Yalgoo is a town in the

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

region, north-north-east of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia and east-north-east of Mullewa. Yalgoo is in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of the

Shire of Yalgoo The Shire of Yalgoo is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about north of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Yalgoo. History The original Yalgoo ...

. Before it was settled as a town the Yalgoo area was used as grazing land for European settlers including the Morrissey and Broad families. Flocks of

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

were herded onto the rich pastures during the wet growing season and driven back to coastal properties for

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

before summer. Over time the graziers saw the value in the Yalgoo land and began to establish the first

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

History

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 in the early 1890s, and by 1895 there were 120 men working the diggings and buildings being erected. The goldfield warden asked for a townsite to be surveyed and gazetted, and following survey the townsite of Yalgu was gazetted in January 1896. It was once the location of an important railway station (opened in 1896) on the Northern Railway. Yalgoo's importance declined in the years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

after the forging of an all-weather road between Wubin and Paynes Find, across Lake Moore. Convent of St Hyacinth,Yalgoo, Mgr Hawes 1922 side view

In early 1898 the population of the town was 650, 500 males and 150 females. Convent of St Hyacinth,Yalgoo, Mgr Hawes 1922 front view

In 1921-22 the priest-architect and parish priest of Yalgoo (as well as of Mullewa),

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

John Hawes John Cyril Hawes (7 September 1876 – 26 June 1956) was an architect and priest. Hawes was known for designing and constructing church buildings in England, Western Australia and The Bahamas. He served as a priest in the Church of England befo ...

, designed and built the Dominican convent school and chapel of St Hyacinth: Yalgoo children attended the school until it was closed for lack of pupils in 1950. The timber-framed school building was dismantled and removed. The derelict chapel was restored and re-opened in 1981. Erection of 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 ...

commenced in July 1931 and was completed in October of the same year.

Etymology

Yalgoo is an Aboriginal name first recorded for Yalgoo Peak by the surveyor

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...

in 1876. The name is said to mean "blood" or "place of blood", derived from the word "Yalguru". An alternative view is that it is derived from the Yalguru bush, which abounds in the area and has blood red

sap Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

. The spelling Yalgu was used because of spelling rules for Aboriginal names adopted by the Lands & Surveys Department (the letter "u" best representing the "oo" sound). Within a month the Department of Lands and Surveys had decided reluctantly to use the original Yalgoo spelling, and this spelling has been used ever since. Some doubt about the spelling being officially changed resulted in an amendment from Yalgu to Yalgoo being gazetted in 1938.

Climate

Yalgoo 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 ...

(''BWk'' in the

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 ...

) with hot summers and mild winters.

Use of name

The name Yalgoo is also used as a name for a

crater Crater may refer to: Landforms *Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet *Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surfac ...

on the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, without specifically commemorating the town.Categories for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature,

USGS Astrogeology Science Center The Astrogeology Science Center is the entity within the United States Geological Survey concerned with the study of planetary geology and planetary cartography. It is housed in the Shoemaker Building in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Center was establ ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

History

Etymology

Climate

Use of name

See also

References

Further reading