Cue is a small town in the

Mid West region of Western Australia The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east o ...

, located 620 km north-east 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 ...

. At the 2016 census, Cue had a population of 178. Cue is administered through the Cue Shire Council, which has its chambers in the historic Gentlemans Club building. The current president is Ross Pigdon. The Cue Parliament is held twice yearly in May and November.

Overview and history

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

was discovered in 1892 though there is uncertainty as to who made the first find. Michael Fitzgerald and Edward Heffernan collected 260 ounces after being given a nugget by an Aboriginal known as "Governor". Tom Cue travelled to Nannine to register their claim. The townsite was gazetted in 1893 and named after Tom Cue. In 1895 the town had 7 ten-head

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operatio ...

s operating around the town; these were the Cue Public Battery, Cue One Proprietary, Kangaroo, Lady Mary Amalgamated, Red, White and Blue, Rose of England, Reward and the Cue Victory. The town's first water supply was a well in the centre of the main street; after an outbreak of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, the well was capped with a rotunda built over the top. The water supply was replaced by another well dug near Lake Nallan; water was carted 20 km south to the townsite. The town of Day Dawn, 8 km south, was established within a year; by 1900 a hospital and cemetery were established between the two towns and they had three newspapers operating. The rivalry between the towns fuelled a diverse sporting culture in the area. Cycling and horse-racing groups held regular events attracting competitors from as far away as Perth and

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. Following heavy rains in 1913 the old Cue Battery Dam broke away from the force of the

water pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and e ...

; the dam had only been repaired a few months earlier. The township had its own dedicated municipality, the Municipality of Cue, from 1894 to 1912, when it amalgamated into the surrounding Cue Road District (now the Shire of Cue).

Railways

Cue was the terminus for the Northern Railway in 1898 until the route was extended to Meekatharra almost ten years later, and was also the junction for the branch line to Big Bell. The line closed in 1978.

Population

By around 1900 Cue was the centre of the Murchison goldfields and boasted a population of about 10,000. As World War I drew men from the goldfields into the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

the townsite of Day Dawn was abandoned. After the war many of the mines did not reopen and this started the decline of Cue as a major population centre. After the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and the fall in the price of gold, by 1933 the population of Cue had dropped to fewer than 500. The current population is around 120; the major employer is Westgold but few employees actually live in the town, accessing a fly in/fly out roster. The Shire of Cue has ten employees and most other residents are self-employed as prospectors or government support workers. Cue was recently heritage listed as a town of significant historical value. The main street has changed little since it was first built. There are several buildings within the townsite that are icons in their own right.

Some heritage places in Cue and Day Dawn

File:Cue Shire Offices.jpg, Cue Shire Offices File:Former Masonic Lodge.jpg, Former Masonic Lodge File:Rotunda and former bank.jpg, Rotunda and former bank File:Day Dawn Great Fingal mine.jpg, Day Dawn Great Fingal mine File:Day Dawn.jpg, Day Dawn mine offices

Climate

Cue has a

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

climate with hot summers and mild to cool winters. The area is prone to the occasional inundation: In 1912 the area was struck by

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, followed by flooding in 1913 when the town received of rain over the course of a day resulting in

washaway A washaway is a particular kind of landslide that can affect man-made structures such as cuttings, embankments and bridges. They are thus a hazard to railways and road traffic. Overview The biggest danger with washaways is that they may be ...

s and other storm damage. In 1925 several buildings in the town collapsed following heavy rain and flood waters. The town received of rain over the course of two days.

References

External links

Cue
{{authority control Mining towns in Western Australia Towns in Western Australia