Laverton, Western Australia

Laverton is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and the centre of administration for the Shire of Laverton. The town of Laverton is located at the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, 957 km north-northeast of the state capital, Perth, and 124 km east-northeast of the town of Leonora with an elevation of 461 m.

About a third of the population are of Aboriginal descent. The area is extremely arid, with a mean annual rainfall of just 230 millimetres (8 inches). It is also quite warm, with mean daily maximum temperatures ranging from 17 °C (62 °F) in July to 36 °C (97 °F) in January.

Recent mining activity in the area has seen the re-opening of the old Windarra Mine by Poseidon Nickel and the re-opening of the old Sons of Gwalia Barnicoat Mine by Crescent Gold.

Laverton is the westernmost town on the Outback Way - a proposed highway which goes through the Northern Territory to Winton in outback Queensland.

History
A number of early explorers travelled over the Laverton area, including John Forrest, David Carnegie and Frank Hann. Gold was discovered in the area in 1896 and many prospectors and miners moved into the area. Among them was Dr Charles W. Laver, who became an enthusiastic supporter and promoter of the region.

One of the most successful mines was Craiggiemore, and by 1897 a residential and business area had sprung up on the west side of the mine. This area came to be known as Laverton, in honour of Laver. In 1899, the residents sought to have a townsite surveyed, but by then the original location had become unsuitable, so a new site was chosen about three kilometres from the original lots. The site was surveyed in July 1899 and the town of Laverton gazetted in July 1900.

By the late 1960s, Laverton was in decline, mainly because of the very low price of gold. But in 1969 a prospector named Ken Shirley discovered a huge nickel deposit in the area, prompting the famous Poseidon bubble. This deposit was developed into the huge Windarra Nickel Project, which mined and processed nickel for over 20 years.

Agriculture
Laverton is primarily a mining area. There are two major gold mines in the shire: Granny Smith, owned and operated by Gold Fields, and the Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti. Both open pit and underground mining is conducted at these mines. Smaller gold mines, like the BrightStar and the Laverton Gold Mine are also in the area. The Murrin Murrin laterite nickel project is also located nearby, just over the shire border in Leonora. The area is too arid to support agriculture, but very low density grazing of sheep and cattle is feasible, and a substantial area of land is used in this way.

Demographics
According to census results from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Laverton statistical local area fell from 2,078 to 730 in the five years from 2001 to 2006. Over this same period, the proportion of indigenous people in the area increased from 19% to 40%.

Climate
Laverton has a semi-arid climate with hot summers and mild to cool winters.