Carnamah

An agricultural town in the Midlands Wheatbelt area, an area rich in minerals and dotted with abandoned mines and ghost towns.

Local attractions in the town include the Painted Roads Murals, a regional initiative, using local volunteer support. Three murals have so far been painted with more planned. The first, painted in April 2000, titled "Drover’s Rest" depicts a drover resting with a cuppa and his two dogs. This mural is located on the wall of the True Value/Foodland store on Yarra Street. A year later, the second mural, "Sale Oh" was completed on the Wesfarmer’s building. It illustrates a lively sheep saleyard scene. A third one is painted on the Council Administration Building depicting kangaroos basking in the summer sun. This mural, completed in 2003, is named "Macpherson's View".

With Carnamah's pioneer history dating back more than a century, there are many heritage-listed buildings. The best way to appreciate them is to take a walk around the streets in the town. The Shire has a great page that helps you with the history of some of the buildings and directs you to them. McPherson's Homestead is an excellent example of the pioneering architecture of the area, was built in 1869.

Carnamah Museum is run by the volunteers in the Carnamah Historical Society. With a wonderful display of historical farming machinery and everyday items from times gone by, including photographs, this little treasure-trove is well worth a visit. Open Fridays 1.30pm – 5.00pm or by appointment with Mrs. Bridie Evans on (08) 9951 1235.

Yarra Yarra Lakes

Once a great river emptied into the Yarra Yarra Lakes system. Now with changes in land and sea level, and a drier climate, water collected from infrequent rains beyond Yalgoo travel along a chain of salt lakes to finally end here, evaporating in Summer leaving a shimmering expanse of salt. The lake transforms from salty pink in the summer to deep blue in the winter.

From the Lakes Lookout, less than a kilometre out of town on the Carnamah-Eneabba Road, you will be rewarded with breathtaking views all year round, from the salty pink summer view to the deep blue view of winter.

As an alternative to the lookout, tourists can access the lake by a good gravel road, approximately 16km south west of Carnamah, also off the Carnamah-Eneabba Road.


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Where is it?

308 km north of Perth; 23 km south east of Three Springs.


Tathra National Park

Tathra National Park (25 km west) is most spectacular during the wildflower season. Tathra is the Nyungar word for beautiful place and is a fitting name for this beautiful national park.


Lake Indoon

A big freshwater lake, 12 km west of Eneabba, it is ideal for water skiing, barbecues, picnics and camping. It includes gas barbecues, toilets and hot water facilities. Best views are from the Lakes Lookout off the Carnamah/Eneabba Road.


History

Though gazetted a townsite in 1913, a telegraph station was had operated here since 1873, and is referred to in 1876 by explorer Ernest Giles. Giles spelt the name of the station "Cornamah" in his book, but "Carnamah" on his map.

The name is derived from a pastoral property established by Duncan Macpherson here in the late 1860s. The property derived its name from Carnamah Spring, first mentioned in an application for grazing leases in 1861. The name is either Aboriginal of unknown meaning, or is a Gaelic word meaning "cairn of the cattle" or "cattle rocks".

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