Mid West | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Extent of Mid West region | |||||||||||||
  Mid West | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:28°S114°E / 28°S 114°E /-28; 114 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Western Australia | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorates | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 472,336 km2 (182,370 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 52,000 (2006 census) | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 0.1101/km2 (0.2851/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+8 (WST) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
TheMid West region is one of the nineregions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast ofWestern Australia, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north and south of its administrative centre ofGeraldton and inland to 450 kilometres (280 mi) east ofWiluna in theGibson Desert.[1][needs update]
It has a total area of 285,497 square kilometres (110,231 sq mi), and a permanent population of about 54,000 people,[2] more than half of those in Geraldton.
The western portion of this region was known earlier as "The Murchison" based on theriver of the same name, and the similarly named Goldfield.[3]
The Mid West region has a diversified economy that varies with the geography and climate. Near the coast, annual rainfall of between 400 and 500 millimetres (16 and 20 in) allows intensive agriculture. Further inland, annual rainfall decreases to less than 250 millimetres (10 in), and here the economy is dominated by mining of iron ore, gold, nickel and other mineral resources. Geraldton is an important hub for the tourism industry.[4] The Mid West also has the highest value fishing industry in Western Australia, with Geraldton the hub of theWestern Rock Lobster industry. Western Rock Lobster netted almost $234.5 million in revenue for WA in the 2012–13 financial year, making it Australia's most valuable single-species wild capture fishery.[5]
Gross Regional Product for the Mid West in 2013 was AU$6,000,000,000 (AU$6bn).[6]
On 25 August 2015 The Hon.Terry Redman, MLA, Minister for Regional Development, launched the "Mid West Regional Blueprint"; an aspirational growth and development plan created by the Mid West Development Commission for the region. The Blueprint proposes strategies against five priority pillars to drive or reduce barriers to, regional growth and development in the Mid West. The Blueprint strategies are intended to focus on the region's key strengths and the identification of regional opportunities, providing a guide for regional development to 2050.[6]
Due to its relative isolation fromradio-frequency interference, the Mid West region was selected to host one of two primary radiotelescope locations of theSquare Kilometre Array (SKA) project. When fully operational in 2024, this AU$2bn project will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio interferometer instrument; it will generate more data than the current global Internet traffic[7] and be capable of surveying the sky more than ten thousand to a million times faster than what is possible today.[8] The radiotelescope antennae and theMurchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) are located nearBoolardy, Western Australia, approximately 315 km northeast of Geraldton, with logistics and science support provided byCSIRO from their facilities in Geraldton. High-capacityoptical fibre cables connect the SKA telescope to the MRO support facility in Geraldton and to thePawsley Supercomputing Centre in Perth, Western Australia.[9]
Located at Yatharagga, 40 km fromMingenew (100 km SE of Geraldton), the WA Space Centre is an $8,000,000 114 hasatellite park owned and operated by Space Australia, a subsidiary company of theSwedish Space Corporation (SSC). The park is located in one of severalRadio Quiet Zones in the region,[10] making it an ideal location for radioastronomy. The SSC is the largest commercial operator of satellite tracking ground station facilities. The facilities include compounds operated byNASA,The European Space Agency,CSIRO,MOBLAS and VLBI, amongst others.
Thelocal government areas in the Mid West region areCarnamah,Chapman Valley,Coorow,Cue,Greater Geraldton,Irwin,Meekatharra,Mingenew,Morawa,Mount Magnet,Murchison,Northampton,Perenjori,Sandstone,Three Springs andYalgoo. In 1 June 2021Shire of Wiluna officially joinedGoldfields-Esperance region.[11]
Geraldton is the regional hub, having road and railway facilities leading to the port.
Formerly Geraldton was connected by a private railway to Perth, and the government railway system connected via Mullewa.
In February 2021, the creation of five newconservation parks within the traditional lands of theBadimia people in theMount Magnet area, covering over 114,000 ha (280,000 acres), was announced by theGovernment of Western Australia, to be jointly managed between thetraditional owners and theDepartment of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' Parks and Wildlife Service. The allocated land includes portions of two formerpastoral leases, Lakeside and Burnerbinmah, as well asCrown land atKirkalocka and White Wells. There are many significantAboriginal sites of significance as well as other historic sites within the new parks.[12]
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