Southern Cross, Western Australia
Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place Southern Cross is a town in Western Australia, 371 kilometres (230.5 miles) east of state capital Perth on the Great Eastern Highway. It was founded in 1888 after gold prospectors Richard Greaves and Ted Paine during their October 1887 expedition successfully found gold,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and gazetted in 1890.<ref name=landinfo>Template:LandInfo WA</ref> It is the major town and administrative centre of the Shire of Yilgarn.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the Template:CensusAU, Southern Cross had a population of 680.<ref name="ABS">Template:Census 2016 AUS</ref>
The town of Southern Cross is one of the many towns that run along the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme pipeline from Mundaring to Kalgoorlie, engineered by C. Y. O'Connor,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and as a consequence is an important location on the Golden Pipeline Heritage Trail.
A succession of gold rushes in the Yilgarn region near Southern Cross in 1887, at Coolgardie in 1892, and at Kalgoorlie in 1893 caused a population explosion in the barren and dry desert centre of Western Australia.
It is named after the Southern Cross constellation, and the town's streets are named after constellations and stars.<ref name=landinfo2>Template:LandInfo WA</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The surrounding areas produce wheat and other cereal crops. The town is a receival site for Cooperative Bulk Handling.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Southern Cross is in the Federal electorate of O'Connor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Climate
Railway
Narrow gauge route
The former narrow gauge route of the Eastern Goldfields Railway reached Southern Cross on 1 July 1894,<ref>Milne, Rod Wheat, Gold and Humming Birds: Southern Cross in Diesel Days Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, December, 2001 pp443-449</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the Southern Cross to Coolgardie narrow gauge railway (via Boorabbin) was closed 29 November 1971.<ref>page 67 Template:Cite book</ref>
The Wyalkatchem to Southern Cross railway line, initially to Bullfinch from 1911, was opened in its full length in 1929.<ref name=Gunzburg >Template:Citation </ref> In 1933, the Southern Cross Southwards Railway Act 1933 authorised the construction of Template:Convert of railway line south of Southern Cross, which would have taken the railway into the area of Marvel Loch, which was surveyed but not constructed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1932 the Wheat Pool of Western Australia announced that the town would have two grain elevators, each fitted with an engine, installed at the railway siding.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Railways (Cue-Big Bell and other Railways) Discontinuance Act 1960, assented to on 12 December 1960, authorised the official closure of 13 railway lines in Western Australia, among them the Southern Cross to Mukinbudin section of the railway to Wyalkatchem.<ref name=Cuebigbell >{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Standard gauge route
Southern Cross railway station is on the standard gauge railway from Perth to Kalgoorlie. The construction and opening of the line from Perth was completed on 1 May 1967, and the connection to Kalgoorlie via Koolyanobbing was completed by 4 November 1968.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Prospector and Indian Pacific passenger trains service the town.
See also
References
External links
Template:Commons category-inline
Template:Towns Wheatbelt South WA Template:Authority control