{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Three Springs | state = wa | image = Station and silo, Three Springs, 2013.JPG | caption = Three Springs railway station and grain silo, 2013. | lga = Shire of Three Springs | local_map = yes | zoom = 13 | coordinates = {{coord|29|32|00|S|115|45|42|E|display=inline,title}} | postcode = 6519 | est = 1906 | pop = <!--leave blank to draw the latest automatically from Wikidata--> | area = {{wikidata|property|raw|P2046}} | elevation= 257 | maxtemp = 27 | mintemp = 12.6 | rainfall = 376 | rainfall_footnotes=<ref name=bom>{{cite web |title=Summary statistics Carnamah |url=https://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_008025.shtml |website=Climate statistics for Australian locations |publisher=Bureau of Meteorology |accessdate=29 February 2020}}</ref> | stategov = [[Electoral district of Moore|Moore]] | fedgov = [[Division of Durack|Durack]] | dist1 = 313 | dir1 = N | location1= [[Perth]] | dist2 = 172 | dir2 = SE | location2= [[Geraldton, Western Australia|Geraldton]] | dist3 = 20 | dir3 = N | location3= [[Carnamah, Western Australia|Carnamah]] }}
'''Three Springs''' is a town located {{convert|313|km}} north of [[Perth, Western Australia]] on the Midlands Road, which until the opening of the [[Brand Highway]] in 1975 was the main road route from Perth to the state's north. The town is the seat of the [[Shire of Three Springs]]. Its economy is based on agriculture (mainly broad acre grain cropping and sheep farming) and mining.
==History== The first Europeans to pass near the Three Springs area were government Assistant Surveyor [[Augustus Charles Gregory]] and [[Francis Thomas Gregory]] (both attached to the department of the Surveyor-General) and their brother Henry Churchman Gregory, on a public-private funded expedition to search for new agricultural land beyond the settled areas. On 14 September 1846, they camped at [[Eneabba|Eneabba Springs]], {{convert|40|km}} southwest of Three Springs, while returning to Perth from the [[Irwin River]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gregory |first1=Augustus Charles |last2=Gregory |first2=Francis Thomas |title=Journals of Australian Explorations |date=1884 |publisher=James C. Beal, Government Printer |location=Brisbane |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10461/10461.txt |accessdate=6 June 2019}}</ref> In 1867, government Assistant Surveyor [[Charles Cooke Hunt]], while undertaking a road survey recorded the words "Three Springs" at the site of the current town after some nearby springs. The name began to appear on official maps from then on and land in this region was soon taken up as pastoral leases.
In 1895, the [[Midland Railway of Western Australia|Midland Railway]] was built under a [[Land grant#Land grant railways|land grant scheme]] from [[Midland Junction]] to [[Walkaway, Western Australia|Walkaway]]. Under the land grant scheme the railway consortium was able to select land within {{convert|40|mi}} of the new railway. Three Springs was a siding on the line. In 1907 the government declared a townsite adjacent to the railway siding, gazetted as ''Kadathinni'' in 1908.<ref>Jarvis, Neil (1986) ''Western Australia, an atlas of human endeavour'' Perth, W.A.: Dept. of Lands and Surveys in association with the Education Dept. of Western Australia 2nd ed. {{ISBN|0-7309-0082-7}} Previous ed.: Perth, W.A.: Government Printer, 1979. p. 46</ref> It was also intended to change the name of the station when the townsite was named, but this was overlooked, and it remained Three Springs. The townsite was also locally known as ''Three Springs'', and in 1946 the name was officially changed to ''Three Springs'' to conform with local usage.<ref name="Landgate">{{LandInfo WA|c|T|11 February 2007}}</ref>
In 1932, the [[CBH Group|Wheat Pool of Western Australia]] announced that the town would have two [[grain elevators]], each fitted with an engine, installed at the railway siding.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32560140 |title=Country elevators |newspaper=[[The West Australian]]|location=Perth|date=6 July 1932|accessdate=6 April 2013|page=10|publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Flora== The shrub ''[[Banksia trifontinalis]]'' (Three Springs [[Banksia ser. Dryandra|Dryandra]]) is named after the town, in the vicinity of which it was first collected.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=George |first1=A.S. |title=New taxa and a new infrageneric classification in Dryandra R. Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae) |journal=Nuytsia |date=1996 |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=322 |url=https://archive.org/stream/nuytsia10westa/nuytsia10westa_djvu.txt |accessdate=28 February 2020 |publisher=Western Australian Herbarium Department of Conservation and Land Management |location=Como, Western Australia |issn=0085-4417}}</ref>
==Economy== [[File:Slwa b2093972 2 Commercial Hotel.jpg|thumb|Commercial Hotel, ca.1925|upright]] [[File:Commercial Hotel, Three Springs, 2018 (01).jpg|thumb|Commercial Hotel, 2018|upright]] [[File:Three Springs Post Office, 2018 (01).jpg|thumb|Post Office, 2018|upright]] [[File:Former E, S & A Bank, Three Springs, 2018 (01).jpg|thumb|Former [[English, Scottish and Australian Bank]], 2018|upright]] Three Springs' economy is built on mining and agriculture, including broad acre grain cropping and sheep farming, as well as cattle, pigs and wildflower [[intensive farming]].
[[Imerys]], a French industrial minerals company, operates the world's second largest [[talc]] [[Three Springs Mine|mine just outside the Three Springs]] townsite. Up until 2004, the talc was railed to [[Geraldton, Western Australia|Geraldton]] for export. As a result of contamination from iron ore at the port rail unload facility, since 2004 it has been transported by road.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Randall |first1=Ric |last2=Mackin |first2=Geoff |title=WA’s Road Transport Industry Safety Forum |url=https://transafewa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ports-TRANSPORT-INDUSTRY-SAFETY-FORUM-PRESENTATION-A1129327.pdf |publisher=Mid West Ports |accessdate=28 February 2020 |page=8 |date=7 November 2018}}</ref>
==Notable residents== * [[James Gardiner (Australian politician)|James Gardiner]] (1861–1928), politician * [[Patrick Lynch (Australian politician)|Patrick Lynch]] (1867–1944), politician
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.threesprings.wa.gov.au/ Shire of Three Springs] * [https://www.carnamah.com.au/three-springs-history Early History of Three Springs] * [https://www.carnamah.com.au/three-springs-cemetery Three Springs Cemetery] * [https://www.carnamah.com.au/biographical-dictionary Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs]
{{Towns Mid West WA}}
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[[Category:Mining towns in Western Australia]] [[Category:Towns in Western Australia]] [[Category:Grain receival points of Western Australia]] [[Category:Shire of Three Springs]]