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Geraldton is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. Geraldton is the seat of government for the City of Greater Geraldton, which also incorporates the town of Mullewa, Walkaway and large rural areas previously forming the shires of Greenough and Mullewa. The Port of Geraldton is a major west coast seaport. Geraldton is an important service and logistics centre for regional mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism industries.
[edit] History
[edit] AboriginalClear evidence has established Aboriginal people living on the west coast of Australia for at least 40,000 years, though at present it is unclear when the first Aboriginal people reached the area around Geraldton. The original local Aboriginal people of Geraldton are the Amangu people, with the Nanda immediately to the north and Badimaya immediately to the east. Today the Aboriginal people of the region generally identify as Yamatji or Wajarri people. Wajarri country is inland from Geraldton and extends as far south and west as Mullewa, north to Gascoyne Junction and east to Meekatharra. The Aboriginal people of the Murchison-Gascoyne region were instrumental in assisting early settlers in the area in identifying permanent water sources, and worked in the pearling, pastoral and fishing industries. Yamatji art is a distinctive style of painting, using thousands of dots of ochre and other earth-based pigments to create patterns and images relevant to Yamatji/Wajarri culture. The Western Australia Museum at the marina in Geraldton hosts a permanent exhibit on Yamatji/Wajarri culture and history of the region. [edit] European arrivalMany European mariners encountered, or were wrecked on, the Houtman Abrolhos islands west of Geraldton during the 17th and 18th centuries. Although two mutineers from the were marooned on the mainland in 1629 there is no surviving evidence that they made landfall at or near the site of the current town. The wreck of the Batavia, flagship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) fleet on her maiden voyage, on Morning Reef of the Houtman Abrolhos on 4 June 1629, and the events surrounding the subsequent mutiny, rescue and punishment of her crew are of great historical significance to the region. A detailed account of the events is recorded in a 24 December 1897 Western Mail article "The Abrolhos Tragedy", translated from the notes of Francois Pelsaert, the commander of the Batavia when she ran aground. The Western Australian Museum in Geraldton houses an exhibition of clay pipes, silver coins, cannons, the original Batavia stone portico and numerous other relics recovered from the wreck of the Batavia and other notable local historical shipwrecks such as the , and . The explorer George Grey, while on his second disastrous expedition along the Western Australian coast, passed over the future site of Geraldton on 7 April 1839. George Fletcher Moore, the colony's attorney-general, on the colonial schooner Champion, explored the region in January 1840 and discovered Champion Bay. He was followed by Captain John Clements Wickham and Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of , who led an expedition to the area in April 1840, and named and surveyed Point Moore and Champion Bay. A decade later, explorer Augustus Gregory travelled through the area. A member of his party, James Perry Walcott, discovered lead ore in 1848 in the bed of the Murchison River. The Geraldine mine was subsequently established, named after the County Clare family home of Charles FitzGerald, the 4th Governor of Western Australia. The town of Geraldton, named after Governor FitzGerald, was surveyed in 1850 and land sales began in 1851. [edit] World War IIDuring World War II Geraldton was the location of No. 4 Service Flying Training School RAAF. This flying school was formed on 10 February 1941 and disbanded in May 1945. [edit] Research Tips
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