Badgingarra is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, about north of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in the Shire of Dandaragan. It lies on the

Brand Highway Brand Highway is a main highway linking the northern outskirts of Perth to Geraldton in Western Australia. Together with North West Coastal Highway, it forms part of the Western Australian coastal link to the Northern Territory. The highw ...

adjacent to the

Badgingarra National Park Badgingarra National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 190 km north of Perth off the Brand Highway adjacent to the town of Badgingarra. The park is in area and features high breakaway country overlooking low undulating sandpl ...

History

The town was gazetted in 1955 and takes its name from nearby Badgingarra Pool. "Badgingarra" is a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

word said to mean "water by the

manna gum ''Eucalyptus viminalis'', commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to c ...

s". The district was originally surveyed in the 1880s; however, due to the widespread presence of poisonous plants in the area and non-conducive soil types, the land was not developed for agriculture. Little settlement occurred until the 1950s, when the use of

trace element __NOTOC__ A trace element, also called minor element, is a chemical element whose concentration (or other measure of amount) is very low (a "trace amount"). They are classified into two groups: essential and non-essential. Essential trace elements ...

s such as

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

in fertilisers allowed for farming to occur on the sandy soils around Badgingarra. In 1955, sufficient population growth had occurred for the gazettal of a townsite to support the settlers. In 1959, the state government established the Badgingarra Research Station, to assist farmers in the development of their enterprises. In 1965, a primary school was established, initially operated in the community hall before a new school was built and opened in 1968.

Commercial area

Today, Badgingarra contains a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, roadhouse and other businesses. It has several recreational facilities at its Community Centre, including tennis courts, a bowling green, a football

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

, a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

, parks and playgrounds. The planned development of the Brand Highway west of the Badgingarra townsite spurred the people of Badgingarra to resolve to shift the townsite so as to lie on that highway.

Natural disasters

A large

bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

swept through the area in 2010, devastating 19 farms and over of farm land. At least 1,700 head of cattle were lost along with sheep, crops, a

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

plantation and fences. The town was lashed by storms in 2012, receiving of rain in less than an hour, accompanied by driving winds and a large amount of hail, which destroyed crops.

History

Commercial area

Natural disasters

Climate

Notes

References

External links