Tuckanarra is a small town in the

Shire of Cue The Shire of Cue is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about east-northeast of the port city of Geraldton and about north-northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of g ...

in the Murchison region of Western Australia. The town is located between Cue and Meekatharra along the

Great Northern Highway Great Northern Highway is an Australian highway that links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its northernmost port, Wyndham. With a length of almost , it is the longest highway in Australia, with the majority included as part of the ...

in the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

region of Western Australia.

Gold mining

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

was discovered in the area by two

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

s, Boyle and Moore, in 1897 and was initially known as Boyle's Find. The two prospectors were granted the reward claim. The original townsite was located near Boyd's Hill and the town was known as Boyd's for a while. Eventually the

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

at Cork Tree Flat was deepened and potable water was available so the town also became known as Cork Tree Flat. A state

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

was erected by the government in 1898, which led to the local progress association petitioning for a townsite to be declared. Following some debate on where it was to be situated, lots were surveyed in 1898 and the townsite was gazetted in 1899. The town is named after a nearby hill and the name is Aboriginal in origin and the meaning of the name is thought to be ''camp of the wooden dish''.

Railway

Tuckenarra was a siding on the Northern Railway between Mullewa and Meekatharra. The line closed in 1978.

Energy

In 2010, Hyperion Energy purchased Karbar Station, a large property surrounding the town, proposing to construct a

solar updraft tower The solar updraft tower (SUT) is a design concept for a renewable-energy power plant for generating electricity from low temperature solar heat. Sunshine heats the air beneath a very wide greenhouse-like roofed collector structure surrounding t ...

power generation project. Construction was expected to commence in 2014,Fernandes A
WA to build nation’s first Sun power tower
at Science Network WA, 27 January 2012 and the output is projected to be 200 megawatts.

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Western Australia Shire of Cue