Nanutarra is a locality in Western Australia adjacent to where the
Ashburton river is crossed by the
North West Coastal Highway
North West Coastal Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the coastal city of Geraldton with the town of Port Hedland. The road, constructed as a sealed two-lane single carriageway, travels through remote and ...
. It is also close to the turn-off for State Route 136 to
Paraburdoo and
Tom Price. It is south of the
Onslow turn-off in the
Cane River conservation park where it is on either side of the highway.
Etymology
The name is related to the locality, the pastoral lease
Nanutarra Station
Nanutarra Station, commonly referred to as Nanutarra, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station, and previously operated as a sheep station, in Western Australia.
Description
It is situated about south of Onslow and south east ...
, the bridge over the Ashburton river, the mine and the roadhouse.
Due to its isolation from other localities, it is a reference point to issues along the North West Coastal Highway from some distance in either direction.
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/11/3090874.htm in relation to a road accident December 2010]
Geography
To the south, the nearest significant stopping place, away, is
Minilya: to the north the
Fortescue River
The Fortescue River is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is the third longest river in the state.
Course
The river rises near Deadman Hill in the Ophthalmia Range about 30 km south of Newman. The river fl ...
roadhouse is distant.
Climate
Nanutarra has a
hot arid 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''BWh'') with sweltering summers, very warm winters and extremely erratic rainfall.
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
s can smash into the town and may produce more than the average annual rainfall in a single storm; but in the absence of cyclones or winter cloudbands long periods may pass without any rainfall at all. For instance, only of rain fell in all of 1919, but as much as fell on 18 February 1921 alone and as much as in March 2000.
See also
*
List of roadhouses in Western Australia
Western Australia has extensive long-distance highways with few localities along them. Privately owned general stores known as roadhouses have been established at strategic points as an important utility for petrol, food, accommodation, emerg ...
References
{{coord, -22.54362, 115.50175, format=dms, display=title
Shire of Ashburton
Roadhouses in Western Australia