The Murchison is an interim Australian bioregion located within the Mid West of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

. The bioregion is loosely related to the catchment area of the Murchison River and has an area of . Traditionally the region is known as ''The Murchison''.

Geography

The landscape is characterised by low hills and mesas, separated by

colluvium Colluvium (also colluvial material or colluvial soil) is a general name for loose, unconsolidated sediments that have been deposited at the base of hillslopes by either rainwash, sheetwash, slow continuous downslope creep, or a variable combinati ...

flats and alluvial plains. The western portion of the bioregion is drained by the upper Murchison and Wooramel rivers, which drain westwards towards the coast.Anthony Desmond, Mark Cowan and Alanna Chant (2001). "Murchison 2 (MUR2 – Western Murchison subregion)", in ''A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002''. The Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001

/ref> Together with Gascoyne bioregion, it constitutes the Western Australian mulga shrublands ecoregion. Population is scattered; the largest population centres are Meekatharra,

Mount Magnet Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, and Leonora, with smaller mining and pastoral towns at Yalgoo,

Sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

, Cue, Wiluna, and

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

Subregions

The Murchison bioregion has two subregions: * Eastern Murchison (MUR01) – * Western Murchison (MUR02) –

Political boundaries

Local government areas within the bioregion include 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 ...

, the

Shire of Mount Magnet The Shire of Mount Magnet is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about north-northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Mount Magnet. The Shi ...

, the Shire of Murchison, 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 ...

, the

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

, the Shire of Meekatharra, the Shire of Wiluna and the

Shire of Leonora The Shire of Leonora is a local government area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, about north of the city of Kalgoorlie and about northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of gove ...

Climate

The climate is arid, with rainfall predominantly in the winter months.

Flora and fauna

The predominant plant community is low mulga woodlands and shrublands, characterized by mulga (''Acacia aneura''), with an understory of herbaceous ephemeral plants and bunchgrasses. Other plant communities include saltbush (''

Atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and ...

'' spp.) shrubland on calcareous soils, low samphire (''

Tecticornia ''Tecticornia'' is a genus of succulent, salt tolerant plants largely endemic to Australia. Taxa in the genus are commonly referred to as samphires. In 2007, the genus ''Halosarcia'', along with three other Australian genera (''Pachycornia'', ...

'' spp.) shrubland on saline alluvium, and hummock grassland on red sandplains.

Land use

The Murchison is one of the main pastoral areas in Western Australia, dominated by large

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Australia Pastoral lease ...

s on

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

operated as sheep and cattle stations. Mining (gold, iron and nickel) is the major contributor to the region’s economy. There are extensive mining areas, with a large number of abandoned historical mining towns and settlements. The

Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the ...

radio telescope is located nearby, and was officially opened in October 2012."Outback Observatory open for business", ABC News, retrieved 7 October 2012 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-05/outback-observatory-open-for-business/4298094

Protected areas

Purchase of pastoral leases by the Western Australian Government increased the area set aside for conservation purposes from about 0.5% of the bioregion in 1998 to 6.7% in 2004. Protected areas include:Mark Cowan (2001). "Murchison 1 (MUR2 – Eastern Murchison subregion)", in ''A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002''. The Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001

/ref> * Bullock Holes Timber Reserve * De La Poer Range Nature Reserve * Goongarrie National Park * Matuwa and Kurrara-Kurrara Indigenous Protected Area * Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve * Toolonga Nature Reserve * Wanjarri Nature Reserve

References

External links

Geological mapping of the region
{{coord missing, Western Australia Mid West (Western Australia) IBRA regions Western Australian mulga shrublands