A wheat-belt
town on the Great Eastern Highway about 157km East of Perth
The
town of Cunderdin lies at the foot of Cunderdin Hill and was named by
the explorer Charles Hunt in June, 1864. The word "Cunderdin"
is derived from an Aboriginal language and means " the place of
many flowers ".
European settlement
began with the railway in 1894 when three families took up residence.
The first farm let was taken up in 1898 and in 1901.
Cunderin lies in
the lush Avon Valley and harbors one of the pumping stations that move
water along the quite extraordinary Goldfields Water Scheme pipeline
all the way from near Perth out to Kalgoorlie. Stretching west over
563km, it is the longest water pipeline in the world. It was the brainchild
of WA’s chief engineer, Charles O’Connor, who designed it
and oversaw its construction. And the strain of it all killed him. In
March, 1902, a month before the first water was pumped into the pipeline,
O’Connor shot and killed himself on Fremantle Beach. Once pumping
began, it took the water nine days to reach Cunderdin and another 10
months before it finally reached Kalgoorlie, to the obvious delight
of the locals. The original pumping machinery can be seen in the old
pumping station, built in 1902, which now hosts the Cunderdin
Museum which also has the best and most extensive display of farm
machinery anywhere in Australia. About 25km west of Cunderdin, near
Mekering, you can still see the scare left on the earth by one of Australia’s
biggest earthquakes which took place in 1968 measuring 6.8 on the Richter
Scale.
The economy of the
Shire is primarily agriculture based. The Cunderdin Agricultural College
is three km's north of the town and has approximately 110 students supported
by 50 staff and their families.
Adjacent to the
College is the Cunderdin Airstrip. It is a major aerodrome complex consisting
of bitumen runways, taxiways, hangars and support infrastructure which
was constructed early in the Second World War as the base for the RAAF
Flying School. It is now owned by the Shire and is currently the base
for the Gliding Club of Western Australia.
Accommodation:
Cunderdin
Caravan Park
74 Olympic Ave
Cunderdin WA 6407
Telephone: (08) 9635 1258
Rating: **
Ettamogah
Hotel
Main St. Cunderdin
Telephone: 96 351 777
fax 96351 744
