QUAIRADING, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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A small service town in the central agricultural wheatbelt.
Location: 166 km east of Perth, 69 km from York on the road between York and Bruce Rock. Altitude 249 metres above sea level.
Origin of name: derived from the nearby Quairading Spring, an Aboriginal name first recorded by surveyor Alexander Forrest in 1872. The name may relate to "Quairit", an Aboriginal word for the eldest girl of a family, although it is more likely to be translated as "home of the bush kangaroo"- "quara".
Brief history: In 1907 the government decided to build a railway from Greenhills (near York) to Quairading, and planned a townsite at the terminus. As the Quairading Spring was nearby this was selected as the name, but the district surveyor thought it should be spelt "Kwerading". Local usage of the Q spelling ensured the adoption of this name, and Quairading was gazetted a townsite in late 1907.
Natural features: Topain Rock (12 km north west).
Built features: Home of natural wood sculpture; Topain Weir (built 1912); Mt. Stirling (35 km north east).
Heritage features: Cubbine (historic village 20 km north)