Quairading, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Quairading is a Western Australia
n town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading
.
word recorded in 1872 by surveyor
Alexander Forrest. The first Europe
an settler
in the area is believed to be Stephen Parker, who settled in nearby York
. From 1859 to 1863, his son Edward Parker cleared land
east of York towards Dangin
, before Edward's son Jonah took over Dangin and the surrounding area. Jonah Parker subdivided his property and made Dangin a private townsite
, surrounded by his land. A Methodist, Jonah Parker banned alcohol
in the town and these factors led to residents leaving Dangin. The Government made available new land in nearby Quairading, and gave settlers a 160 acre (0.250000221043486 sq mi; 0.6474976 km²) block for free if they cleared the land and lived there for seven years. Many settlers took up the offer and moved into the area between 1903 and 1908. Lil Fallon (Aunty Lil) was born in the year Quairading was founded (1907) and is still living in the town today.
The Greenhills Road Board, established in 1892, decided to build a railway from Greenhills (near York) to Quairading and gazette the townsite at the Quairading terminus
. The townsite was gazetted on 7 August 1907 and the railway completed in 1908. By 1909, the town had a hotel
, general store
, blacksmith
, baker
, carpenter
and two bank
s, and by 1950, most of the land was cleared and being used for farming.
The area was rocked by an earthquake
in April 2009; the epicentre was located approximately 20 km northwest of the town. The earthquake that measured 3.2 on the Richter Scale happened at 4.50am local time caused no damage.
residents, compared with 2.3% Indigenous persons Australia
-wide. The median age of residents was 49 years, compared to the national median age of 37. The religious affiliation of residents was Anglican 31.4%, Catholic
19.3%, no religion 16.1%, Uniting Church 12.9% and Pentecostal 1.8%. The percentage of people identifying themselves as Anglican (31.4%) was significantly higher than the Australia-wide average of 18.7%. 90.4% of residents were Australian citizens, with English
the language spoken at home by 95.6% persons, compared to the national average of 78.5%. The most common occupations were labourers
18.4%, managers 17.0%, technicians and trades workers 15.7%, machinery operators and drivers 10.8% and sales workers 10.3%. The major industries were farming of sheep, beef cattle
and grain
14.8%, local government administration 10.3%, school
education 8.5%, wholesaling of specialised industrial machinery and equipment 4.9% and retailing of fuel
4.9%. The median household weekly income
was $637, compared to $1,027 nationally.
, located at Quairading Bookpost, and a number of small parks, including a memorial
rose
garden, and a public swimming pool
. The Greater Sports Ground is home to football, hockey
, cricket
and netball
.
A local tourist attraction is the Quairading Nature Reserve, 527 hectares (1,302 acre) of native bushland west of the town along the railway line to York. The reserve contains York Gum
, Salmon Gum
, Wandoo
and Casuarina
trees, and wildlife including the eastern wallaroo
, grey kangaroo, echidnas, reptiles and birds. Nookaminnie Rock, which is a large granite
rock, provides a view over the town and surrounding areas. The townsite can also be viewed from Mount Stirling, 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of Quairading. The Home of Natural Wood Sculpture is another visitor attraction, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of the town. Founded by local artist Ian Wills, it displays his wood
sculptures, which have been exhibited in Sydney
, Adelaide
and Perth
. The Toapin Weir, 12 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of the town, was constructed in 1912 to collect rainwater runoff and irrigate the nearby farms. Cubbine is a homestead 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Quairading originally owned by Alexander Forrest.
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading
Shire of Quairading
The Shire of Quairading is a Local Government Area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Quairading.-History:...
.
History
The town was named for Quairading Spring, derived from a local AboriginalIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
word recorded in 1872 by surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
Alexander Forrest. The first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
in the area is believed to be Stephen Parker, who settled in nearby York
York, Western Australia
York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...
. From 1859 to 1863, his son Edward Parker cleared land
Land clearing in Australia
Land clearing in Australia describes the removal of native vegetation and deforestation and in Australia. Land clearing involves the removal of native vegetation and habitats, including the bulldozing of native bushlands, forests, savannah, woodlands and native grasslands and the draining of...
east of York towards Dangin
Dangin, Western Australia
Dangin is a small town in the wheatbelt region of Western Australia. It is located about 7 kilometres south-west of Quairading, in the Shire of Quairading...
, before Edward's son Jonah took over Dangin and the surrounding area. Jonah Parker subdivided his property and made Dangin a private townsite
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
, surrounded by his land. A Methodist, Jonah Parker banned alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
in the town and these factors led to residents leaving Dangin. The Government made available new land in nearby Quairading, and gave settlers a 160 acre (0.250000221043486 sq mi; 0.6474976 km²) block for free if they cleared the land and lived there for seven years. Many settlers took up the offer and moved into the area between 1903 and 1908. Lil Fallon (Aunty Lil) was born in the year Quairading was founded (1907) and is still living in the town today.
The Greenhills Road Board, established in 1892, decided to build a railway from Greenhills (near York) to Quairading and gazette the townsite at the Quairading terminus
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
. The townsite was gazetted on 7 August 1907 and the railway completed in 1908. By 1909, the town had a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
, general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
, blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
, carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
and two bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s, and by 1950, most of the land was cleared and being used for farming.
The area was rocked by an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
in April 2009; the epicentre was located approximately 20 km northwest of the town. The earthquake that measured 3.2 on the Richter Scale happened at 4.50am local time caused no damage.
Demographics
In the 2006 census, Quairading had 596 residents, with 18.1% IndigenousIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
residents, compared with 2.3% Indigenous persons Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
-wide. The median age of residents was 49 years, compared to the national median age of 37. The religious affiliation of residents was Anglican 31.4%, Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
19.3%, no religion 16.1%, Uniting Church 12.9% and Pentecostal 1.8%. The percentage of people identifying themselves as Anglican (31.4%) was significantly higher than the Australia-wide average of 18.7%. 90.4% of residents were Australian citizens, with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
the language spoken at home by 95.6% persons, compared to the national average of 78.5%. The most common occupations were labourers
Manual labour
Manual labour , manual or manual work is physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals...
18.4%, managers 17.0%, technicians and trades workers 15.7%, machinery operators and drivers 10.8% and sales workers 10.3%. The major industries were farming of sheep, beef cattle
Beef cattle
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production . The meat of cattle is known as beef. When raised in a feedlot cattle are known as feeder cattle. Many such feeder cattle are born in cow-calf operations specifically designed to produce beef calves...
and grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
14.8%, local government administration 10.3%, school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
education 8.5%, wholesaling of specialised industrial machinery and equipment 4.9% and retailing of fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
4.9%. The median household weekly income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
was $637, compared to $1,027 nationally.
Amenities and facilities
Quairading has an airstrip, located 300 metres (984 ft) east of the town on the York to Merredin Road. The town has a libraryLibrary
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, located at Quairading Bookpost, and a number of small parks, including a memorial
Memorial
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
garden, and a public swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
. The Greater Sports Ground is home to football, hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
.
A local tourist attraction is the Quairading Nature Reserve, 527 hectares (1,302 acre) of native bushland west of the town along the railway line to York. The reserve contains York Gum
Eucalyptus loxophleba
Eucalyptus loxophleba, commonly known as York gum, is a species of Eucalyptus which is endemic to Western Australia. It was first described by George Bentham in 1867....
, Salmon Gum
Eucalyptus salmonophloia
Eucalyptus salmonophloia or the Salmon Gum is an evergreen tree native to Western Australia.Other names of this species include Wuruk or Woonert.- Habit :...
, Wandoo
Eucalyptus wandoo
Eucalyptus wandoo is a medium-sized tree widely distributed in southwest Western Australia.-Description:It grows as a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 metres in height. It has smooth bark, often in mottled patches of white, light grey, light brown light yellow and pink...
and Casuarina
Casuarina
Casuarina is a genus of 17 species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australasia, southeast Asia, and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It was once treated as the sole genus in the family, but has been split into three genera .They are evergreen shrubs and trees growing to 35 m tall...
trees, and wildlife including the eastern wallaroo
Eastern Wallaroo
The Eastern Wallaroo also known as the Common Wallaroo or the Hill Wallaroo is part of the Wallaroo family . It is a large, variable species of macropod ....
, grey kangaroo, echidnas, reptiles and birds. Nookaminnie Rock, which is a large granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
rock, provides a view over the town and surrounding areas. The townsite can also be viewed from Mount Stirling, 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast of Quairading. The Home of Natural Wood Sculpture is another visitor attraction, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of the town. Founded by local artist Ian Wills, it displays his wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
sculptures, which have been exhibited in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. The Toapin Weir, 12 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of the town, was constructed in 1912 to collect rainwater runoff and irrigate the nearby farms. Cubbine is a homestead 17 kilometres (11 mi) north of Quairading originally owned by Alexander Forrest.