Badgingarra is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, about north of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in the Shire of Dandaragan. It lies on the Brand Highway adjacent to the Badgingarra National Park.

History

The town was gazetted in 1955 and takes its name from nearby Badgingarra Pool. "Badgingarra" is a

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

word said to mean "water by the manna gums". The district was originally surveyed in the 1880s; however, due to the widespread presence of poisonous plants in the area and non-conducive soil types, the land was not developed for agriculture. Little settlement occurred until the 1950s, when the use of

trace element __NOTOC__ A trace element is a chemical element of a minute quantity, a trace amount, especially used in referring to a micronutrient, but is also used to refer to minor elements in the composition of a rock, or other chemical substance. In nutr ...

s such as

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

in fertilisers allowed for farming to occur on the sandy soils around Badgingarra. In 1955, sufficient population growth had occurred for the gazettal of a townsite to support the settlers. In 1959, the state government established the Badgingarra Research Station, to assist farmers in the development of their enterprises. In 1965, a primary school was established, initially operated in the community hall before a new school was built and opened in 1968.

Commercial area

Today, Badgingarra contains a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, roadhouse and other businesses. It has several recreational facilities at its Community Centre, including tennis courts, a bowling green, a football

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

, a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

, parks and playgrounds. The planned development of the Brand Highway west of the Badgingarra townsite spurred the people of Badgingarra to resolve to shift the townsite so as to lie on that highway.

Natural disasters

A large

bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

swept through the area in 2010, devastating 19 farms and over of farm land. At least 1,700 head of cattle were lost along with sheep, crops, a

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods. Sanda ...

plantation and fences. The town was lashed by storms in 2012, receiving of rain in less than an hour, accompanied by driving winds and a large amount of hail, which destroyed crops.

History

Commercial area

Natural disasters

Climate

Notes

References

External links