Murchison (Western Australia)

The Murchison is a loosely defined area of Western Australia located within the interior of the Mid West region. It was the subject of a major gold rush in the 1890s and remains a significant mining district. The Murchison is also included as an interim Australian bioregion.[1] The bioregion is loosely related to the catchment area of the Murchison River and has an area of 281,205 square kilometres (108,574 sq mi).[2]

For the shire, see Shire of Murchison.
Not to be confused with Davenport Murchison Ranges bioregion.

Murchison
Western Australia
The interim Australian bioregions,
with Murchison in red
Area281,205.54 km2 (108,574.1 sq mi)
Localities around Murchison:
Carnarvon Gascoyne Gascoyne
Yalgoo Murchison Great Victoria Desert
Yalgoo Coolgardie Coolgardie

Geography

The landscape is characterised by low hills and mesas, separated by colluvium flats and alluvial plains.[3] The western portion of the bioregion is drained by the upper Murchison and Wooramel rivers, which drain westwards towards the coast.[4]

Together with Gascoyne bioregion, it constitutes the Western Australian mulga shrublands ecoregion.[5]

Population is scattered; the largest population centres are Meekatharra, Mount Magnet, and Leonora, with smaller mining and pastoral towns at Yalgoo, Sandstone, Cue, Wiluna, and Leinster.

Subregions

The Murchison bioregion has two subregions:

  • Eastern Murchison (MUR01) – 21,135,040 hectares (52,225,800 acres)
  • Western Murchison (MUR02) – 6,985,514 hectares (17,261,580 acres)

Political boundaries

Local government areas within the bioregion include the Shire of Yalgoo, the Shire of Mount Magnet, the Shire of Murchison, the Shire of Cue, the Shire of Sandstone, the Shire of Meekatharra, the Shire of Wiluna and the Shire of Leonora.[3]

Climate

The climate is arid, with rainfall predominantly in the winter months.[3]

Flora and fauna

The predominant plant community is low mulga woodlands and shrublands, characterized by mulga (Acacia aneura), with an understory of herbaceous ephemeral plants and bunchgrasses. Other plant communities include saltbush (Atriplex spp.) shrubland on calcareous soils, low samphire (Tecticornia spp.) shrubland on saline alluvium, and hummock grassland on red sandplains.[3][4]

Land use

The Murchison is one of the main pastoral areas in Western Australia, dominated by large pastoral leases on Crown land operated as sheep and cattle stations. Mining (gold, iron and nickel) is the major contributor to the region's economy. There are extensive mining areas, with a large number of abandoned historical mining towns and settlements.[3]

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder radio telescope is located nearby, and was officially opened in October 2012.[6]

Protected areas

Purchase of pastoral leases by the Western Australian Government increased the area set aside for conservation purposes from about 0.5% of the bioregion in 1998 to 6.7% in 2004.[3] Protected areas include:[7]

References
  1. Environment Australia. "Revision of the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) and Development of Version 5.1 – Summary Report" (PDF). Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Australian Government. Retrieved 7 May 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) regions and codes". Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Commonwealth of Australia. 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  3. Bastin, Gary (2008). Rangelands 2008 – Taking the Pulse: Focus Bioregions – Murchison bioregion (WA) (PDF). Canberra, ACT: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Commonwealth of Australia. pp. 159–168. ISBN 978-0-642-37146-1.
  4. Anthony Desmond, Mark Cowan and Alanna Chant (2001). "Murchison 2 (MUR2 – Western Murchison subregion)", in A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002. The Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001.
  5. World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001). "Western Australian Mulga shrublands". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010.
  6. "Outback Observatory open for business", ABC News, retrieved 7 October 2012 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-05/outback-observatory-open-for-business/4298094
  7. Mark Cowan (2001). "Murchison 1 (MUR2 – Eastern Murchison subregion)", in A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002. The Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001.

Further reading
  • Green, Neville, 1997 Aboriginal names of the Murchison District c. 1848-1890 (data processing by Susan Moon). Perth, W.A.
  • E.C. Grunsky ... [et al.] Report on laterite geochemistry in the CSIRO-AGE database for the southern Murchison region : Yalgoo, Kirkalocka, Perenjori, Ninghan sheets Wembley, W.A. : CRC LEME, 1998 CSIRO Division of Exploration Geoscience report ; 2R (CSIRO. Division of Exploration Geoscience) ; 2R. ISBN 0-642-28238-2
  • Lefroy, Charles Bayden ...'talks about Murchison station life in the 1930s.' Early Days, Vol. 10, Part 5 (1993), p. 503-512.
  • Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995. ISBN 0-642-21371-2

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