Drummond Cove is a coastal town located north of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

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 ...

in the

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of the

City of Greater Geraldton The City of Greater Geraldton is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth on the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Geraldton. It was e ...

. The locality was

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in 1985.

History

The area at Drummond Cove was home to Aboriginal people and is part of the

Yamatji Yamatji (or Yamaji) is a Wajarri word that has at least three different meanings: * a member of the Watjarri people * any Aboriginal Australian person from the Murchison region of Western Australia * any group made up of members of different I ...

Country of Western Australia. The bay was initially known as Smugglers Cove due to its use for the illegal export of

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 ...

, shipped from there to evade the Government royalty of £1/10/0 per ton. In 1851

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

, Resident Magistrate at Champion Bay (Geraldton), promoted Drummond Cove as a port because of the availability of water, access to inland towns and stable foreshore. However the shallow cove was rocky and unsuitable for shipping, and Geraldton was chosen as the main settlement. Also in 1851, John Nicol Drummond, who was First Constable of Native Police of Western Australia in the Champion Bay area, acquired land next to the police reserve in the area. Over the next few years, he acquired additional adjoining land. On 19 February 1852 he married Mary Shaw of Belvoir, Upper Swan and subsequently built a stone and thatch cottage where they lived for a number of years. The bay was renamed Drummond's Cove. In the 1930s, Macedonian families moved into the area and established tomato gardens along the side of Chapman Road In the early 1940s,

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fishermen began arriving for the fishing season. They built shacks overlooking the cove. In 1950, the Upper Chapman Road Board resumed 30 acres of land surrounding the cove from White Peak Station, as a beach camping site. The board created 24 cottage blocks along the beachfront. The blocks were leased and by 1964, when the

Shire of Greenough The Shire of Greenough was a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth surrounding the city of Geraldton. The Shire covered an area of , and its seat of government was the outer Gerald ...

acquired the land a small community had been established. Leases were extended from 3 years, to 10 years, to 21 years, promoting further development. Eventually, most leaseholders were granted

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

title to the land. In 2016, all land between Whitehill Road and the shore reverted to the Crown as "foreshore reserve" and all houses there were demolished or moved.

Demographics

In the , Drummond Cove had a population of 1477, 270% of the population of the Drummond Cove UCL in the 2001 census. In 2016 Drummond Cove residents had a median age of 34 and a median weekly income of A$849 (compared with the Western Australian median of A$724 per week). The population of Drummond Cove was predominantly Australian-born - 79.5% well above the state figure of 60.3%. 3.7% were born in England. 1.4% reported one or more parents of

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birth.

References

{{Towns Mid West WA Suburbs of Geraldton Coastal towns in Western Australia