Leeman is a small coastal town in the

Shire of Coorow The Shire of Coorow is a local government area located in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about north of Perth, the state capital, and about south of the city of Geraldton. The Shire covers an area of and its seat of governmen ...

in Western Australia. Land was first

surveyed Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Two-dimensional space#In geometry, two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of ...

and sub-divided in 1961 and the townsite was

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...

d in 1961 as Snag Island, a name that is still in common use. Snag Island is a rocky island a small distance off-shore from the town. The town was named after Abraham Leeman van Santwits, a Dutch sailor. He was second officer on the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

ship ' (''Gilt Dragon'') which was wrecked in April 1656 just south of

Ledge Point Ledge or Ledges may refer to: * Ridge, a geological feature * Reef, an underwater feature * Stratum, a layer of rock * A narrow, flat area with cliff faces or steep slopes both below and above, a one sided cut into a cliff or mountain side * Sla ...

, north of what is now

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 ...

. Leeman was sent with a party of seven by captain Pieter Albertszoon to Batavia (now

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

) for help; they arrived there in June 1656. In 1658 Leeman returned as first officer on board ''Waeckende Boei'' in search of the wreckage. He was in charge of the shore party that was abandoned when a storm blew in. Leeman and his crew then took a six-month open boat voyage to Batavia via

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. In 1971 the Western Australian Education department opened the Leeman Primary School, and the town adopted the new name. The actress

Mandy McElhinney Mandy McElhinney (born ) is an Australian actress best known for playing Rhonda in AAMI insurance advertisements. She appeared on the sketch comedy television series, '' Comedy Inc.'', from 2003 to 2006. She appeared as Gina Rinehart in the tel ...

grew up in a

caravan park Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

in Leeman. There is a Leeman Football Club.

References

External links

*
Leeman Primary School
{{authority control Coastal towns in Western Australia Populated places established in 1961 Shire of Coorow