DESCRIPTION
Burakin is located on the road from Cadoux to Kalannie in the eastern wheatbelt.
The townsite was gazetted in 1928. The name is Aboriginal in origin but the meaning is not known. The original spelling was Borrikin.
The railway to Bonnie Rock reached the area in 1929.
A store was constructed by the Durack family and then leased to Sam Kosterich who was the first storekeeper.
The store was the venue for a local wedding and was used in one of the first adverts ever made for Lotto in W.A.
Local residents attempted to have a school established in 1935 but it took another 5 years before it became a reality.
The local store was used as the school for a few months in 1941 but then moved when a school was constructed west of town. Sadly the old store
is rapidly falling into disrepair.
The town has now all but faded away with just a few residential buildings and a rest area where there used to be tennis courts.
The rest area that exists today is where the local hall once stood. There is a picture of the hall in the Photos tab.
In 2001 there were a series of earthquakes in the area that have been given the name, the Burakin Swarm.
The following is from the Lost Burakin Facebook page:
"Burakin shop and Post Office was the central hub of the district especially on a Friday morning. Everyone? mainly women,
gathered to get the mail, the train was always late but we still went to the siding at the time it was supposed to arrive.
Most of us were married around the same time and also had children of a similar age so it was our meeting place to catch up with friends
and find out any news. Some of the younger women were the Davies, Draffin, Simpson, Broadhurst, Thomson, Johnson, Strahan and Smith to name a few,
we all had our first children in the same year so was a great gathering of people.
We were also very lucky to have the immunisation clinic call monthly and it was free for children and adults alike, polio was just on the wane
then because of immunisation, sadly now it is very expensive and so very many people don't believe in it. We also had a baby clinic each month
to weigh our babies, our local CWA were instrumental in bringing the clinic to Burakin. In later years we met at Carmel Johnson's home. The
sister that came around around was an ex army nurse and tough on baby's and mums. I was quite frightened of her.
Farmers Union, later changed to Progress Association, meetings were held every month in the hall. As well as meetings The Farmers Union as well
as the CWA held annual balls. Les Broadhurst was secretary for many years and still had the books, the Broadhurst family donated them to the
Wongan Hills museum.
Now the hall has gone, all the small farms have been sold resulting in people moving on and the younger generation have better cars and much
better roads and Perth is only a few hours travel away.
We are hoping to go back to Burakin when the Shire place a plaque where the hall used to be, but I haven't heard when that is to be. Rae Broadhurst."
Lost Burakin Facebook page
VIDEO
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Video available from January 13th 2023
OTHER INFORMATION
ATTRACTIONS
Rest area and gazebo.
BUILDINGS OF NOTE
Old store.
ELECTORAL ZONES
State : Moore
Federal : Durack
OTHER INFO.
Postcode : 6467
Website : Shire of Wongan-Ballidu
PHOTOS
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