St Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral

Locally built experimental submarine tested by the local fisherman in the 1960s to assist in catching rock lobster on the Abolhos Islands

Point Moore lighthouse

Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station at Kojarena

The fourth largest city in WA, Geraldton is a port city and an important centre for mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism. Geraldton has a population of 31,553 and is located 424 kilometres north of Perth.

HMAS Sydney memorial

Where is it?: Western Australia: Murchison. Geraldton is 503 km north of Perth via Brand Highway.

Things to see and do:

Popular surf spots include Flat Rocks, Back Beach, Greenough, Glenfield and Sunset Beach. Geraldton is also an internationally renowned windsurfing location. The most popular spot is Coronation Beach, located just north of the town. Geraldton has many great dive sites, such as the South Tomi, sunk in 2004 and trips out to the Abrolhos Islands are available. These waters are said to be some of the best in the world, especially in Australia, often having over 40m visibility.

Surrounding area:

Geraldton is an ideal base for exploring the mid-west region - Dongara, Greenough, the Abrolhos Islands - and a well serviced stopping place for travellers heading north to Northampton, Kalbarri, Shark Bay, Carnarvon, Ningaloo Reef, North West Cape, the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

About Geraldton

Geraldton is home to a horse racing industry, which since 1887 hosts the annual Geraldton Gold Cup. The 2007 Geraldton Gold Cup was won by 8-year-old TapDog. The race was historically significant. TapDog became the first horse to win the race three times, his trainer Clive Lauritsen became the first trainer to win the race 6 times, Roy McKay became the first jockey to win the race three times, and owners Peter Day, Jeannette Day, and Hans Hoiskar equalled the most wins by an owner in three. The race also passed the million dollar mark for the first time in tote turnover.

History: Though many European maritime explorers encountered or were even wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos islands 60 kilometres west of Geraldton in the 17th and 18th centuries, there is no evidence that any made landfall near the site of the current town. The first European to explore the area was George Grey in 1839. A decade later the explorer Augustus Gregory travelled through the area. He discovered lead on the Murchison River and the mine which was subsequently established was named Geraldine after the Governor Charles Fitzgerald. The town of Geraldton was gazetted in 1850.
The construction of Geraldton's most distinctive building, St Francis Xavier's Catholic Cathedral, started in 1916 but was not completed until 1938. The cathedral was designed by Monsignor John Hawes who was both an architect and a priest. The lighthouse located on Point Moore is another cultural attraction of Geraldton.
HMAS Sydney was lost off the coast north west of Geraldton and there is a memorial overlooking the city. After years of searching, the wreck of HMAS Sydney was discovered north of Geraldton, 150 kilometres from Shark Bay on 16 March 2008.
The original port has been dredged to a depth of 9.4m at the berths, which is suitable for ships of 64,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT). In 2009 the West Australian Government gave the go-ahead for a new deepwater port port at Oakajee, about 25 km north of Geraldton. This port will serve the mining industry, especially iron ore.

In the region: North of Geraldton is the town of Northampton, as well as the Hutt River Province, an area which claims to be an independent nation since its self-proclaimed secession from Western Australia in 1969. The Houtman Abrolhos islands are 60 km to the west of Geraldton. They are famous for the 1629 wreck of the Batavia. A stone portico recovered from the wreck has been reconstructed at the local museum, along with other artefacts. Twenty-five kilometres south of Geraldton, near Walkaway, a wind farm was completed in August 2005. It consists of 54 turbines, each producing 1.8 MW and 80 metres high with 40 metre blades.
The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS) is located at Kojarena, inland near Geraldton. The ADSCS is part of the US signals intelligence and analysis network ECHELON. The station has four satellite tracking dishes which intercept communications from Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Pakistani regional satellites and international communications satellites (INTELSATs and COMSATs), throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian regions. Staff are drawn from the American National Security Agency and the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, and the site is operated under the UK-USA Agreement. On 15 February 2007, it was announced that a new US military communications base would be built in Geraldton, after three years of secret negotiations between the US and the Australian Federal Government.

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