MECKERING

HEMA Map reference 74/C5

31° 37' 43" S 117° 00' 28" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

None.

Services

Attractions

Camera museum.

Buildings of note

Unknown

Calendar of events

September: Agricultural show.

Camera museum

Description

Originally a station on the Northam to Southern Cross railway line, the townsite was originally called Beebering and gazetted in 1895. In 1897 the town name was changed to become the same as the station. It is an Aboriginal word which may mean ‘moon over water’ or another source quotes ‘good hunting’. The name appears to have first been associated with a nearby spring so 'moon over water' may be the original meaning.

The area has suffered much the same problems as other country towns with floods, fires, wind storms, plagues of rabbits, emus and foxes, but it is best known for an earthquake that struck on the 14th of October 1968 at 10:59am. The quake was 6.9 magnitude and it flattened about 70% of the buildings within 15 kilometres of the epicentre and injured 20 people. The area affected was 32 kilometres long and land was raised up to 1.5 metres. This damaged roads and railways as well as splitting open water mains.

Note: The largest earthquake to date, in W.A. was located near Meeberrie (200 kilometres north east of Kalbarri) in 1941 and was measured at 7.2 magnitude.

Even Perth didn’t escape the effects of the quake with a number of buildings being damaged. There was even a 12 yard split opened up in the Kwinana Freeway and one lane had to be closed.  The quake was felt from Geraldton to Esperance. Luckily it all happened on a public holiday or the number of casualties would probably have been much higher.

Aftershocks continued for quite some time and some people even slept in their gardens for a couple of nights just in case another large quake destroyed more buildings.

There was some talk of re-locating the town but after much discussion it was decided by the locals to rebuild in the same area. I was living in Belmont at the time and still remember the water in our fish pond sloshing about as the earth moved.

Meckering still experiences small earthquakes on a regular basis. Although Meckering (6.9) is the best known quake in recent years other earth quakes have taken place near Meeberrie 1941 (6.8), Calingiri 1970 (5.9) and Cadoux 1979 (6.2).

Tall tales and true: Deadly tea time.

The first teacher appointed to the Meckering school in 1092 was Miss Margaret C. Walker. She had not long been at her post when tragedy struck over something as simple as making a cup of tea. When making a fire to heat some water her clothes caught fire and she suffered for some 4 hours before dying of the effects of extensive burns. Even making a cup of tea could be deadly when medical aid was so far away.

The sheep knew
 

One interesting story to come out of the 1968 earthquake is that a local farmer noticed his sheep gathering in circles with their heads facing inward just prior to the quake. It seems that many animals have a built in sense about such events. More recently during the Boxing Day tsunami, elephants in Thailand broke free from their restraints and ran to high ground before the waves struck.


 

A section of track damaged by the earthquake

(C) Don Copley