Map - Spencers Brook, Western Australia (Spencers Brook)

Spencers Brook (Spencers Brook)
Spencers Brook is a waterway, locality and a district located within the Avon Valley in Western Australia.

The locality is sited between the towns of Northam and York, about 95 km east of the state capital, Perth. It is a part of the Central Ward administered by the Shire of Northam. Spencers Brook can be accessed from Clackline to the west or Northam to the north, via Spencers Brook Rd, or from York to the south via Spencers Brook-York Rd. At the, Spencers Brook had a population of 195.

It was an important rail junction, being the point at which trains from Perth diverted south to the Great Southern Railway (Beverley to Albany) or east to the Eastern Goldfields Railway (Northam to Kalgoorlie). Spencers Brook railway station originally opened in 1885 with the completion of the Perth line to York, with a spur line from Spencers Brook to Northam completed the following year in 1886. It was operating as a railway stopping place at 50 miles 44 chains (81.35 km) from Perth until 1966, incorporating a railway yard, refreshment tearooms and a watering tank tower.

With the 1966 official closing of the line from Spencers Brook through to Midland, a singular line remnant of the railway nevertheless remained open until 1981 servicing iron ore trains via Northam and Spencers Brook to an iron and steel foundry located at Wundowie; thereafter, all associated rail infrastructure was removed and nothing remains today of the Spencers Brook junction/station except for the former Stationmasters residence and remnant concrete foundations for the locomotive turntable. However, the Great Southern Railway does still arc through the Spencers Brook locality between the towns of Northam and York.

Spencers Brook, as a locality, was originally named Brookton by the landowner, Thomas Wilding, who built the historical Brookton Hotel in 1884 (renamed Spencers Brook Hotel in 1920) and which continues to trade to this day as Spencers Brook Tavern; it also features nearby the Muresk Institute, Curtin University's school of agribusiness, applied biosciences and environmental biology.

The closest commercial centre is Northam, located approximately 15 kilometres north of Spencers Brook.

During World War II Spencers Brook was the location of the Australian Army 7th Supply Depot (7SD), operated by 8 Supply Personnel Company, which stored material such as clothing, medical supplies and food etc. for storage and distribution. The depot was serviced by a spur line from the then Eastern Railway and remains of the depot can be seen on the right travelling toward the railway crossing on Spencers Brook Road from the Tavern.

 
Map - Spencers Brook (Spencers Brook)
Country - Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
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