Walgoolan is a small town located in the eastern Wheatbelt 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 ...

. It is situated between Merredin and Bodallin 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 ...

. Originating as a railway siding on the main eastern railway, Walgoolan was established between 1895 and 1899. Land was set aside for a townsite in 1913 and lots were surveyed in 1922. The townsite was gazetted in 1923. The name of the town is Aboriginal in origin and means ''place where the short bushes grow''. Following World War I, nearly 100

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

s took up land in the area, which were cleared and planted with

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, mostly

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 ...

. The town was a thriving community with five schools, tennis courts, a cricket club,

Country Women's Association The Country Women's Association (CWA) is a women's organisation in Australia, which seeks to advance interests of women, families, and communities in Australia, especially those in rural, regional, and remote areas. It comprises seven indep ...

and Wheat Growers Union. Tenders for the construction of a brick and cement hall in the town were called for in 1926. The hall was opened and being used for recitals and other community events the following year. The Westonia Road board held a referendum among the ratepayers to decide whether £500 of funding should be used to purchase the hall. The proposal was carried by a large majority. 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. In 1932, 30,000 emus migrated to the farm land around Walgoolan nearby, which would go on to start the

Emu War The Emu War (or Great Emu War) was a nuisance wildlife management military operation undertaken in Australia over the later part of 1932 to address public concern over the number of emus, large flightless birds indigenous to Australia, said t ...

, which changed the face of Australian farming, ravaging crops and destroying fences. The

Australian military The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Fo ...

was deployed to fight these emus at the request of the farmers, in an unsuccessful attempt to use machine guns to lower the population of emus. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and a succession of

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s took their toll on the area; by 1940 only one shop was left and the townsite was abandoned soon after. By 2010 only 10 families remain in the district. A gazebo was erected in the town in 2010 to commemorate the early settlers and launch the book ''East of the Fence''; the gazebo contains historic photographs and a list of the names of the pioneers.

References

{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Westonia