Beacon, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Beacon
state = wa


caption =
lga = Shire of Mount Marshall
postcode = 6472
est = 1931
pop = 184 (2006 Census) [Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC53136|name=Beacon (State Suburb)|quick=on|accessdate=2008-09-20]
elevation= 373
stategov = Central Wheatbelt
fedgov = O'Connor
dist1 = 333
dir1 = North East
location1= Perth
dist2 = 42
dir2 = North
location2= Bencubbin
dist3 = 55
dir3 = North East
location3= Koordacoord|-30.448|117.866|type:city(100)_region:AU-WA_scale:50000|format=dms|display=title

Beacon is a town in Western Australia, in the Shire of Mount Marshall. It is located 42 km north of Bencubbin and 333 km northeast of Perth.

It is on the northeast border of the Wheatbelt region with agriculture being one of the major occupations in the area.

History

The first European to explore the area was John Septimus Roe in 1836.

Shepherds were known to frequent the area in the 1870s to feed on the open grasslands, they were followed by sandalwood cutters in the 1880s.

In 1889 the surveyer H King explored and charted the region and shortly afterward land was opened up for agriculture aroung Bencubbin.

More surveyers went to work in 1921 making convert|1000|acre|ha|0 blocks and the earliest settlers in Beacon acquired farmland in 1922. [cite web|url=http://www.beaconwa.com.au/about/about.htm|title=Beacon, Western Australia|year=2008|accessdate=2008-09-20]

The town is named after a local geographical feature called Beacon Rock, the name of the town, in 1929, was supposed to be Beacon Rock. The rock part of the name was dropped some time later and the townsite of Beacon was gazetted in 1931. [LandInfo WA|c|B|2008-09-20]

Beacon was connected to the narrow gauge railway system on 27 April, 1931. ["Rails through the Wodjil" Milne, Rod Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January, 1999 pp3-9]

References

External links

* [http://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/en/Wheatbelt/Towns/Beacon/Beacon.htm Local tourism site]
* [http://www.beaconwa.com.au Beacon site]