Meekatharra
Postcode: 6642
Meekatharra is a town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Meekatharra is an Australian Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of little water’. At the 2001 census, Meekatharra had a population of 945, with 36.2% being Indigenous Australians.[1]
Meekatharra is a major supply centre for the pastoral and mining area in the Murchison region of Western Australian.
It was an important location in the Western Australian Government Railways system – being the northernmost location in the Northern Railway (Western Australia) railway network, apart from the isolated Marble Bar Railway branch out of Port Hedland. For a while a further branch line continued eastwards to Wiluna The line was closed from Mullewa and pulled up in the 1970s.
It is located 764 km north east of Perth and may be reached by the Great Northern Highway. It is centre for sheep and cattle transshipment, initially by rail but now by road trains. A huge 2181 metre runway was built by the Americans during the World War II. It serves as an important ETOPS diversion airport for inbound transcontinental flights to Australia. It is also regional home to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the School of the Air.