam, Geraldton and Albany.Transwa is...
Railways
Northam is a major railway junction, and serves as the commercial centre for much of the western Wheatbelt. The dual gaugeDual gauge
A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...
Eastern Railway terminates here and becomes the standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
Eastern Goldfields Railway
Eastern Goldfields Railway
The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1880s to connect Perth, Western Australia with the rich goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The narrow gauge Eastern Railway line already connected Perth with Northam, and the EGR extended this line through semi-desert to the goldfields...
. Narrow gauge radiates both south of the town to York
York, Western Australia
York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...
and beyond (Great Southern Railway
Great Southern Railway (Western Australia)
The Great Southern Railway was the name of a railway company that operated from Beverley to Albany in Western Australia between 1886 and 1896. In 1896 the Western Australian Government Railways took over this company and the railway route also kept the name.- Construction :The first sods for the...
), and north to Goomalling
Goomalling, Western Australia
Goomalling is a townsite in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia 45 km north north east of Northam, Western Australia. The name Goomalling was first shown for a spring found by explorers Hillman & Lefroy in 1846. Hillman noted on his plan "rich grassy country" and squatters subsequently...
, another rural railway junction.
The Northam railway station is used for the Prospector
Transwa Prospector
The Transwa Prospector is a standard-gauge passenger train operated by Transwa that runs between Perth, Western Australia, and the Goldfields town of Kalgoorlie.-History:...
and Avonlink
Transwa Avonlink
The AvonLink is a standard gauge passenger train operated by Transwa that operates between Perth, Western Australia and the Avon Valley. It provides one service in each direction every weekday, to and from the regional town of Northam, and since 2004, has provided three extended services a week to...
rural train services. The original station on Fitzgerald Street was opened in 1900 and closed in 1966 when the new Eastern Railway route became operational.
The Australian Railroad Group
Australian Railroad Group
Australian Railroad Group was one of Australia's largest private rail operators, operating across almost 10,000 kilometres of track and began operating in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was acquired by QR National...
have a large railway yard named Avon Yard west of the town.
Sport
Northam has some very committed sporting teams. Australian rules footballAustralian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
is an obsession with many of the people of Western Australia. Northam has two teams that play in the Avon Football Association competition, Federals and Railways.
Field
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
and indoor hockey
Indoor field hockey
Indoor field hockey is an indoor variant of "traditional" outdoor field hockey. It is not to be confused with other indoor hockey variants such as rink hockey or floorball....
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, and netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
also attract significant numbers of players and spectators. Individual sports such as tennis and cycling including BMX are also popular.
The BMX State Championships were held in Northam in 2003 with 3,000 competitors and spectators attending the event for over a week with Northam competitors showing their dominance in the sport in the state. Three local riders who participated in this event (Dale Reynolds - then ranked 3WA for 18 Men's, Chris Marris - then ranked 1WA for 18 Men's, and Kyle Martin - then ranked 4WA for 18 Men's) have subsequently completed cross country rides from Adelaide to Perth demonstrating the interest in cycling in Northam.
Steve Fossett
Steve Fossett
James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...
became the first person to fly around the world alone, non-stop, in a hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
when he launched from Northam on 19 June 2002, and returned to Australia on 3 July, landing in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
Events in Northam
The Avon DescentAvon Descent
The Avon Descent is an annual, two-day, white water event involving both paddle craft and small motor boats. It runs from Northam to Perth, Western Australia along the Avon and Swan Rivers, and is held in August of every year....
is held every year starting in Northam.
The Northam Flying 50's, a historic car racing event, is held each year in early April and attracts around 5,000 spectators each year.
The Northam Agricultural Show is also a yearly attraction which is held over a Friday and a Saturday in mid September.
The Kep Ultra running race is held each year on the Foundation Day long weekend in early June. The race starts in Northam and includes 100km and 75km events finishing at Mundaring Weir.
Notable people
Northam is the birthplace of the following people:- Kim Edward BeazleyKim Edward BeazleyKim Edward Beazley, AO , known as Kim Beazley during his career, Australian politician, was Minister for Education in the government of Gough Whitlam and a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years, from 1945 to 1977.Beazley, the youngest of seven children, was born in...
(1917-2007) - Federal Minister for Education. - Darren GlassDarren GlassDarren Glass is an Australian rules footballer for the AFL's West Coast Eagles. He wears number 23 guernsey.He was recruited as the number 11 draft pick in the 1999 AFL Draft from Perth...
- West Coast Eagles premiership player and All-Australian defender - Carmen LawrenceCarmen LawrenceCarmen 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....
- Former Premier of Western Australia - Geoff MarshGeoff MarshGeoffrey Robert Marsh is a former Australian cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and over 100 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman...
- Australian cricketer - Frederick Henry PiesseFrederick Henry PiesseFrederick Henry Piesse, CMG was a farmer, businessman and politician who is credited with much of the early development of the region around Katanning, Western Australia....
(1853-1912) - Businessman and politician, Acting Premier of Western Australia - Hugo Throssell (1884-1933) - Victoria Cross winner
- Jayden Moore
Further reading
- Peters, Nonja, and Fiona Bush and Jenny Gregory The Holden Immigration Camp, Northam Nedlands, W.A. Centre for Western Australian History; East Perth, W.A: distributed by the Heritage Council], 1993.
External links
- History of Northam www.westaustralianvista.com. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
- Official Northam town website Retrieved 17 September 2006.