Norseman is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance 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 ...

along the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, 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 ...

and above sea level. It is also the starting point of the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

, and the last major town in

before the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n border to the east. At the 2021 census, Norseman had a population of 562, of whom 17% were Aboriginal.

History

The quest for gold led to the establishment of Norseman, on the traditional land of the Ngadju. Today there are a number of small goldmining operations in the area but only the Central Norseman Gold Corporation can be considered a major producer. Gold was first found in the Norseman area in 1892, about 10 km south of the town, near Dundas. The "Dundas Field" was proclaimed in August 1893 and a townsite gazetted there. In August 1894, Lawrence Sinclair, his brother George Sinclair, and Jack Alsopp discovered a rich gold reef. Sinclair named it after his horse, Hardy Norseman. The family had originally come from the

Shetland Isles Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

in December 1863. Laurie's brother James was working in Esperance as the post and telegraphist master. In January 1895 the mining warden asked the Government to declare a townsite for the 200 or so miners who had arrived. It was gazetted on 22 May. The Aboriginal name for the area is "Jimberlana". A mining entrepreneur from Melbourne, Ernest McCaughan, led a party of 13 by steamship from Melbourne to Esperance to walk inland and discover the central part of the gold field. He later went on to develop substantial mining interests in Western Australia and Tasmania. Norseman initially struggled to develop because of the established town of Dundas but, between 1895 and 1901, a post office, banks, doctor, courthouse, stores and churches were established and, in 1899

Cobb & Co Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century, ...

, mail coaches started delivering mail to Norseman. In 1935, Western Mining Corporation came to Norseman and invested significantly in its infrastructure, resulting in new bitumen roads, electricity and an extension of the

Goldfields Water Supply Scheme The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project that delivers drinking water, potable water from Mundaring Weir in Perth to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie, Western Australia, Coo ...

to the town. The population of the town was 418 (262 males and 156 females) in 1898. Once it was the second-richest goldfield in Western Australia, next to the Golden Mile of

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 ...

. It is claimed that since 1892, over 100 tonnes of gold have been extracted from the area. The Norseman Gold Mine is Australia's longest continuously running gold mining operation. Norseman Gold website, accessed: 30 December 2009 As of 2006, it had been in operation for more than 65 years, producing in excess of 5.5 million ounces of gold in that time.Norseman Gold annual report 2007
accessed: 30 December 2009

Present day

Modern Norseman is a small, sprawling town driven by mining, tourism and dominated by a huge

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

dump. Norseman is located 724 km east of Perth via

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 ...

and Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, and has a population of about 1,000. It contains a district high school (opened 1894), shopping facilities, accommodation (hotel, motel, caravan park), district hospital, council offices and a community resource centre are located within the town. Being at the start of the

, two fuel outlets are available.

Geography

Climate

Norseman experiences a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

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 ...

''BSh'').

References

External links