Rawlinna, Western Australia

Rawlinna is an isolated locality on the Trans-Australian Railway in Western Australia, about 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of Perth and 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of the Western Australia / South Australia border. It is on the Nullarbor Plain, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from its western fringe; the topography is flat and well grassed, with saltbush and bluebush, with small belts of myall and myoporum trees.[2] Annual rainfall is 288 millimetres (11.3 inches). Maximum daytime temperatures are typically 38 °C (100 °F) through summer and 19 °C (66 °F) during winter.[3] In 2016, the population in the area was recorded as 30 people.[4]

Rawlinna
Western Australia
Employee house of the former Commonwealth Railways at Rawlinna
Rawlinna is located in Western Australia
Rawlinna
Rawlinna
Coordinates31°0.538′S 125°19.915′E
Population33 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)6434
Elevation183 m (600 ft)
Area22,776.9 km2 (8,794.2 sq mi)
Location
LGA(s)City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
State electorate(s)Eyre
Federal division(s)O'Connor

Rawlinna is the southernmost end of the Connie Sue Highway, a 4-wheel drive track that extends 650 km (400 mi) north to the Aboriginal community of Warburton.[5]

Australia’s largest operating sheep station, Rawlinna Station, covering an area of 1,011,714 hectares (2,500,000 acres) – about the area of the Sydney conurbation – adjoins the railway line. It runs up to 65,000 Merino sheep in a good season. Mustering and droving is done on motorbikes and in aircraft to locate them, beginning in January for a 10-week shearing program. A muster can take up to 100 kilometres (62 miles) to get the sheep into the shearing shed at Jumbuck's "Depot" outstation.[3]

A small, open-cut limestone mine is 2 km (1.2 mi) north of the settlement, from which lime is extracted for gold production at Kalgoorlie.

Visitors come from far and wide each year to the popular gymkhana known as the "Nullarbor Muster", which benefits a number of charities.[6]

Trans-Australian Railway

Rawlinna is a stop for the Indian Pacific, the experiential tourism train that operates between Perth and Sydney.[3]

The train is the successor to the Trans-Australian, which was inaugurated in 1917, when the line was opened. Before 1951, when diesel locomotives were introduced, steam locomotives required frequent servicing because of poor water quality; Rawlinna was one of four major stations that had workshops and facilities such as a food store and bakery operated by the Commonwealth Railways,[7]: 117  and a school.[8] However, all Commonwealth Railways operational buildings have been demolished; about a dozen buildings remain.[9]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Rawlinna (Suburb and Locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  2. "TAR map booklet". Chris's Commonwealth railways information (ComRails). Chris Drymalik. 1960. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  3. "Rawlinna". Jumbuck. Jumbuck Pastoral. 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  4. "2016 census QuickStats: Rawlinna". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  5. Beadell, Len (1971). Bush Bashers. New Holland Publishers (Australia). ISBN 1864367342.
  6. "Outback Australia Rawlinna". Nullabor Muster. Nullabor Muster Club. 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  7. Fitch, Ronald J. (2006). Australian Railwayman: from cadet engineer to railways commissioner. Dural, New South Wales: Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1877058483.
  8. Gable, Walter (1993). Rawlinna School. Perth: W. Gable.
  9. Google Earth -31.0086 125.3320

Media related to Rawlinna, Western Australia at Wikimedia Commons

Preceding station Journey Beyond Following station
Kalgoorlie
One-way operation
 Indian Pacific Cook
towards Sydney
Perth
Terminus
 Cook
One-way operation
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