Wyalkatchem, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Wyalkatchem


caption =
lga = Shire of Wyalkatchem
est = 1910s
postcode = 6485
pop = 369
dist1 = 192 | dir1 = NE | location1 = Perth
dist2 = 35 | dir2 = E | location2 = Dowerin
fedgov = O'Connor
stategov = Central Wheatbelt
state = wacoord|-31.177|117.383|type:city(344)_region:AU-WA_scale:50000|format=dms|display=title

Wyalkatchem townsite is located in the central agricultural region, convert|192|km|mi|0 east north east of Perth and convert|35|km|mi|0 east of Dowerin. When the extension of the railway east from Dowerin was planned in 1908 land was set aside for a future townsite in the area of Wyalcatchem Tank. The route of the railway and site for a station was not fixed until 1910, and action followed to then fix the position of the townsite and survey town lots. Following the survey of the lots the townsite was gazetted spelt Wyalkatchem in 1911.

When the railway from Dowerin opened in February 1911, Wyalkatchem was a minor siding only, but its importance grew when it was selected as the turnout point for a branch line leading north and then east to the Mount Marshall district. Thus a small village quickly blossomed on the town site. The branch line to Bencubbin opened on 1 February, 1915 and the line from Dowerin was extended to Merredin in August, 1911 ["All Change at Wyalkatchem" Milne, Rod Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, July, 1991 pp155-162] .

Wyalkatchem is an Aboriginal name first recorded for a waterhole spelt Walkatching in the 1870s. The spelling Walcatching was used in 1881 when the Toodyay Road Board referred to a tank to be built there, and when the road from Northam to the Yilgarn Goldfield was surveyed in 1892 the spelling Wyalcatchem was used for the tank. The Walkatching spelling is probably the most accurate, as Aboriginal names in this region rarely end in em. The change of spelling from Wyalcatchem to Wyalkatchem in 1911 was done by the Department of Lands & Surveys according to rules the Department had adopted for spelling Aboriginal names. The meaning of the name is not known.LandInfo WA|c|W|2007-03-25]

References