Goldfields-Esperance

- 31123Koordinaten: 31 ° 0 ' S, 123 ° 0' O

, Also called The Goldfields - Esperance Golden Outback is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the south-east of Western Australia. The region borders deserts in the north, the Wheatbelt region in the west, the ocean to the south by the Great Australian Bight and has borders with the Northern Territory and South Australia in the east. This area is 771,276 km ² with the largest region in Western Australia.

Local administrative units

The Goldfields - Esperance region is managed by the nine local government areas: Shire of Coolgardie, Shire of Dundas, Shire of Esperance, City of Kalgoorlie - Boulder, Shire of Laverton, Shire of Leonora, Shire of Menzies, Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku and Shire of Ravensthorpe.

Geography and Geology

The entire region is a flat plateau, which arose in the Precambrian. The rocks were formed before the Paleozoic. This geological feature and the absence of ice ages since the Carboniferous led to the infertility of the soil and salinity, so no livestock is possible. There are no rivers in this area and the rainfall is extremely low and usually seeps immediately. The ground water is too salty. To the north are the Little Sandy Desert and Gibson Desert and to the east lies the Nullarbor Desert.

Climate

The climate is hot and dry. The annual rainfall is around 250 mm. Only region in Esperance and Cape Arid National Park falls in the winter rain up to about 635 mm. Most of the rain falls caused by thunder storms in the spring or winter or when clouds from the north-west in autumn and winter pull over the country. But there are cyclones, which can lead to heavy rainfall coming from the Pilbara.

Population

The region has a population of about 59,000 people, of which about half are in Kalgoorlie live and another quarter in the Shire of Esperance lives. The rest is distributed to other Shires. Almost 10 % of the population are descendants of the Aborigines.

Economics

The area was scarcely populated until 1882; However, as the gold rush of Coolgardie broke out, many people came to this area. The economy of the Goldfields - Esperance region is still based today on the exploitation of metal and mineral deposits, mainly by the mining group BHP Billiton, which degrades gold and nickel there. In the south, at Esperance the economy is based on agriculture and fishing, wheat and barley cultivation.