Spencers Brook (or Spencer's Brook) is a waterway, locality and a district located within the Avon Valley in

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 ...

. The locality is sited between the towns of Northam and

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 ...

, about east 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 ...

. It is a part of the Central Ward administered by the Shire of Northam. Spencers Brook can be accessed from Clackline to the west or Northam to the north, via Spencers Brook Rd, or from York to the south via Spencers Brook-York Rd. At the , Spencers Brook had a population of 195. Spencers Brook, as a locality, was originally named Brookton by the landowner, Thomas Wilding, who built the historical Brookton Hotel in 1884 (renamed Spencers Brook Hotel in 1920) and which continues to trade to this day as Spencers Brook Tavern; it also features nearby the Muresk Institute,

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. ...

's school of agribusiness, applied biosciences and environmental biology. The closest commercial centre is Northam, located approximately 15 kilometres north of Spencers Brook.

Railway junction

It was an important rail junction, being the point at which trains from Perth diverted south to the Great Southern Railway (Beverley to Albany) or east to the

Eastern Goldfields Railway The Eastern Goldfields Railway, was built in the 1890s by the Western Australian Government Railways to connect Perth with the Eastern Goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. It is a part of the interstate standard gauge railway between Per ...

(Northam to Kalgoorlie). Spencers Brook railway station originally opened in 1885 with the completion of the Perth line to York, with a spur line from Spencers Brook to Northam completed the following year in 1886. It was operating as a railway stopping place at 50 miles 44 chains (81.35 km) from

until 1966, incorporating a railway yard, refreshment tearooms and a watering tank tower. With the 1966 official closing of the line from Spencers Brook through to Midland, a remnant of the railway nevertheless remained open until 1981 servicing iron ore trains via Northam and Spencers Brook to an iron and steel foundry located at

Wundowie Wundowie is a town in Western Australia located between Perth and Northam in the Darling Range. It was the location of an iron works, and siding and stopping place on the Eastern Railway. It was named in 1907 and was a siding on the Chidlow ...

. After 1981, all associated rail infrastructure was removed and nothing remains today of the Spencers Brook junction/station except for the former Stationmasters residence and remnant concrete foundations for the locomotive turntable. However, the Great Southern Railway does still arc through the Spencers Brook locality between the towns of Northam and York.

Military History

During World War II Spencers Brook was the location of the Australian Army 7th Supply Depot (7SD), operated by 8 Supply Personnel Company, which stored material such as clothing, medical supplies and food etc. for storage and distribution. The depot was serviced by a spur line from the then Eastern Railway and remains of the depot can be seen on the right travelling toward the railway crossing on Spencers Brook Road from the Tavern.

References

External links

Muresk Institute
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Northam