Yalgoo, Western Australia
| Yalgoo Western Australia |
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 Yalgoo
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| Population: | 164 (2006 Census) [1] | ||||||
| Established: | 1896 | ||||||
| Postcode: | 6635 | ||||||
| Elevation: | 318 m (1,043 ft) | ||||||
| Location: | |||||||
| LGA: | Shire of Yalgoo | ||||||
| State electorate: | North West | ||||||
| Federal Division: | Durack | ||||||
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Coordinates: 28°20′28″S 116°40′59″E / 28.341°S 116.683°E
The townsite of Yalgoo is located in the Murchison region, 499 km north-north-east of Perth and 118 km east-north-east of Mullewa.
Before it was settled as a town the Yalgoo area was used as grazing land for European settlers including the Morrissey and Broad families. Flocks of sheep were herded onto the rich pastures during the wet growing season and driven back to coastal properties for shearing before summer. Over time the graziers saw the value in the Yalgoo land and began to establish the first sheep stations.
Yalgoo is also a local government area in Western Australia.
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[edit] History
Gold was discovered in the area in the early 1890s, and by 1895 there were 120 men working the diggings and buildings being erected. The goldfield warden asked for a townsite to be surveyed and gazetted, and following survey the townsite of Yalgu was gazetted in January 1896.
It was once the location of an important railway station (opened in 1896) on the Northern Railway. Yalgoo's importance declined in the years after World War II after the forging of an all-weather road between Wubin and Paynes Find, across Lake Moore.
[edit] Etymology
Yalgoo is an Aboriginal name first recorded for Yalgoo Peak by the surveyor John Forrest in 1876. The name is said to mean "blood" or "place of blood", derived from the word "Yalguru". An alternative view is that it is derived from the Yalguru bush which abounds in the area, and has blood red sap.
The spelling Yalgu was used because of spelling rules for Aboriginal names adopted by the Lands & Surveys Department (the letter u best representing the "oo" sound). Within a month the Lands & Surveys had decided reluctantly to use the original Yalgoo spelling, and this spelling has been used ever since. Some doubt about the spelling being officially changed resulted in an amendment from Yalgu to Yalgoo being gazetted in 1938.
[edit] Science
The name Yalgoo is used as a name for a crater on the planet Mars, without specifically commemorating the town[2].
[edit] Climate
Yalgoo has a semi-arid climate with hot summers and mild to cool winters.
| Climate data for Yalgoo | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 46.1 (115.0) |
46.1 (115.0) |
44.5 (112.1) |
40.6 (105.1) |
34.4 (93.9) |
29.1 (84.4) |
28.9 (84.0) |
33.9 (93.0) |
36.6 (97.9) |
40.0 (104.0) |
42.4 (108.3) |
45.0 (113.0) |
46.1 (115.0) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 37.2 (99.0) |
36.3 (97.3) |
33.5 (92.3) |
28.5 (83.3) |
23.0 (73.4) |
19.2 (66.6) |
18.2 (64.8) |
20.0 (68.0) |
24.0 (75.2) |
27.5 (81.5) |
32.1 (89.8) |
35.5 (95.9) |
27.9 (82.2) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 20.7 (69.3) |
20.7 (69.3) |
18.6 (65.5) |
14.5 (58.1) |
10.1 (50.2) |
7.7 (45.9) |
6.2 (43.2) |
6.8 (44.2) |
8.7 (47.7) |
11.4 (52.5) |
15.2 (59.4) |
18.4 (65.1) |
13.2 (55.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 9.4 (48.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
6.8 (44.2) |
3.9 (39.0) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
4.4 (39.9) |
7.0 (44.6) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 15.8 (0.622) |
25.1 (0.988) |
25.2 (0.992) |
20.8 (0.819) |
31.3 (1.232) |
41.5 (1.634) |
35.2 (1.386) |
25.7 (1.012) |
11.7 (0.461) |
8.2 (0.323) |
8.0 (0.315) |
11.1 (0.437) |
260.8 (10.268) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 2.5 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 5.2 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 6.3 | 3.6 | 2.5 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 48.6 |
| Source: [3] | |||||||||||||
[edit] References
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Yalgoo (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC56106&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ^ Categories for Naming Features on Planets and Satellites, Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, USGS Astrogeology Science Center, NASA
- ^ "Climate statistics for Yalgoo". Bureau of Meteorology. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_007091_All.shtml. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of names". http://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf/web/History+of++names. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
[edit] Further reading
- Palmer, Alex. (1985) Yalgoo Fremantle, W.A: Lap Industries. ISBN 0959058400
[edit] See also
- Yalgoo (biogeographic region) - the ecological region
- Thundelarra
- Shire of Yalgoo - the local government region
- Northern Railway (Western Australia)
- December 2010 Gascoyne River flood
