Pithara is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It is located about 240 km north of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, in the

Shire of Dalwallinu The Shire of Dalwallinu is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about Wikt:north-northeast, NNE of Perth, the state capital. The Shire covers an a ...

. At the , Pithara had a population of 257, a 25% fall from the previous . The name ''Pithara'' was originally an Aboriginal name for a nearby well, which first appears on maps of the area in 1907. In April 1913 it was approved as the name of a siding on the Wongan Hills to Mullewa railway line, which was under construction at the time. Shortly afterwards the decision was made to rename the siding to ''Hettie'', after the original owner of the land on which the siding was built. In 1914 the government gazetted a townsite at the siding, also naming it ''Hettie'', but this was objected to by locals, and the name ''Pithara'' was reinstated. Pithara primarily serves as a base for the local farming community, and serves large numbers of visitors during the spring when wildflowers bloom in the region. There is also an active speedway club in town and drivers visit from all over Western Australia to compete in a number of meetings during the year.

Shirley Strickland de la Hunty Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE (née Strickland; 18 July 1925 – 11 February 2004), known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports. ...

, Olympic gold medallist in the

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling run by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different sp ...

at the 1948 Games in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and at the 1952 Games in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, grew up on a farm in Pithara. The surrounding areas produce

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and other

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

crops. The town is a receival site for

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled ...

. In 1932 the Wheat Pool of Western Australia installed two engine-driven grain elevators at the Pithara railway siding, marking the transition from manual handling of bagged grain to bulk handling.

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Grain receival points of Western Australia Shire of Dalwallinu