Brookton is a 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 ...

, from the state capital,

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 ...

via the Brookton Highway where it crosses the

Great Southern Highway Great Southern Highway is a highway in the southern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, starting from Great Eastern Highway at The Lakes, from Perth, and ending at Albany Highway near Cranbrook. It is the primary thoroughfare for this ...

. The town is on the Great Southern railway line. It is within, and is the seat of government for, the Shire of Brookton. At the 2016 census, Brookton had a population of 975.

History

The first settler and founder of the Brookton district, John Seabrook (1818–1891), moved to the area in 1846 soon after marrying, and named his property "Brookton House". He remained the only European in the area, aside from itinerant

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, until his stepson, Robinson, took up adjacent land in 1864. During the 1860s and 1870s, more settlers moved into the area, and took on

cuttingit sold for as well as wheat and sheep farming. In June 1889, when the Great Southern Railway opened, Brookton was one of the original stations. The station proved to be the catalyst that created a centre for the isolated farms, and the government gazetted a townsite here in 1895 and named it "Seabrook" but local acceptance of the station name and confusion with another Seabrook near

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

resulted in the townsite's name being changed to Brookton in 1899. The townsite attracted a few businesses and by 1903, the tiny settlement comprised a school, hotel, bank and a few shops. The Old Police Station Museum located in the town is the base of the local historical society and contains artifacts and memorabilia of the early settlement days. A bulk wheat bin was opened in December 1940 and began receiving large amounts of grain immediately. In 1941 the

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 ...

harvest of the surrounding area was about all delivered to the local bulk wheat bin. This was about bushels down from the previous year.

Present day

Brookton is located on

, east of Perth via Brookton Highway and is a key agricultural centre for a rich mixed farming district. In the 2016 census it reported a population of 975. It contains a

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

centre, and in addition, a district high school (opened 1960, replacing a primary school),

Bendigo Bank Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (trading as Bendigo Bank), is an Australian financial institution, operating primarily in retail banking. The company was formed by the merger of Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank in November 2007. Prior to the merger, ...

, shopping facilities, accommodation (hotel, motel, caravan park), council offices and a

telecentre A telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others while they develop essential digital skills. Telecent ...

are located within the town. Bi-annually, it hosts the Old Time Motor Show. The town is a stop on the

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport between Perth and the ...

bus service to Albany.GS2 timetable
(1 August 2016). Retrieved on 14 June 2018.

Climate

References

External links

Shire of Brookton
{{Authority control Towns in Western Australia Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Grain receival points of Western Australia