Collie (Western Australia)

Collie is a town in the South West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, 213 km south of the capital of Perth and 59 km inland from the regional capital and port city of Bunbury. The city lies near the mouth of the Harris River in the Collie River, in the middle of dense forest and Jerryhl in Western Australia 's only coal mining area. At the last census in 2006 the town had 7084 inhabitants ..

Collie is mainly known as a center of coal mining, but also has an industry, agriculture and tourism. The Muja Power Station is located in the east of the city and west of the Wellington Reservoir, a popular artificial lake for fishing, swimming and boating.

The city was named after the river on which it is located, the James Stirling named after Dr Alexander Collie. He and William Preston were the first Europeans who explored the area in 1829.

Coal was discovered in the early 1880s by the shepherds George Marsh in the area. The coal mines arose in the late 1890s and 1897, the town was surveyed and mapped.

Collie was once considered "dirty mining town ", but on 8 April 2006, the city won the Australian Tidy -Towns Competition. Collie was appointed to the cleanest city of all states and the Northern Territory because of their commitment to recycling their waste treatment, their city and their local beautification projects.

Business and industry

The town of Collie is in a sedimentary basin, the Perth Basin. In this sedimentary basin is a section with coal deposits, the Collie Sub - basin. Collie plays an important role for the generation of electrical energy in Western Australia with two Kohlberg and three power plants that generate electricity with coal and gas.

Coal mines

The company Western Collieries builds in the Wesfarmers Premier Coal mine, which is about 22 km from Collie, about 4 million tons annually from. With the coal from the mine Premier Coal Collie A Power Station 1 to 1.2 million and the Muja Power Station with 2 million tons will be supplied. The Kwinana Power Station on the west coast of Western Australia receives this coal mine. the transported there the railway.

The 2010 financially troubled Australian Griffin Coal, part of the group of companies " Griffin Energy" was taken over in 2011 by the Indian Lanco Infratech, which is expanding the infrastructure of the mines of Griffin Coal and about 4.5 million tons of coal annually degrades. Lanco plans, inter alia, to transport coal to Bunbury with the railroad. 2010, Muja mine was closed. An open coal mining to the south and west of the old Muja mine with a coal reserves of about 140 million tons is currently under development.

Power plants

On April 21, opened in 1966, the power plant Muja Power Station, which is 22 km oöstlich of Collie, with eight coal-fired turbines, its operation with a total capacity of 854 megawatts ( MW) to generate electricity .. In 2007, the coal turbines of the power station because of their carbon dioxide emissions closed and gas turbines were installed, which reduced these emissions strak. and as June 3, 2008 entered the gas crisis in Western Australia due to the breakage of a natural gas pipeline and the destruction of the plants on the Varanus Island, had this power plant off the grid until 23 June 2008.

Another coal-fired power station at Collie is 10 km away Collie Power Station with a capacity of 340 MW, which was opened in 1999 and is now run by the supplier Verveenergie.

The first private coal - fired power plant in Western Australia, founded in 1997 by the company Griffin Energy was 4.5 km from the city opened, the Blue Waters Power Station.

Train

Collie has five elementary schools: Allanson Primary School, Fairview Primary School, Amaroo Primary School, Saint Brigid's Catholic College and Wilson Park Primary School. There is also a secondary school, Collie Senior High School.

Tourism and facilities

The attractions in Collie are the Steam Locomotive Museum, the Collie Museum and the Wellington Reservoir. Of green areas, there is the Soldier's Memorial Park and next to Stockton Lake and Collie River.

Collie also aligns the Kostecki Motorplex, the only regular motor sports event in Western Australia outside the Perth metropolitan area.

Climate

Collie has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters ( Effective climate classification: " Csb " )

Gallery Images

Main street of Collie