{{Redirect|Merredin|the local government area|Shire of Merredin}} {{Short description|Town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2026}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Merredin | state = wa | image = Barrack Street, Merredin, 2013.JPG | caption = Barrack Street, Merredin, 2013. | lga = [[Shire of Merredin]] | local_map = yes | zoom = 10 | coordinates = {{coord|31.482|S|118.279|E|display=inline,title}} | postcode = 6415 | est = 1890s | pop = <!--leave blank to draw the latest automatically from Wikidata--> | area = {{wikidata|property|raw|P2046}} | elevation= 318 | maxtemp = 24.7 | mintemp = 10.7 | rainfall = 314.4 | stategov = [[Electoral district of Central Wheatbelt|Central Wheatbelt]] | fedgov = [[Division of Durack|Durack]] | dist1 = 256 | dir1 = east | location1= [[Perth]] | dist2 = 326 | dir2 = west | location2= [[Kalgoorlie, Western Australia|Kalgoorlie]] }} '''Merredin''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|ə|d|ɪ|n}}) is a town in [[Western Australia]], located in the central [[Wheatbelt (Western Australia)|Wheatbelt]] roughly midway between [[Perth]] and [[Kalgoorlie, Western Australia|Kalgoorlie]], on [[List of road routes in Perth, Western Australia|Route 94]], [[Great Eastern Highway]]. It is located on the route of the [[Goldfields Water Supply Scheme]], and as a result is also on the [[Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail]].
It is connected by public transport to Perth via the'' [[The Prospector (train)|Prospector]]'' and ''[[MerredinLink]]'' rail services.<ref>{{cite web |title=Transwa System Map |url=https://transwa.wa.gov.au/Portals/0/Transwa%20System%20Map%20(all%20stations).pdf?ver=HCf1WJQsFK9vilBTqkZH9Q%3d%3d |website=Transwa |publisher=WA Department of Transportatation |access-date=8 April 2026}}</ref>
==History== Merredin's history varies from that of other wheat-belt towns in Western Australia in the sense that it started as a stopping place on the way to the goldfields. The first European explorer into the area was [[Surveyor General of Western Australia|Surveyor General]] [[John Septimus Roe|J.S. Roe]], who travelled through the region in 1836 but was not impressed by its dryness and the low rainfall.
By the 1850s [[Santalum spicatum|sandalwood]] cutters were in the area but there was little agriculture. It was not until Assistant Surveyor [[Charles Cooke Hunt]] explored the area in the period 1864–66 that it began to open up. Hunt saw the pastoral potential but realised the importance of water. He called the area Hampton Plains after [[John Hampton|John Stephen Hampton]], [[Governor of Western Australia]] 1862–68.
Hunt made five journeys through the area. Of the five journeys the first was exploratory (1864), the second established a track which moved from waterhole to waterhole (1865) and the third built a series of wells and dams (the Hunt's Dam at Merredin is located about {{convert|10|km}} north of town off the Merredin-Chandler Road). The result was a road which later became known as the [[York, Western Australia|York]] to Goldfields road and, until the arrival of the railway, was the only link between the coast and the gold towns of [[Kalgoorlie]] and [[Coolgardie, Western Australia|Coolgardie]].
It is almost certain that Hunt climbed Merredin Peak (a short distance out of town to the north) and that he heard the town's name from the local [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal people]]. Hunt claimed that the local Aborigines referred to the place as "Merriding" while other explanations suggest that the name comes from "merrit-in" – "the place of the merrit" ([[Eucalyptus flocktoniae]] or 'Merritt' is a tree which was used for making spears) – or that it was the name used by the Aborigines to describe the "huge bare granite rock" which the locals call Merredin Rock but which is officially named [[Merredin Peak]].
In the late 1860s a number of large pastoral leases were taken up in the area but no township evolved. As late as 1889, when Assistant Surveyor Henry King set up camp on the north side of Merredin Rock, there was still no township. The first settlement was established to the north of Merredin Peak on the York to the Goldfields road but it was hastily moved when the railway, which could not follow the gradients of Hunts Road, was built a few kilometres to the south.
In 1888 the area to the east of Merredin was officially proclaimed a goldfield and over the next decade prospectors and [[Fossicking|fossickers]] poured through the area. Gold was discovered at [[Coolgardie, Western Australia|Coolgardie]] in 1892 and at [[Kalgoorlie, Western Australia|Kalgoorlie]] a year later. At first the prospectors used Hunt's waterholes road and this meant that they passed through the site of the modern town. In 1893 the [[narrow-gauge]] ({{cvt|1,067|mm|ftin|0|disp=comma}}) railway that was being continually extended eastwards from Perth, reached the town. Merredin's importance as a town was directly related to the establishment of a superb water catchment scheme on Merredin Peak. The narrow-gauge railway was extended eastwards from Merredin to Southern Cross in July 1894, and to Kalgoorlie in January 1897.
A rock wall was built around the contours of Merredin Peak. It led to a {{cvt|100|m}} channel which in turn led into a dam which had a storage capacity of {{convert|25|e6L|e6USgal|abbr=off}}. The scheme held every drop of water which landed on the Peak and directed it all into the dam which provided water for both the town and the railway. The entire structure is still intact and can be easily reached at the northern end of town. Constructed between 1893 and 1896, the Railway Dam ensured that Merredin would become much more than just another wheat-belt siding.
The need for the water from Merredin Peak disappeared in 1903 when [[C. Y. O'Connor]]'s {{cvt|565|km}} [[Goldfields Pipeline|pipeline]] was completed. The pipeline joined the waterless goldfields at Kalgoorlie and [[Boulder, Western Australia|Boulder]] with the plentiful supplies of water in the [[Helena River]] east of Perth. Merredin Peak's Railway Dam continued to supply water to the railway until 1968 and even today is still used as the water supply for the fountain outside the [[Merredin railway station|Merredin Railway Museum and railway station]].
In 1904 the Agricultural Research Station was established. It was here that the [[Bencubbin, Western Australia|Bencubbin]] strain of wheat was developed. Land in the present townsite was offered for sale in 1906 and by 1911 the Merredin Roads Board had been formed.
The narrow-gauge rail line from Merredin to Bruce Rock was built in 1913 to serve the developing sheep and wheat belt area of Western Australia, now known as the Great Southern. The final section of the Narrogin-Merredin narrow-gauge rail line, from Bruce Rock to Corrigin, was built in 1915, thus completing the narrow-gauge rail link that linked Merredin and Narrogin.
In 2023 Merredin was listed among several Western Australian towns to be affected by an outbreak of the venereal disease [[syphilis]].<ref name="2023outbreak">{{Cite web|title=WA Syphilis outbreak response|url=https://www.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/U_Z/WA-Syphilis-outbreak-response|work=[[Department of Health (Western Australia)]]|date=23 September 2023|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref>
==Military history==
During [[World War II]], Merredin was the location of [[List of RAAF inland aircraft fuel depots|RAAF No.26 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot]] (IAFD), built in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944. It was situated on Cummings Street and has since had a house built on top. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the [[RAAF]] and the [[US Army Air Corps]] at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).<ref>{{Citation | author1 = Australia. Royal Australian Air Force. Historical Section | title = Logistics units | publication-date = 1995 | publisher = AGPS Press | isbn = 978-0-644-42798-2}}</ref>
==Pipeline pumping station number 4== Merredin was the location of number 4 pumping station of the [[Goldfields Water Supply Scheme]], which was rebuilt a number of times.<ref>{{Citation | title=Merredin - pump station number 4 | publication-date=1958 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/236388504 | access-date=18 October 2019 }}</ref>
==Geography==
===Climate=== Merredin experiences a [[steppe climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''BSh'').
{{Weather box |location = Merredin |metric first = Yes |single line = Yes |Jan high C = 33.7 |Feb high C = 33.0 |Mar high C = 30.2 |Apr high C = 25.3 |May high C = 20.6 |Jun high C = 17.2 |Jul high C = 16.3 |Aug high C = 17.2 |Sep high C = 20.4 |Oct high C = 24.6 |Nov high C = 28.4 |Dec high C = 31.9 |year high C = 24.9 |Jan low C = 17.7 |Feb low C = 17.9 |Mar low C = 16.1 |Apr low C = 12.7 |May low C = 8.9 |Jun low C = 6.8 |Jul low C = 5.6 |Aug low C = 5.4 |Sep low C = 6.7 |Oct low C = 9.5 |Nov low C = 13.0 |Dec low C = 15.7 |year low C = 11.3 |Jan precipitation mm = 13.8 |Feb precipitation mm = 15.6 |Mar precipitation mm = 20.5 |Apr precipitation mm = 23.5 |May precipitation mm = 41.2 |Jun precipitation mm = 50.3 |Jul precipitation mm = 51.0 |Aug precipitation mm = 39.0 |Sep precipitation mm = 25.8 |Oct precipitation mm = 18.2 |Nov precipitation mm = 13.9 |Dec precipitation mm = 13.8 |year precipitation mm = 326.5 |Jan rain days = 1.7 |Feb rain days = 1.7 |Mar rain days = 2.5 |Apr rain days = 3.1 |May rain days = 5.7 |Jun rain days = 7.9 |Jul rain days = 8.6 |Aug rain days = 7.4 |Sep rain days = 4.8 |Oct rain days = 3.5 |Nov rain days = 2.3 |Dec rain days = 1.7 |source 1 = Australian Bureau of Meteorology<ref name="abm" >{{cite web | url = http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_010092.shtml | title = Climate statistics for Merredin | access-date = 20 August 2009 | publisher = Australian Bureau of Meteorology }}</ref> |date=August 2010 }}
==Economy== [[Image:Merredin 2005 SeanMcClean.jpg|thumb|right|Rehabilitation project]] The agricultural land around Merredin produces 40% of Western Australia's [[wheat]] output.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.merredin.wa.gov.au/about-merredin.aspx |title=About Merredin |publisher=Shire of Merredin |access-date=2017-02-27}}</ref> As a focal point for the region, Merredin's local bulk handling co-operative receives and processes in excess of a million tonnes of grain every year. The silos at the train facilities to the west of the main town are the biggest of their type in the southern hemisphere.
One of the biggest problems to face the agricultural industry in Merredin is [[salinity]]. Extensive damage to buildings and roads is caused by rising saline groundwater. A recent study showed that the main source of this water is Merredin townsite itself. Roads, footpaths, buildings and open space have replaced native vegetation adapted to use up every drop of rain. Since the problem arose in the early 1970s, farmers and townspeople have been participating in a number of programs to improve the soil conditions, with some limited success.
===Merredin Aerodrome=== [[Image:MerredinAerodrome 2005 SeanMcClean.jpg|thumb|right|China Southern West Australian Flying College, Merredin]] Merredin aerodrome was leased under a 100-year arrangement by China Southern West Australian Flying College (CSWAFC), a [[joint venture]] between [[China Southern Airlines]] and [[CAE Inc|CAE]] in 1996, and was used as one of two pilot training facilities until September 2016.<ref>Merredin ''[[Australian Aviation]]'' issue 115 March 1996 page 122</ref> CSWAFC also operated from [[Jandakot Airport]] in [[Perth]] until 2020.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-30/china-southern-airlines-wa-training-college-enters-liquidation/13020052 China Southern Airlines WA pilot college in liquidation as 62 local staff sacked] ''[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]'' 30 December 2020</ref> Merredin airport was leased for the sum of $1 with the [[Government of Western Australia|state government]] banking that investment would follow.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121108141844/http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/wa/content/2004/s1237073.htm Transcript: Chinese airline sends trainee pilots to the bush]''[[Stateline (TV program)|Stateline]]'' 5 November 2004</ref><ref>[https://thewest.com.au/business/aviation/chinese-ownership-of-merredin-airport-sparks-controversy-ng-b88705220z Chinese ownership of Merredin Airport sparks controversy] ''[[The West Australian]]'' 3 January 2018</ref>
The partnership in the years since has been successful. Upgraded facilities include bitumen runways, an operations viewing platform (which does not fulfil the regulatory requirements of a control tower), fire control equipment, hangars, classrooms, and housing. Although the aerodrome is leased by China Southern West Australian Flying College, the [[Royal Flying Doctor Service]] and private users still have access.
As of September 2016, the training school suspended operations in Merredin due to its inability to attract sufficient numbers of experienced staff with the appropriate regulatory approvals. Since then, issues have been raised over the leasehold arrangements.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20221026190631/https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/take-off-with-the-sale-of-regional-airport-in-wa Aviation outrage over Chinese ownership of Merredin airport] ''[[The Australian]]'' 27 December 2017</ref>
The aerodrome was put up for sale in June 2021.<ref>[https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/take-off-with-the-sale-of-regional-airport-in-wa Take off with the sale of regional airport in WA] Real Commercial 11 June 2001</ref>
==Transport== [[Merredin railway station]] is located on the [[Eastern Goldfields railway line]]. The original 1893 structure was replaced in August 1969.<ref>Standard Gauge Means Progress in West Australia ''[[Network (periodical)|Network]]'' November 1969 page 3</ref><ref>New Station Buildings for Busy Rail Traffic Centres ''[[Railway Transportation]]'' December 1969 page 22</ref> It is the terminus for the ''[[MerredinLink]]'' from [[East Perth railway station|Perth]] and a calling point for ''[[The Prospector (train)|Prospector]]'' from Perth to [[Kalgoorlie railway station|Kalgoorlie]].<ref>[https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/Portals/0/Timetables/AvonLink%20Timetable.pdf MerredinLink timetable] [[Transwa]]</ref><ref>[https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/Portals/0/Timetables/Prospector%20Timetable.pdf Prospector Timetable] Transwa</ref>
==Things to see== [[Image:Merredin tower SMC.jpg|thumb|right|Merredin Railway Water Tower and Great Eastern Highway]] * [[Mangowine Homestead]] * [[Pioneer Women Memorial Waterfall]]
== Notable people == The following people were either born or raised in Merredin. * [[Tully Bevilaqua]] née Crook – women's basketball player for [[Indiana Fever]] in the US and in Australia, [[Canberra Capitals]] * [[Hendy Cowan]] – former leader of the National party and Member for Merredin * [[Tony Crook (politician)|Tony Crook]] – former National Party politician and member for [[Division of O'Connor|O'Connor]], [[Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia|RFDS]] executive officer * [[Jeff Garlett]] – former [[Swan Districts Football Club|Swan Districts]] and former now [[Carlton Football Club|Carlton]] footballer * [[Geoff Gibbs|Geoffrey Gibbs]] AM<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_people/Transcripts/s650684.htm WAAPA Teacher] Broadcast 6.30pm on 15 August 2002. New Dimensions, ABC. Retrieved 17 September 2006.</ref> – actor, head of the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Chairman of Trustees for the International Foundation for Arts and Culture * [[Rick Hart (businessman)|Rick Hart]]<ref>[http://www.icmi.com.au/speakerfull.phtml?id=540 Speaker Rick Hart – Full Biography] ICMI 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2006.</ref> – businessman and public speaker, former President of [[Fremantle Football Club]] * [[Robert Juniper]] – landscape artist * [[Ken McAullay]] – former WA and [[East Perth Football Club|East Perth]] full back and WA [[Sheffield Shield]] cricketer * [[Laurie Mayne]] – former Test cricketer born in Westonia * [[Don Randall (politician)|Don Randall]] – Australian Liberal party politician, member for [[Division of Canning|Canning]] until his death in 2015 * [[John Rutherford (Australian cricketer)|John Rutherford]] – first Western Australian cricketer to win a Test cap for Australia * [[Nelly Thomas]]<ref>[http://www.nellythomas.com/ Official Nelly Thomas website] www.nellythomas.com. Retrieved 17 September 2006.</ref> – winner of National Raw Comedy Competition in 2003 * [[Nicole Trunfio]] – won the Australian ''[[Search for a Supermodel]]'' series in 2003, then came third in the international version of the series. * [[Arthur Upfield]] – author of ''Boney'' series; worked at [[Burracoppin, Western Australia|Burracoppin]] * [[Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1942)|Bill Walker]] [[Medal of the Order of Australia|OAM]] – football player in the [[Western Australian Football League|WAFL]]. Winner of four [[Sandover Medal]]s. Grew up in the neighbouring town of [[Narembeen, Western Australia|Narembeen]]. A former student of [[Merredin Senior High School]].
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{Official website|http://www.merredin.wa.gov.au/}} {{Towns Wheatbelt South WA}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Towns in Western Australia]] [[Category:Grain receival points of Western Australia]] [[Category:Eastern Goldfields Railway]] [[Category:Merredin, Western Australia]]