Australia So Much to See

Merredin Rock to the locals, or Merredin Peak as it is officially named, is a large but moderately low granite outcrop, rising only 49 metres above the surrounding land. This proved ideal for collecting water which was channelled from the rock into a small dam which was built to service trains on the Eastern Goldfields line, which was built in the 1890s to service the Kalgoorlie area.

The railway is now a busy line for freight as well as the Prospector passenger service. The dam was constructed between 1893 and 1896, this dam provided water for the trains as well as for the town, being the town’s main water supply until the Mundaring to Kalgoorlie pipeline was completed in 1903. The dam continued to supply the trains until 1969, when stream trains were phased out in favour of diesel locomotives.

The Merredin district is a major wheat growing area in Western Australia, and Merredin is the largest town in the central wheatbelt. Merredin receival site can store up to 860,000 tonnes of wheat.

See more of the Merredin area on the following pages.

Merredin, just a town to drive through on the way to the eastern states or vice versa? There is much more to Merredin that meets the eye.

Merredin was named from the Aboriginal name that sounded like Merriding, and means "place of Merritt's", a locally abundant hardwood tree, the trunks of which were used for making spears by the Njaki Njaki people. This tree is Eucalyptus flocktoniae, now known as Merrit. It has smooth, silvery grey bark, brown seasonally, and its heartwood is a deep reddish brown.

The first town was started to the north of Merredin Peak, on the York to Coolgardie Road, but when the railway line was constructed south of the rock, land in the present townsite was offered for sale in 1906. These sales resulted in the building of a hotel, some general stores, a tailor's shop and a boarding house.

Entering the town via the Great Eastern Highway from the west, you will pass the painted silos, with a viewing area by the highway.

The third in a series of painted silos in Western Australia, in 2017 Western Australian street artist Kyle Hughes-Odgers painted four of the eight silos at Merredin.

Two silos of plant growth represent the agriculture of the area, and a man and a woman adorn two more silos. The woman has stylised representations of significant structures, whereas the man is a representation of the granite outcrops and salt pans of the district.

Merredin Rock had always been a source of water, with water collecting in gnamma holes on the rock, and oozing down to the base. Photo above right shows the green of the Merredin Golf Course to the west side of the rock.

At the base of the rock near the railway dam, a large area of the reserve has been set aside for camping. With no facilities, this area is free for self contained campers with a 24 hour limit. Being amongst trees, campers can choose to be private. In these photos two different caravans can be seen, well out of sight of each other.

The green area is the Merredin Golf Course, on the west side of the rock.

Looking south across the eastern part of the Merredin townsite, with farmlands south of the Great Eastern Highway, viewed from Merredin Rock (Peak).

Merredin

In wet weather, we headed north to Merredin. Wind turbines of the Collgar Wind Farm were visible as we neared Merredin. This facility is approximately 25 kilometres south east of the town. These turbines can also be glimpsed from vantage points such as Merredin Peak and Totadgin Rock.

Collgar Wind Farm is built over a land envelope of 18,000 hectares and has 111 wind turbines with a total power production capacity of 222 megawatts, generating between 630-750 gigawatt hours per year. Collgar wind farm, established in 2011, was the largest wind farm in Western Australia until the 2021 opening of the Yandin Wind Farm near Dandaragan in the wheatbelt to the north of Perth.

These are remnants of the foundations of a pipeline from a reservoir that supplied the Military Hospital at the base of this rock between 1942 and 1943. Water was pumped up from the railway dam, then piped down to the hospital. Above right, parts of the old hospital site, with information plaques and paths, can be seen at the base of the rock.

The catchment wall around Merredin Peak is about four kilometres long, harvesting water from an area of around 400 hectares and flows into the dam via a hundred metre channel. Dam capacity 25 million litres. Water is still used for the town's parks and gardens.

References

Wikipedia - Merredin

Aussie Towns - Merredin

Walk Trails Brochure

Signage at sites.

Njaki Njaki Culturral Tours