Meckering is a town east 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 ...

, Western Australia along the

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt and the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfie ...

. Meckering is located within the Shire of Cunderdin. A railway line was completed in the area in 1895 and Meckering was selected as a station site. The first name chosen for the townsite was Beebering, the Aboriginal name for the hills just north of the town. The townsite of Beebering was gazetted in 1895. The name of the town was changed to Meckering in 1897 to agree with the station name and the name for the town that was used locally. Meckering is an Aboriginal word thought to mean "moon on the water" or "good hunting". In early 1898 the population of the town was 225, 150 males and 75 females. 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. 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 ...

Earthquake

The town was struck by an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

on Monday 14 October 1968. The earthquake occurred at , with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). Total damage amounted to $2.2 million with 20–28 injured.

Transport

Road freight

Meckering is a main stopping point for freight trucks on the way to the eastern states.

Passenger rail service

The ''

MerredinLink The ''MerredinLink'' is a rural passenger train service in Western Australia operated by Transwa between East Perth railway station, East Perth and Merredin railway station, Merredin. History The ''MerredinLink'' was introduced in June 2004 w ...

'' service runs between

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and Merredin thrice weekly, terminating at Meckering. The ''

Prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

'' service between East Perth and

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

stops at Meckering most days.

Photography museum

Meckering is home to "The Big Camera"so named because the building resembles a cameraa museum of photography with a collection of over 4000 cameras. The collection includes items from the late 1800s up to modern cameras, as well as related items such as projectors and light meters.

References

External links

History of earthquakes in Western Australia

Meckering earthquake
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Grain receival points of Western Australia