Wyndham | |
|---|---|
 Wyndham's Three Mile area, looking south to theKing River | |
  Wyndham | |
 Interactive map of Wyndham | |
| Coordinates:15°28′57″S128°7′22″E / 15.48250°S 128.12278°E /-15.48250; 128.12278 | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Western Australia |
| LGA | |
| Location | |
| Established | 1886 |
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Area | |
• Total | 936.1 km2 (361.4 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 11 m (36 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 745 (UCL2021)[2] |
| Postcode | 6740 |
| Mean max temp | 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) |
| Mean min temp | 23.1 °C (73.6 °F) |
| Annual rainfall | 827.7 mm (32.59 in) |
Wyndham is the northernmost town in theKimberley region ofWestern Australia, 3,315 kilometres (2,060 mi) northeast ofPerth via theGreat Northern Highway. It was established in 1886 to service a new goldfield atHalls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley region with a population of 941 as of the2021 census.[3] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 54% of the population. Wyndham comprises two areas - the original town site at Wyndham Port situated onCambridge Gulf, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) by road to the south, the Three Mile area with the residential and shopping area for the port, also founded in 1886.[4] Wyndham is part of theShire of Wyndham-East Kimberley.
Wyndham is within traditionalDoolboong country.[6]
The first European to visit the area wasPhillip Parker King in 1819. He was instructed to find a river "likely to lead to an interior navigation into the great continent". He sailed into Cambridge Gulf, which he named after theDuke of Cambridge, and then sailed up a river which was subsequently named after him. Finding no fresh water on the mudflats, he departed.
Wyndham was established on 14 April 1886, bygovernment resident and warden Charles Danvers Price,[7] who led a party including commissioner of crown landsJohn Forrest on theAdelaide Steamship Company mail steamer SSAlbany.[8][9]
Price selected Wyndham as the name for the new town, after Walter George Wyndham, the young stepson of the governor of Western AustraliaSir Frederick Napier Broome.[10][11]
By late-1886, the town was booming and there were three hotels at the port, one of which was a two-storey building, and two taverns at Three Mile Camp, as well as stores, bootmakers' and butchers' shops, a billiard room, a soda water factory, commission agencies, auctioneers and other businesses.[12][4]Ships brought in at least five thousand miners, who headed off to the Halls Creek goldfields. During this boom there were times when up to 16 vessels were moored in Cambridge Gulf.
However, by 1888, the gold rush at Halls Creek had ended and the fortunes of Wyndham declined. It became a tiny settlement serving the pastoral interests in the East Kimberley. By 1912, money had virtually disappeared from the Wyndham economy, and purchases were paid for usingpromissory notes known as "shinplasters".
In 1942, during World War II, the town and its aerodrome were attacked on four occasions byJapanese aircraft.
Wyndham's significance as a service centre was crucial for the construction of theOrd River Diversion Dam and the town ofKununurra in the early 1960s. With the rise of Kununurra as a larger population centre, the significance of Wyndham as a service centre had diminished by the 1980s. Wyndham has regained significance as the port for the region with new mines shipping ore from the port.
In 1913, the Western Australian government started to construct the Wyndham Meatworks to restart the town's economy. The construction efforts were interrupted by theNevanas affair andWorld War I, but the meatworks were completed in 1919 to a design byWilliam Hardwick, who later became thePrincipal Architect ofWestern Australia.[13]The meatworks were the mainstay of the town's economy until their closure in 1985; the town also supported theAir Beef Scheme, which ran from 1947 to 1965.[14][15]
Wyndham is on the eastern side ofCambridge Gulf, an inlet ofJoseph Bonaparte Gulf in theTimor Sea. It is surrounded by theDurack,Pentecost andKing rivers to the south,Forrest River to the west andOrd River to the north. Much of the land around Wyndham is inhospitable, and includes the Bastion Range and themudflats of the Cambridge Gulf. The Bastion Range is the site of the 28-square-kilometre (11 sq mi)Wyndham Important Bird Area, identified as such byBirdLife International because it holds the largest known population ofendangeredGouldian finches.[16]
Wyndham experiences ahot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSh), being a little too dry to be classified as atropical savanna climate (Aw), with a wet season from late November to March and a dry season from April to early November. The hottest month is November with an average maximum temperature of 39.5 °C (103.1 °F), and the coolest month is June with an average maximum of 31.0 °C (87.8 °F). The annual average maximum temperature is 35.6 °C (96.1 °F), one of the highest in Australia. In 1946, Wyndham recorded 333 consecutive days of temperatures over 32 °C (90 °F).[17] The wet season is veryhumid with the average dewpoint temperature at 3pm in February being 22.4 °C (72.3 °F). In the dry season, in August, it is 8.3 °C (46.9 °F).
Large rain events do occur in Wyndham, such as on 4 March 1919 when 318 millimetres (12.5 in) of rain were recorded over a 24-hour period, followed by another 117 millimetres (4.6 in) the next day.[18]
| Climate data for Wyndham Aero, elevation 4 m (13 ft), (2000–2020 normals, extremes 2000–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 44.0 (111.2) | 43.2 (109.8) | 43.9 (111.0) | 41.4 (106.5) | 39.4 (102.9) | 37.3 (99.1) | 38.1 (100.6) | 40.6 (105.1) | 42.0 (107.6) | 45.1 (113.2) | 44.9 (112.8) | 45.8 (114.4) | 45.8 (114.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 36.4 (97.5) | 36.1 (97.0) | 36.3 (97.3) | 36.9 (98.4) | 34.1 (93.4) | 31.5 (88.7) | 32.1 (89.8) | 34.0 (93.2) | 37.8 (100.0) | 39.6 (103.3) | 40.0 (104.0) | 38.1 (100.6) | 36.1 (96.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) | 26.0 (78.8) | 25.7 (78.3) | 23.5 (74.3) | 19.2 (66.6) | 15.9 (60.6) | 15.3 (59.5) | 16.1 (61.0) | 21.5 (70.7) | 24.8 (76.6) | 26.7 (80.1) | 26.7 (80.1) | 22.3 (72.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 20.9 (69.6) | 21.7 (71.1) | 19.0 (66.2) | 13.8 (56.8) | 8.9 (48.0) | 6.0 (42.8) | 5.1 (41.2) | 7.4 (45.3) | 10.7 (51.3) | 15.5 (59.9) | 18.4 (65.1) | 21.0 (69.8) | 5.1 (41.2) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 218.2 (8.59) | 221.3 (8.71) | 140.3 (5.52) | 29.0 (1.14) | 11.5 (0.45) | 5.3 (0.21) | 0.2 (0.01) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (0.04) | 20.3 (0.80) | 56.8 (2.24) | 199.7 (7.86) | 903.6 (35.57) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 13.4 | 12.1 | 8.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 5.0 | 10.7 | 55.4 |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology[19][20] | |||||||||||||
There are two schools, Wyndham District High School (K-12) and St Joseph's Catholic School (K-7), oneTAFE campus, and a daycare centre.
Wyndham is served byWyndham Airport. A circulartramway was built by thePublic Works Department in conjunction with the meatworks to connect it to the town's goods shed jetty.[21]
The Wyndham Memorial Swimming Pool is a public swimming pool,[22] opened on 5 November 1966 byCharles Court.[23]
The Ted Birch Memorial Youth and Recreation Centre is a multi-purpose, community recreation facility. The centre, originally the Wyndham Recreation Centre, was opened on 11 October 2003 by the shire president Barbara Johnson.[24] The Centre was renamed on 29 May 2014 in honour of Pastor Edward "Ted" Birch, who was instrumental in helping establish a youth service in Wyndham.[25][26][27]
Peter Reid Memorial Hall is a community hall in Wyndham available for community events and private bookings. The hall, originally the Wyndham Hall, was built in 1982 and was later renamed the Peter Reid Memorial Hall in recognition of Peter Reid's service to the community by the WyndhamLions Club, following his death in 1985.
The Wyndham Port Shire Hall is a historic building that was constructed in 1960 on the foundations of the original school and road board buildings from 1894. The Hall was also an office and administration building for theShire of Wyndham-East Kimberley and later a recreation space until it was converted into an art gallery in 1997. The hall became known as the Boab Art Gallery and showcased artworks by local and regional artists.[28] The Hall is now leased to a community group to support the conservation of theGouldian finch, a rare and endangered bird species that live in the mangroves near Wyndham.[29] The hall is also a part of a heritage walk of Wyndham Port.
Wyndham is also the home of theBig Crocodile, a wire and concrete statue of a crocodile around 18 metres (60 ft) long.
For tourists, there are two hotels and a caravan park. The nearby Bastion lookout provides sweeping vistas of the surrounding country, including theDurack,Pentecost,King,Forrest andOrd Rivers, which emerge into the Cambridge Gulf. The town has a museum in the old courthouse that is open to the public and run by the Wyndham Historical Society. Nearby Wyndham is theBoab Prison Tree.
Jirrawun Arts was anIndigenous Australian art centre, established in 1998 inKununurra before moving to Wyndham in 2006. It was notable as the base forcontemporary Indigenous Australian artists of the easternKimberley region, includingPaddy Bedford andFreddie Timms. It closed in 2010. Their art was exhibited in exhibitions in Melbourne and elsewhere.[30][31]
The Wyndham area was a filming location for:
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