Northam (Western Australia)
Northam is a town and Shire in Western Australia at the confluence of the rivers Avon and Mortlock River River. It is the birthplace of Shirley Strickland, Frederick Henry Piesse and Carmen Lawrence. Northam 's with 6,580 inhabitants, the largest city in the Avon region. It is also the largest city in the interior of Western Australia, which was not created by mining.
Geography
Northam is located 96 km north-east of Perth in the Avon Valley.
Area: 1419 km ² ( Shire ), 24 sq km (city ) Height: 170 meters above sea level. NN
History
The area around Northam was visited for the first time in 1830 by a group of colonists headed Robert Dales. 1833 then Northam was founded. It was named by James Stirling, who named the city after a homonymous town in Devon in England. The city was an important immediate departure for explorers and settlers who were interested in the further east lying areas.
The initial meaning of the village ended with the growing importance of nearby towns such as York and Beverley, but the arrival of the railway made the city the most important starting point for the miners, who were on their way to the situated in the eastern goldfields.
A notable scandal happened in 1933, when the police rounded up the entire Aboriginal population like cattle and transported over to the Moore River settlement. The City Council justified this action by saying that the Aborigines had scabies and were a health risk.
Steve Fossett, the first person who flew solo nonstop in a balloon around the world, took off in Northam on 19 June 2002.
Railway
Northam is an important railway junction and commercial center for a large part of the Wheatbelt region. The track dual gauge ( three-rail ) of the Eastern Railway ends here and the Eastern Goldfields Railway operates since 1968 normalspurig ( 1435 ) further east. The routes of the Great Southern Railway south to York and to the north, according to Goomalling ( a railway junction ) are kapspurig ( 1067 mm).
The Northam station is serviced by the following trains:
- Indian Pacific: Perth Western Sydney, weekly
- Prospector: West Perth - Kalgoorlie, daily ( Monday and Friday 2 trains )
- AvonLink: Northam Midland ( S-Bahn connection to Perth ), Monday to Friday ( 1 train )
- MerredinLink: West Perth, Merredin, Monday, Wednesday and Friday ( 1 train )
The original station in the Fitzgerald Street was opened in 1900 and closed in 1966, when the new route of the Eastern Railway was completed.
Sports
In Northam, there are some sports teams. Northam has two football teams that play in the Avon Football Association ( Federals and Railways ).
Hockey, cricket and netball also inspire many players and spectators. Individual sports such as tennis are also popular. There is also a jogging club.