Meckering is a town 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 i ...

, Western Australia along the

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link ...

. Meckering is located within the

Shire of Cunderdin The Shire of Cunderdin is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about west of Merredin and about east of Perth, the state capital. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Cu ...

. A railway line was completed in the area in 1895 and Meckering was selected as a station site. The first name chosen for the townsite was Beebering, the Aboriginal name for the hills just north of the town. The townsite of Beebering was gazetted in 1895. The name of the town was changed to Meckering in 1897 to agree with the station name and the name for the town that was used locally. Meckering is an Aboriginal word thought to mean "moon on the water" or "good hunting". In early 1898 the population of the town was 225, 150 males and 75 females. In 1932 the

Wheat Pool of Western Australia Cooperative Wheat Pool of Western Australia, commonly known as the Wheat Pool of Western Australia, is a cooperative of wheat growers in Western Australia. The cooperative was formed in 1922 and one of the inaugural trustees was Charles Walter Harp ...

announced that the town would have two

grain elevators A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

, each fitted with an engine, installed at the railway siding. The surrounding areas produce

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and other cereal crops. The town is a receival site for

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a ...

Earthquake

The town was struck by an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

on Monday 14 October 1968. The earthquake occurred at , with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). Total damage amounted to $2.2 million with 20–28 injured.

Transport

Road freight

Meckering is a main stopping point for freight trucks on the way to the eastern states.

Passenger rail service

The ''

MerredinLink The ''MerredinLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between Perth and Merredin. History The ''MerredinLink'' was introduced in June 2004 when the ''AvonLink'' from Perth was extended from Northam ...

'' service runs between

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and Merredin thrice weekly, terminating at Meckering. The ''

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 ...

'' service between East Perth and Kalgoorlie stops at Meckering most days.

References

External links

History of earthquakes in Western Australia

Meckering earthquake
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Grain receival points of Western Australia