Beacon is a town in

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 ...

, in the

Shire of Mount Marshall The Shire of Mount Marshall is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about north-northwest of Merredin and about northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of governmen ...

. It is north of Bencubbin and northeast 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 ...

by road. It is on the northeast border of the Wheatbelt region with

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

being one of the major occupations in the area. The surrounding areas produce

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and other

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

crops. The town is a receival site for

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled ...

History

The first European to explore the area was

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

in 1836.

Shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

s were known to frequent the area in the 1870s to feed on the open grasslands, they were followed by

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 ...

cutters in the 1880s. In 1889 the surveyor H King explored and charted the region and shortly afterward land was opened up for agriculture around Bencubbin. More surveyors went to work in 1921 making blocks and the earliest settlers in Beacon acquired farmland in 1922. The town is named after a local geographical feature called Beacon Rock, the name of the town, in 1929, was supposed to be Beacon Rock. The rock part of the name was dropped some time later and the townsite of Beacon was gazetted in 1931. Beacon was connected to the narrow gauge railway system on 27 April 1931 through the Burakin to Bonnie Rock railway line. In 1932 the Wheat Pool of Western Australia announced that the town would have two

grain elevators A grain elevator or grain terminal 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 lowe ...

, each fitted with an engine, installed at the railway siding.

References

External links

Local tourism site

Beacon site
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Grain receival points of Western Australia