Mount Margaret, Western Australia

Mount Margaret
Western Australia
Mount Margaret; Western Australia
	Mount Margaret
Coordinates	28°49′0.57″S 122°10′9.96″E / 28.8168250°S 122.1694333°E
Population	79 (2021 census)
Established	1897
Elevation	418 m (1,371 ft)
Location	900 km (559 mi) northeast of Perth ; 31 km (19 mi) southwest of Laverton, Western Australia ;
LGA(s)	Shire of Laverton
State electorate(s)	Kalgoorlie
Federal division(s)	O'Connor

Mount Margaret was an abandoned town located 900 kilometres (559 mi) northeast of Perth and 31 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.

The first European to visit the area was government surveyor John Forrest who passed through in 1869 while on an expedition in search of the lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. On 25 June he named a nearby hill Mount Margaret after Margaret Elvire Hamersley whom he later married in 1876.^[2] The local indigenous name for the hill is Kalgara.^[3]

Gold was discovered at the site of the future town in 1893 by prospectors James Ross and Bob McKenzie.^[4]^[5] The town's main mine was the Mt Morven (formerly the Mt Margaret Reward), situated on the eastern side of the townsite.^[6] By 1896 the local progress association began campaigning for the townsite to be declared. By 1897 lots had been surveyed and the townsite was gazetted in the same year.

A police station opened in the town in 1898 but was closed in 1899.^[7]

Following a drought in the area in 1921 Rod Schenk^[8] established the Mount Margaret Aboriginal Mission in 1922, 3 kilometres (2 mi) to the northeast of the townsite. In 1924 many Aboriginal people were forced to go to nearby Mount Morgans for food following another drought and hostility towards them by local station owners. When the Mount Morgans and Linden food depots were closed in 1927, the Aboriginal peoples moved to the mission at Mount Margaret.

References

^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Mount Margaret". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
^ Forrest, John (1875). Explorations in Australia. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^ "History of country town names – M". Western Australian Land Information Authority. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
^ "A Bush Tragedy". Western Mail. Perth, WA. 15 February 1902. p. 36. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
^ Uhr, Wentworth D'Arcy (21 July 1904). "Around Lake Carey". Coolgardie Miner. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
^ "Mount Margaret Field". The Daily News. Perth, WA. 23 March 1914. p. 7. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
^ Kelsey, R.H. (21 April 1899). "Our Goldfields - Coolgardie and Mount Margaret". The Inquirer and Commercial News. Perth, WA. p. 11. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
^ "Wongatha Native title claim" (PDF). 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.