Collie is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, south of 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 ...

, and inland from the regional city and port of Bunbury. It is near the junction of the

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many type ...

and Harris Rivers, in the middle of dense jarrah forest and the only

coalfield A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...

s in Western Australia. At the 2021 census, Collie had a population of 7,599. Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Collie is mainly known as a coal-producing centre, but also offers industrial, agricultural and aquaculture tourism industries. Muja Power Station is located south-east, Collie Power Station is east, and Bluewaters Power Station is northeast of the town. To its west is the Wellington Dam, a popular location for fishing, swimming and boating.

History

The town is named after the river on which it is situated. James Stirling named the Collie River, which in turn is named after

Alexander Collie Dr Alexander Collie (2 June 1793 – 8 November 1835) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon. Early life Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on ...

. He and William Preston were the first Europeans to explore the area, in 1829. It has been reported that

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

was discovered in the area by a shepherd named George Marsh in the early 1880s. The townsite was surveyed and gazetted in 1897. Coal production began in 1898 when the Brunswick Junction to Narrogin railway line was extended to Collie. Collie was once referred to as a "dirty mining town", but on 8 April 2006 it won the Australian Tidy Towns Competition from finalists from six states and the Northern Territory. Collie was named the top Tidy Town because of the commitment of the community to recycling, waste management, beautification and community projects.

Population

According to the 2021 census, there were 7,599 people in Collie. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.8% of the population. * 81.0% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 3.9% and New Zealand 2.1%. * 89.0% of people spoke only English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 51.5%, Catholic 16.3% and Anglican 12.5%.

Industry and economy

Collie has a significant role in the provision of electricity for Western Australia. The state's two coal mines are in the town, and there are the three

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

s (Muja due to close by 2029, Collie due to close by 2027, and Bluewaters written off in 2020 by owners as zero valued). The

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

will soon commission In 2014 Western Collieries, the Premier Coal mining operation, reported a production capacity of of coal per year for 30 years. The Griffin Coal mine is owned by the Indian company Lanco Infratech.

Education

Collie has five primary schools (Allanson Primary School, Fairview Primary School, Amaroo Primary School, Saint Brigid's Catholic College and Wilson Park Primary School) and one high school, Collie Senior High School.

Tourism and facilities

Tourist attractions at Collie include the Steam Locomotive Museum, Collie Art Gallery, Minninup Pool and Wellington Dam. Parks include Soldier's Memorial Park and natural features include the Collie River. Stockton Lake, Lake Kepwari, Harris River Dam and Wellington Dam are man-made reservoirs and lakes available for leisure and recreation. Sporting facilities include the Roche Park Recreation Centre, Collie Hockey Grounds and the Collie Eagles Oval. Collie also hosts the Collie Motorplex, one of Western Australia's few permanent motorsport venues outside the Perth metropolitan area. The Coalfields Museum and Historical Research Centre provides a glimpse of the history and development of the mining town of Collie.

Geography

Climate

Collie experiences a

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Csb''). The town was lashed with unseasonal

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

s on 12 December 2012 resulting in some flooding in the town. The town received of rain in a 12-hour period; several houses were evacuated.

Sport

Collie Speedway is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

venue on the eastern edge of Collie, on Clifford Street. The venue, which opened in 1971 has hosted important

events, including qualifying rounds of the Speedway World Championship (starting in 1992) and the final of the Western Australian Individual Speedway Championship on two occasions.

Gallery

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Mining towns in Western Australia Coal mining in Western Australia Shire of Collie