Gascoyne Junction is a small town in the

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of ...

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 ...

, inland from Carnarvon on the junction of the

Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne (Western Australia), Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draini ...

and Lyons River. At the 2006 census, Gascoyne Junction had a population of 149.

History

The town is named for its position at the junction of the Gascoyne and Lyons Rivers. The Gascoyne River was named by the explorer Lieutenant

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

in 1839 after his friend, Captain J. Gascoyne (RN). A police station was built in about 1897, and settlers asked the Government to declare a townsite. By 1909, a general store and other buildings had been erected on private land, and in 1912, the Government finally acceded to the request, naming the town "Killili" after a local Aboriginal word meaning "bullrush" following the Surveyor General's request for a "euphonious native name". For many years, the police station, road board (1912) and hotel were the only buildings in the area, and in 1938, the Roads Board complained about the name, saying that "Gascoyne Junction" and "The Junction" were the names in common use, and asking the Lands Department to "expunge" the name of Killili. The name was changed and gazetted in 1939. The local road board office, now a heritage-listed site, was used as a meeting place for local associations, and later as the first school in the area (1960–1965) and, since the late 1990s, as a museum. The town's population has been stable since the 1950s.

Present day

Gascoyne Junction is now a centre for mining, pastoral and desert

merino The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

fine wool industries, and serves as a gateway to nearby attractions such as

Mount Augustus National Park Mount Augustus National Park is located 852 km north of Perth, 490 km by road east of Carnarvon and 390 km northwest of Meekatharra, in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Mount Augustus itself, the feature around which th ...

and Kennedy Range National Park. The town contains the Shire of Upper Gascoyne Council Office, the Junction Pub and Tourist Park, Gascoyne Junction Community Resource Centre & Visitor Information Centre. The Community Resource Centre is an agency for

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...

, the Western Australia Department of Transport,

Services Australia Services Australia, formerly the Department of Human Services and before that the Department of Social Security, is an executive agency of the Australian Government, responsible for delivering a range of welfare payments, health insurance pay ...

and local library. The Junction Pub & Tourist Park provides a variety of accommodation, a pub and roadhouse with both diesel and unleaded fuel. Picnic and playground facilities with BBQ are available in Federation Park surrounding the Town Pavilion. In late 2021 a Visitor Stop It was reported to be the least religious place in Australia, with 66.5 per cent of the population stating that they had no religion in the 2016 Census.

Transport and utilities

Power is supplied by Horizon Power, who run a diesel power station in the town. The town supplies its own water from bores, which is treated by the Water Corporation. The Carnarvon–Mullewa Road, which passes through the town, is sealed between Carnarvon and Gascoyne Junction; a ceremony to mark the reconstruction of the last section was held on 20 May 2011.

services the region with private contractors, who also deliver petroleum and cargo.

Education

A new Remote Community School was opened in 2005 for kindergarten through year 12, with high school and some

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 ...

classes being provided through the

School of Isolated and Distance Education The School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) is the main centre for Kindergarten to Year 12 distance education and online learning within the Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is boun ...

. It replaces an earlier school going back to 1960, and its students have historically used the Carnarvon

School of the Air School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia where some or all classes were historically conducted by radio, although this is ...

program. Many of the students are of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

origin. The nearest TAFE facility is in Carnarvon, and the nearest university courses are offered at Carnarvon High School through

Open Universities Australia Open Universities Australia (OUA) is an online higher education organisation based in Australia. The organisation was previously known as the Open Learning Agency of Australia. The chairman is Professor Bruce S. Dowton and the chief executive o ...

, and through Pilbara TAFE in Karratha and

Port Hedland A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inla ...

, which offer some

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

courses through the Centre for Regional Education.

2010 floods

Evacuation was required due to the

floods of late December 2010. This significant flood event saw the destruction of the town's original pub The Junction Hotel. It was originally constructed in 1906 as the general store.

Climate

Gascoyne Junction has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

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 ...

: BWh), with very hot summers and mild winters. It holds the Australian record for the hottest Christmas day of , set in 1997.

References

External links

Gascoyne Junction
(WA Tourism)
Gascoyne Junction - Climate
(Bureau of Meteorology) {{Towns Gascoyne WA Towns in Western Australia Shire of Upper Gascoyne