(C) Derek Graham

WESTONIA

HEMA Map reference 74/B7

31° 18' 12" S 118° 41' 46" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Unknown

Services

Attractions

Sandford Rocks, St. Lukes Church, Edna May Tavern & Gold Mine, Elatchbutting Rock, Baladjie Rock, Boodalin Soak, Sandford Rocks, Yanneymooning Reserve, Chidarcooping Reserve.

Description

Westonia sits on the border between the wheat belt and the goldfields. Gold was discovered here in 1910 by Alfred Weston which created a boom for the area in the early part of the 1900s. Initially known as Weston’s Reward the townsite was surveyed in 1913 but it wasn’t until 1926 that it was finally gazetted as a town and the name changed to Westonia.

By 1917 the town had a population of over 2000 but as the fortunes of the mines subsided so did the town's population.

Mines have opened and closed in the area ever since but the town has come to depend as much on wheat and sheep as on mining.

The town's people have made an effort to show their town off in a way that depicts the past and buildings in Wolfram Street have been maintained in an effort to re-crate the look of the town from the early 1900s.
 

Elachbutting Rock.

Wave Rock is perhaps the most famous of the 'wave formation' rocks in W.A. but it is by no means an isolated formation.

'Elachbutting' meaning 'large thing standing' in the Aboriginal language is said by the tourist 'blurb' to be bigger, better and more pristine than any other granite formation in the wheat belt.

This rock is not well known as it is over 100 kilometres north of Westonia and is only accessible via unsealed gravel road.

42 kilometres north of town is Baladjie Rock, on the Koorda to Bullfinch road. This is a popular picnic site.