Gascoyne Junction, Western Australia
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Gascoyne Junction is a small town in the
Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
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 ...
, inland from Carnarvon on the junction of the
Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...
and Lyons River. At the 2006 census, Gascoyne Junction had a population of 149.


History

The town is named for its position at the junction of the Gascoyne and Lyons Rivers. The Gascoyne River was named by the explorer Lieutenant
George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...
in 1839 after his friend, Captain J. Gascoyne (RN). A police station was built in about 1897, and settlers asked the Government to declare a townsite. By 1909, a general store and other buildings had been erected on private land, and in 1912, the Government finally acceded to the request, naming the town "Killili" after a local Aboriginal word meaning "bullrush" following the Surveyor General's request for a "euphonious native name". For many years, the police station, road board (1912) and hotel were the only buildings in the area, and in 1938, the Roads Board complained about the name, saying that "Gascoyne Junction" and "The Junction" were the names in common use, and asking the Lands Department to "expunge" the name of Killili. The name was changed and gazetted in 1939. The local road board office, now a heritage-listed site, was used as a meeting place for local associations, and later as the first school in the area (1960–1965) and, since the late 1990s, as a museum. The town's population has been stable since the 1950s.


Present day

Gascoyne Junction is now a centre for mining, pastoral and desert
merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...
fine wool industries, and serves as a gateway to nearby attractions such as
Mount Augustus National Park Mount Augustus National Park is located 852 km north of Perth, 490 km by road east of Carnarvon and 390 km northwest of Meekatharra, in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Mount Augustus itself, the feature around which th ...
and
Kennedy Range National Park Kennedy Range National Park is a national park in Gascoyne region of Western Australia, approximately north of Perth and about east of Carnarvon. Kennedy Range is found on the edge of the Gascoyne River catchment area and is a weathered pla ...
. The town contains the Shire of Upper Gascoyne Council Office, the Junction Pub and Tourist Park, Gascoyne Junction Community Resource Centre & Visitor Information Centre. The Community Resource Centre is an agency for Australia Post, the Western Australia Department of Transport,
Services Australia Services Australia, formerly the Department of Human Services and before that the Department of Social Security, is an executive agency of the Australian Government, responsible for delivering a range of welfare, health, child support payment ...
and local library. The Junction Pub & Tourist Park provides a variety of accommodation, a pub and roadhouse with both diesel and unleaded fuel. Picnic and playground facilities with BBQ are available in Federation Park surrounding the Town Pavilion. In late 2021 a Visitor Stop will be finished welcoming visitors to the town, creating an outdoor museum and amphitheatre. It was reported to be the least religious place in Australia, with 66.5 per cent of the population stating that they had no religion in the 2016 Census.


Transport and utilities

Power is supplied by Horizon Power, who run a diesel power station in the town. The town supplies its own water from bores, which is treated by the Water Corporation. The Carnarvon–Mullewa Road, which passes through the town, is sealed between Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction; a ceremony to mark the reconstruction of the last section was held on 20 May 2011. Australia Post services the region with private contractors, who also deliver petroleum and cargo.


Education

A new Remote Community School was opened in 2005 for kindergarten through year 12, with high school and some TAFE classes being provided through the
School of Isolated and Distance Education The School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) is the main centre for Kindergarten to Year 12 distance education and online learning within the Western Australian Department of Education. It provides education for students who for various ...
. It replaces an earlier school going back to 1960, and its students have historically used the Carnarvon
School of the Air School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is n ...
program. Many of the students are of
Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
origin. The nearest TAFE facility is in Carnarvon, and the nearest university courses are offered at Carnarvon High School through
Open Universities Australia Open Universities Australia (OUA) is an online higher education organisation based in Australia. The organisation was previously known as the Open Learning Agency of Australia. The chairman is Professor Bruce S. Dowton and the chief executive o ...
, and through Pilbara TAFE in Karratha and
Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
, which offer some Curtin University courses through the Centre for Regional Education.


2010 floods

Evacuation was required due to the
Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...
floods of late December 2010. This significant flood event saw the destruction of the town's original pub The Junction Hotel. It was originally constructed in 1906 as the general store.


Climate

Gascoyne Junction has a
hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
: DWH), with very hot summers and mild winters. It holds the Australian record for the hottest Christmas day of , set in 1997.


References


External links


Gascoyne Junction
(WA Tourism)
Gascoyne Junction - Climate
(Bureau of Meteorology) {{Towns Gascoyne WA Towns in Western Australia Shire of Upper Gascoyne