Halls Creek, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Halls Creek
state = wa


caption =
lga = Shire of Halls Creek
postcode = 6770
pop = 1,289 (2001)
est = 1887/1949
stategov = Kimberley
fedgov = Kalgoorlie
dist1 = 366
location1= Kununurra
dist2 = 546
location2= Derby
maxtemp = 33.6
mintemp = 20.0
rainfall = 557.4
elevation= 422coord|-18.227|127.668|type:city(1300)_region:AU-WA_scale:100000|format=dms|display=title

Halls Creek is a small town situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located between the towns of Fitzroy Crossing and Warmun (Turkey Creek) on the Great Northern Highway.

Functions

The town functions as a support centre for remote cattle stations in the area. For tourists it is the only sizeable town for 600 km on the Great Northern Highway. The town is a major welfare hub for the local indigenous population.

Halls Creek is also the administration centre for Halls Creek Shire Council.

Tourism

For tourists, there are several nearby attractions such as:
* the China Wall
* old Halls Creek
* the Duncan Road
* Wolfe Creek crater, 200 km to the south on the Tanami Road
* Purnululu National Park (the Bungle Bungles), 120 km to the north.

History

Halls Creek moved 12 km west from its original location in 1949 due to a new Great Northern Highway being constructed, which did not follow the route of the old Duncan Road. It would have been the end of the town, if it had not moved to its current location. Halls Creek was initially a gold mining town, named after Charles Hall who in 1885 found the alluvial gold that led to the Kimberley gold rush, the first gold rush in Western Australia. Today some gold mining is still carried out by local prospectors, however large-scale mining has since ceased, with the closure of the White Elvire River Mine.

Indigenous population

It is home to the indigenous Jaru (Djar-u) and Kija (gKid-ja) peoples as well as some Tjurabalan peoples from the desert to the south of the town. They represent over 60% of the town's population.

In 2006, "The West Australian" newspaper ran a series of articles highlighting the awful state of the Halls Creek indigenous population. The attention received may prompt some action to improve the situation; however, Halls Creek is by no means unusual in this regard, with tens and hundreds of similarly awful indigenous towns and communities in the Pilbara, Kimberley, and other parts of the state. This article provides more information on this sensitive topic.

ee also

*Halls Creek Airport

External links

* [http://www.hallscreek.wa.gov.au/ Shire of Halls Creek]