• Source: 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. 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).




Geography


The landscape is characterised by low hills and mesas, separated by colluvium flats and alluvial plains. The western portion of the bioregion is drained by the upper Murchison and Wooramel rivers, which drain westwards towards the coast.
Together with Gascoyne bioregion, it constitutes the Western Australian mulga shrublands ecoregion.
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.




Climate


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




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.




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




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. Protected areas include:

Bullock Holes Timber Reserve
De La Poer Range Nature Reserve
Goongarrie National Park
Matuwa and Kurrara-Kurrara Indigenous Protected Area
Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve
Toolonga Nature Reserve
Wanjarri Nature Reserve




References






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




External links


Geological mapping of the region
• Source: Murchison, Western Australia

Murchison is a locality in the Mid West region of Western Australia. At the 2021 census, Murchison recorded a population of 30.




Demographics


As of the 2021 Australian census, 30 people resided in Murchison, down from 62 in the 2016 census. The median age of persons in Murchison was 44 years. There were fewer males than females, with 46.9% of the population male and 53.1% female. The average household size was 2 people per household.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Gaok australia
• Geologi Australia
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• Murchison (Western Australia)
• Murchison, Western Australia
• Murchison River (Western Australia)
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• List of national parks of Western Australia