NORTHAM, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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Major regional service town on Great Eastern Highway. It is the first large town encountered after travelling east from Perth and one of the oldest settlements in the central Wheatbelt area. It has long been a major rail centre and main depot for the Goldfields Water Scheme.
Location: 98 km east of Perth on Great Eastern Highway.
Origin of name: named by Captain James Stirling after a village in Devon, England.
Brief history: gazetted as a town in 1836, the first colonists into the area arrived soon after explorer Ensign Robert Dale passed through the area in October 1830. It was connected by telegraph to Perth in 1872. In the 1890s it became a base from which prospectors prepared to push into the desert.
Natural features: Avon River; Mt. Ommanney lookout; Clackline Nature Reserve; Mount Ommanney; Half Mill Hill; Mt. Dick; Monday Hill
Built features: Byfield House; Shamrock Hotel (1886); Clearview House; Avon River Suspension bridge
Heritage features: Northam Heritage trail (includes St John's Church; Old Railway Station Museum; Mitchell House-1905; Morny Cottage); Buckland Homestead (1874); Farming Heritage Trail.