Scaddan is a small town in 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...

 located 783 kilometres (487 mi) 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....

 situated just off the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway

Coolgardie-Esperance Highway

The Coolgardie–Esperance Highway is a 368 km Western Australian highway between Coolgardie and Esperance. It runs in a north-south direction linking the WA's Eastern Goldfields to the coast....

 between Norseman

Norseman, 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 Esperance

Esperance, Western Australia

Esperance is a large town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The shire of Esperance is home to 9,536 people as of the 2006 census, its major industries are tourism, agriculture,...

 in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.

The area was originally known as Thirty Mile, because of its distance from Esperance. Europeans settled the area before 1914 and were commonly using the name Scaddan at around that time. The name of the post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 was changed from Thirty Mile to Scaddan in 1915 and by 1916 a school and hall had been built in the town. The government delayed declaring the town until the route of the Norseman-Esperance railway

Esperance Branch Railway

The Esperance Branch Railway is a railway from Kalgoorlie to the port of Esperance in Western Australia.It was lobbied for by Esperance residents to be linked into the WAGR railway network to provide land transport to their region - Gauge and Route :...

 was settled. The townsite was finally gazetted in 1924.

The town is named after John "Happy Jack" Scaddan

John Scaddan

John Scaddan, CMG , popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916.- Biography :...

, the 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...

of Western Australia from 1911 to 1916 and a prominent advocate of the Esperance railway.