Eucla, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Eucla is the easternmost locality in Western Australia
, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia
along the Eyre Highway
, approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of the South Australia
n border. At the 2006 census
, Eucla had a population of 86.
It is the only Western Australian location on the Eyre Highway that has a direct view of the Great Australian Bight
due to its position immediately next to the Eucla Pass – where the highway moves out and above the basin known as Roe Plains that occurs between the Madura and Eucla passes.
word "Yinculyer" which one source gives as referring to the rising of the planet Venus
. It was first used by Europeans for the area at some point before 1867.
In 1841, Edward John Eyre
became the first explorer to visit the area. In 1867, the president of the Marine Board of South Australia discovered a port at Eucla, and in 1870, John Forrest
camped at the location for nearly two weeks. In 1873, land was taken up at Moopina Station near the present townsite, and work commenced on a telegraph
line from Albany
to Adelaide
. Land was set aside at Eucla for the establishment of a manual repeater station, and when the telegraph line opened in 1877, Eucla was one of the most important telegraph stations on the line. The station was important as a conversion point because South Australia and Victoria used American Morse code
(locally known as the Victorian alphabet) while Western Australia used the international Morse code
that is familiar today. A jetty and tram line were constructed for offloading supplies brought in by sea. The town was proclaimed a township and gazetted in 1885, and reached its peak in the 1920s, prior to the construction of a new telegraph line further north alongside the Trans-Australian Railway
in 1929.
In the 1890s a rabbit
plague
passed through the area and ate much of the Delisser Sandhills' dune
vegetation, thus destabilising the dune system and causing large sand drifts to encroach on the townsite. The original town was abandoned, and a new townsite established about 5 km to the east and higher up on the escarpment. The ruins of the telegraph station still stand amongst the dunes, and are a local tourist attraction.
Many of the pioneer farmers and telegraph operators were buried at Eucla, but as the sand dunes encroached onto their graves, some of the headstones and plaques were removed and can now be seen at the museum at Eucla.
In 1971, worldwide media publicity came to the town after reports and photographs emerged of a half-naked blonde girl who had gone wild and lived and ran with the kangaroos, who came to be known as the "Nullarbor Nymph
". The story subsequently turned out to be a hoax cooked up by the residents of the tiny settlement.
and Ceduna
for travellers and trucks along the Eyre Highway
. It has a hotel and restaurant, a golf club (7 km to the north), a museum dedicated to the Old Telegraph Station, and a meteorological station. These together with fishing are the locality's major activities. There is a Travellers Cross that (despite its name) commemorates deceased local people.
and Madura
, use the Central Western Time Zone of UTC+8:45
. Although it has no official sanction, it is universally observed in this area, stopping just to the east of Caiguna
.
.
In October 2005, Greyhound Australia
announced the closure of their Nullarbor service due to rising fuel prices and declining passenger numbers.
. Average maximum temperatures vary from 25–26 °C (77–78.8 F) from December to March, to 18 °C (64.4 °F) in July. The average annual rainfall of 272.7 millimetres (10.7 in) is evenly spread through the year, with monthly totals ranging from 14.6 millimetre (0.574803149606299 in) in January to 31 millimetres (1.2 in) in May. The highest temperature was 47.9 °C (118.2 °F) on 3 January 1979.
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...
, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region 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...
along the Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
, approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of the South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n border. 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,...
, Eucla had a population of 86.
It is the only Western Australian location on the Eyre Highway that has a direct view of the Great Australian Bight
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
due to its position immediately next to the Eucla Pass – where the highway moves out and above the basin known as Roe Plains that occurs between the Madura and Eucla passes.
History
The name Eucla is believed to originate from an AboriginalIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
word "Yinculyer" which one source gives as referring to the rising of the planet Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
. It was first used by Europeans for the area at some point before 1867.
In 1841, Edward John Eyre
Edward John Eyre
Edward John Eyre was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica....
became the first explorer to visit the area. In 1867, the president of the Marine Board of South Australia discovered a port at Eucla, and in 1870, John Forrest
John Forrest
Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....
camped at the location for nearly two weeks. In 1873, land was taken up at Moopina Station near the present townsite, and work commenced on a telegraph
Electrical telegraph
An electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via telecommunication lines or radio. The electromagnetic telegraph is a device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages....
line from Albany
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. Land was set aside at Eucla for the establishment of a manual repeater station, and when the telegraph line opened in 1877, Eucla was one of the most important telegraph stations on the line. The station was important as a conversion point because South Australia and Victoria used American Morse code
American Morse code
American Morse Code — also known as Railroad Morse—is the latter-day name for the original version of the Morse Code developed in the mid-1840s, by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail for their electric telegraph...
(locally known as the Victorian alphabet) while Western Australia used the international Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
that is familiar today. A jetty and tram line were constructed for offloading supplies brought in by sea. The town was proclaimed a township and gazetted in 1885, and reached its peak in the 1920s, prior to the construction of a new telegraph line further north alongside the Trans-Australian Railway
Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain of Australia from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia...
in 1929.
In the 1890s a rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
plague
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
passed through the area and ate much of the Delisser Sandhills' dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
vegetation, thus destabilising the dune system and causing large sand drifts to encroach on the townsite. The original town was abandoned, and a new townsite established about 5 km to the east and higher up on the escarpment. The ruins of the telegraph station still stand amongst the dunes, and are a local tourist attraction.
Many of the pioneer farmers and telegraph operators were buried at Eucla, but as the sand dunes encroached onto their graves, some of the headstones and plaques were removed and can now be seen at the museum at Eucla.
In 1971, worldwide media publicity came to the town after reports and photographs emerged of a half-naked blonde girl who had gone wild and lived and ran with the kangaroos, who came to be known as the "Nullarbor Nymph
Nullarbor Nymph
The Nullarbor Nymph, referring to supposed sightings of a half naked woman living amongst kangaroos on the Nullarbor Plain, was a hoax perpetrated in Australia between 1971 and 1972....
". The story subsequently turned out to be a hoax cooked up by the residents of the tiny settlement.
Present day
Eucla is the largest stopping point between NorsemanNorseman, Western Australia
Norseman is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, east of Perth and above sea level. It is also the starting point of the Eyre Highway, and the last major town in Western Australia before the South Australian border to the...
and Ceduna
Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port...
for travellers and trucks along the Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
. It has a hotel and restaurant, a golf club (7 km to the north), a museum dedicated to the Old Telegraph Station, and a meteorological station. These together with fishing are the locality's major activities. There is a Travellers Cross that (despite its name) commemorates deceased local people.
Time zone
Eucla and the surrounding area, notably MundrabillaMundrabilla, Western Australia
Mundrabilla is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain, west of Eucla and about north of the Great Australian Bight.-History:...
and Madura
Madura, Western Australia
Madura is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain. It is from Perth.-History:Madura was settled in 1876 as a place to breed quality cavalry horses for the British Indian Army for use in the Northwest Frontier region of India . The horses...
, use the Central Western Time Zone of UTC+8:45
UTC+8:45
UTC+08:45 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:45.UTC+08:45 is used as a time in Australia . It is used by some roadhouses along the Eyre Highway in Western Australia and South Australia...
. Although it has no official sanction, it is universally observed in this area, stopping just to the east of Caiguna
Caiguna, Western Australia
Caiguna is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It is the second stop east of Norseman on the long journey east across the Nullarbor Plain. Between Balladonia and Caiguna is a stretch of the highway which is one of the longest straight stretches of road in...
.
Transport
Eucla is a major stop-off point along the Eyre HighwayEyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
.
In October 2005, Greyhound Australia
Greyhound Australia
Greyhound Australia is the largest long distance bus operator in Australia, operating in all mainland states and territories. It is owned by the Chapman Group and ANZ....
announced the closure of their Nullarbor service due to rising fuel prices and declining passenger numbers.
Climate
Eucla's climate is dry and usually mild, though very hot days can occur accompanied by hot northerly winds from the Great Victoria DesertGreat Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is a barren and sparsely populated desert area of southern Australia.-Location and description:The Great Victoria is the biggest desert in Australia and consists of many small sandhills, grassland plains, areas with a closely packed surface of pebbles and salt lakes...
. Average maximum temperatures vary from 25–26 °C (77–78.8 F) from December to March, to 18 °C (64.4 °F) in July. The average annual rainfall of 272.7 millimetres (10.7 in) is evenly spread through the year, with monthly totals ranging from 14.6 millimetre (0.574803149606299 in) in January to 31 millimetres (1.2 in) in May. The highest temperature was 47.9 °C (118.2 °F) on 3 January 1979.
Further reading
- Saunders, B. A. (2005) Spirit of the desert: the story of Eucla, WA, after the east-west telegraph era Kalgoorlie, W.A.: B.A. Saunders for the Eyre Highway Community Association. ISBN 0646445839