Eucla, Western Australia

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


caption = Road sign
lga = Shire of Dundas
postcode = 6443
pop = 50
est = 1870s (gazetted in 1885)
stategov = Eyre
fedgov = Kalgoorlie
dist1 = 1434
location1= Perth
dist2 = 11
location2= WA-SA border
dist3 = 492
location3= Ceduna
maxtemp = 22.5
mintemp = 12.1
rainfall = 268.6
elevation = 93coord|-31.675|128.883|type:city(100)_region:AU-WA_scale:50000|format=dms|display=title

Eucla is the easternmost locality in Western Australia, located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Eyre Highway, approximately convert|11|km|mi|0 west of the South Australian border.

It is the only location on the Eyre Highway that has a direct view of the Great Australian Bight due to its position immediately next to the Eucla Pass - where the highway moves out and above the "basin" known as Roe Plains that occurs between the Madura and Eucla passes.

History

The name Eucla is believed to originate from an Aboriginal word "Yinculyer" which one source gives as referring to the rising of the planet Venus. It was first used by Europeans for the area at some point before 1867.

In 1841, Edward John Eyre became the first explorer to visit the area. In 1867, the president of the Marine Board of South Australia discovered a port at Eucla, [LandInfo WA|c|E|2007-04-17] and in 1870, John Forrest camped at the location for nearly two weeks. In 1873, land was taken up at Moopina Station near the present townsite, and work commenced on a telegraph line from Albany to Adelaide. Land was set aside at Eucla for the establishment of a manual repeater station, and when the telegraph line opened in 1877, Eucla was one of the most important telegraph stations on the line. The station was important as a conversion point because South Australia and Victoria used American Morse code (locally known as the Victorian alphabet) while Western Australia used the international Morse code that is familiar today. [ [http://members.iinet.net.au/~oseagram/eucla.html The intercolonial telegraph line at Eucla] , accessed 1 April 2007.] A jetty and tram line were constructed for offloading supplies brought in by sea. The town was proclaimed a township and gazetted in 1885, and reached its peak in the 1920s, prior to the construction of a new telegraph line further north alongside the Trans-Australian Railway in 1929. [cite web|url=http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WAEucla.shtml|title=Walkabout - Eucla|author=Walkabout Australia|accessdate=2006-10-17]

In the 1890s a rabbit plague passed through the area and ate much of the Delisser Sandhills' dune vegetation, thus destabilising the dune system and causing large sand drifts to encroach on the townsite. The original town was abandoned, and a new townsite established about 5 km to the east and higher up on the escarpment. The ruins of the telegraph station still stand amongst the dunes, and are a local tourist attraction.

Many of the pioneer farmers and telegraph operators were buried at Eucla, but as the sand dunes encroached onto their graves, some of the headstones and plaques were removed and can now be seen at the museum at Eucla.

In 1971, world-wide media publicity came to the town after reports and photographs emerged of a half-naked blonde girl who had gone wild and lived and ran with the kangaroos, who came to be known as the "Nullarbor Nymph". The story subsequently turned out to be a hoax cooked up by the residents of the tiny settlement. [cite web|url=http://www.topfloorarts.com/nullarbornymph/homepage.html|title=The Nullarbor Nymph Hoax|author=Dora Dallwitz|accessdate=2006-10-17 - contains scans of media articles, photos and interviews with the locals.]

Present day

Eucla has a population of about 50 people, and is the largest stopping point between Norseman and Ceduna for travellers and trucks along the Eyre Highway. It has a hotel and restaurant, a golf club (7 km to the north), a museum dedicated to the Old Telegraph Station, and a meteorological station. These together with fishing are the locality's major activities. There is a Travellers Cross that (despite its name) commemorates deceased local people. [cite web|url=http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/FamilyHistory/Photos/Eucla_Travellers_Cross-WA/ |title=Travellers Cross|accessdate=2008-04-12]

Time zone

Eucla and the surrounding area, notably Mundrabilla and Madura, use the Central Western Time Zone of (in summer, UT+9:45). Although it has no official sanction, it is universally observed in this area, stopping just to the east of Caiguna.

Transport

Eucla is a major stop-off point along the Eyre Highway.

In October 2005, Greyhound Australia announced the closure of their Nullarbor service due to rising fuel prices and declining passenger numbers. [cite news|title=Nullarbor bus service proves too costly|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200510/s1478262.htm|work=ABC Online|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Commission|date=10 October 2005|accessdate=2006-10-17]

Climate

Eucla's climate is dry and usually mild, though very hot days can occur accompanied by hot northerly winds from the Great Victoria Desert. Average maximum temperatures vary from 25-26 °C from December to March, to 18 °C in July. The average annual rainfall of 267 mm is evenly spread through the year, with monthly totals ranging from 14 mm in January to 31 mm in May. The highest temperature was 47.9 °C (118.2 °F) on 3 January 1979.

Gallery

ee also

* Rabbits in Australia

References

Further reading

* Saunders, B. A. (2005) "Spirit of the desert: the story of Eucla, WA, after the east-west telegraph era" Kalgoorlie, W.A.: B.A. Saunders for the Eyre Highway Community Association. ISBN 0646445839

External links

* [http://www.dundas.wa.gov.au/highway Shire of Dundas - Towns of the Eyre Highway]
* [http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WAEucla.shtml Eucla travel guide]
* [http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_011003.shtml Climate averages for Eucla]
* [http://www.chapelhill.homeip.net/FamilyHistory/Photos/Eucla_Travellers_Cross-WA/ Photos of the Travellers Cross]