Horseshoe is an
abandoned town in Western Australia located in the
Murchison goldfields within the
Mid West
The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
situated between
Meekatharra and
Newman
Newman is a surname of Germanic Anglo-Saxon origins. Newman is the modern English form of the name used in Great Britain and among people of British ancestry around the world (as is 'Numan'), while Neumann (with variant spellings) is used in Ger ...
. The town is adjacent to the
Peak Hill goldfields.
History
Gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
was discovered in the immediate area in 1897 and the government had an area thought to be suitable for a townsite surveyed in 1898. The area proved to not be satisfactory to the locals who wanted another area to be used. The new area was surveyed and the town was gazetted in 1901.
The population of the town was 60 (60 males and no females) in 1898.
The town was often known as Horseshoe Bend as a result of one of the original leases in the area was the shape of a horseshoe. It was also commonly known as The Shoe.
The townsite is one of many ghost towns in the area; others include:
Peak Hill,
Gabanintha
Gabanintha is a ghost town located in the Mid West region of Western Australia approximately 40 km south east of Meekatharra on the Meekatharra-Sandstone road. The town is situated within the Murchison goldfields.
The name of the town i ...
,
Abbotts and Garden Gully.
See also
*
Meekatharra to Horseshoe railway line
References
Ghost towns in the Mid West of Western Australia
Shire of Meekatharra
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