Merredin

Merredin is in the heart of the WA wheat belt, less than 300km east of Perth, and is larger than it appears at first glance. We found quite a bit to do in the town and surrounding areas and spent 3 nights here.

The town was founded as a stopping place on the way to the goldfields, and when the railway reached it in 1893 its importance was assured. Merredin Peak, the local granite rock formation, allowed water to be captured for use by the steam locomotives, and the town developed as a major hub for the storage and transport of the abundant grain grown in the region. We of course did the heritage trail around the peak and climbed to the top for good views over the town and pastoral lands. We also explored the remains of the military hospital that briefly occupied the land below the peak during WW II, established far enough from the coast so that enemy planes couldn't reach it without refueling. As the war progressed and it became obvious that there wouldn't be an invasion this far south the hospital was packed up and moved to New Guinea, leaving only concrete foundations in the scrub. The trail around the site gave lots of interesting information and reproduced photos of the hospital during its bustling peak.

One thing offered here that we hadn't seen in other small towns was a local town bus tour. This was a surprisingly interesting 1.5 hours, run by a man who was obviously passionate about his home town. It gave a good insight into not just Merredin's past but its expected future, and the work being done by the local council to diversify the town's economic base. The tour included an inside look at the massive silos where grain is stored before being loaded onto trains and sent off to Fremantle for shipping overseas. With the 2010 harvest only a few weeks away the silos are almost empty now, and felt like massive echoing caverns.

Rounding off our time here we spent half a day exploring further south of Merredin, including yet another granite outcrop of Totadgin Rock, a sculpture park at Bruce Rock and a good lookout and heritage walk at Narembeen.