SOUTHERN CROSS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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A regional centre for the surrounding agricultural district. It began as a gold mining town.
Location: 370 km east of Perth on Great Eastern Highway; 109 km east north east of Merredin.
Origin of name: the original prospecting party to find gold here named the area after the Southern Cross constellation they had used at when travelling at night.
Brief history: gold was discovered here in 1888. Further rich finds of gold in the area resulted in Southern Cross booming, almost over night, and the townsite was gazetted in 1890. As the gold ran out, the locals who stayed in the area turned to agriculture as their sources of income.
Natural features: Frog Rock (15 km south) which is shaped in a wave-like outcrop; Karalee Rock and Dam (37 km east); Baladjie Rock (45 km north-west); Mt. Palmer; Lake Koorkoordine; Jilbadji Nature Reserve (80 km south-east); Walyshmoning Nature Reserve (90 km north-west); Yellowdine Reserve (30 km east); Mount Manning Range.
Built features: Fraser's Mine; Karalee railway catchment reservoir; New Zealand Gully Dam & Maori Lass gold mine; Government Dam.
Heritage features: former No 6 Pumping Station (Goldfields Water Scheme), Ghooli; Old Cemetery; Registrar's Office & Court House (1891); Lisignoli's Store (1890s); Hunt's Soak (7 km north), constructed by convicts in 1865; ghost town of Golden Valley/Knutsford