North West Australia

The official regions of Western Australia: the Kimberley is in red, the Pilbara in orange and the Gascoyne is an ochre/burnt sienna colour.

The terms North West Australia, The North West and North Western Australia have been used as a regular label for the region of the North of Western Australia and the West of the Northern Territory.

1897 Map showing offshore features of the North West Region

1910 advertisement for London to the North west region shipping services

Early 20th century gold rush

In the late 1890's and first decade of the 1900's goldfields were explored in the region.

Offshore

The term is also used for offshore oil and gas area of the North West Shelf.

The offshore islands include the groups of islands - Barrow Island, Monte Bello Islands and the Dampier Archipelago

Variations of boundary

There are some variations

• north of latitude 26° south — a definition widely used in law and State government policy ^[1]
• the official Kimberley, Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of Western Australia, or two or more of these.
• during the 19th century, the whole area north of the Murchison River was referred to as the North District, and during the 1860s it was officially administered by a Government Resident, Robert John Sholl, based in Roebourne.

• In the 1960s the Department of Industrial Development defined it as:-

The region is bounded in the west by the Indian Ocean, in the east by the Central Division, in the north-east by the Pilbara, and in the south by the Northern Agricultural Division. It covers and area of 75,731 square miles (196,140 km²) and has a population of about 10,000

^[2]

A map showing the location of the Murchison River.

It has been proposed by Australian Federal MP Bob Katter, that the region, together with the Northern Territory, should form the future state of North-Western Australia.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ The North West of Western Australia 1963 edition - issued by the Western Australian Government Tourist Bureau, Perth - pages 12 and 13 - 26th Parallel as boundary, however on page 13, separates into sub-areas - Gascoyne, De Grey and Fortescue, Kimberley, and the 'dry interior'
2. ^ Pamphlet titled The North Westproduced by the Department of Industrial Development with no publication date or details.
3. ^ Broome should be part of Northern Territory, independent MP Bob Katter says The Australian, published: 27 August 2010, retrieved: 27 August 2010

Further reading

• Kerr, Alex, (1975) Australia's north-west Nedlands, W.A. University of Western Australia Press New rev. ed. ISBN 0855641126

See also

• Southwest, Western Australia
• Regions of Western Australia
• Northern Australia
• Central Australia
• Southern Australia