Elleker is a small town in the Great Southern 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 west of the regional city of Albany. It is situated along the Lower Denmark Road; the main tourist route from Albany to Denmark. The town was planned by the Western Australian Land Company, who built the Great Southern Railway in 1886–1889. It was originally known as Lakeside, due to its proximity to Lake Powell, but did not develop initially. The Government purchased the railway in 1896, redesigned the town and gazetted it as Lakeside in 1899. The town emerged as a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

between the Torbay line, which served timber sawmills in the area, and the Great Southern railway, and it was renamed Torbay Junction in 1908. In 1921, it was renamed Elleker on the recommendation of a former member of the

Albany Road Board Albany, derived from the Gaelic for Scotland, most commonly refers to: *Albany, New York, the capital of the State of New York and largest city of this name *Albany, Western Australia, port city in the Great Southern Albany may also refer to: ...

who lived in the area, after

Ellerker Ellerker is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Hull city centre and east of the market town of Howden. It lies south of the A63 road junction with the A1034 road. Accor ...

in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

. The reasons for the omission of the first "r" are not known. The townsite includes several houses, a general store, oval, town hall, railway siding as mentioned and a telephone booth. Its close proximity to Mutton Bird Beach and the Elleker-Grasmere Road see the townsite experience tourism fluctuations over the summer months. The townsite is noted for the presence of the house used as the Leonard family home in the Nine Network TV show ''

Lockie Leonard Lockie Leonard is a fictional character and the protagonist of a trilogy of young adult novels by Australian by the author Tim Winton. Character Lockie Leonard is a 12-year-old who moves to Angelus, a fictional, small coastal town in the so ...

'' (2007–2010), based on the book series by Tim Winton.

References

Towns in Western Australia Great Southern (Western Australia) {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub