Northam is a town
situated at the confluence of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers in the Avon
Valley, about 97 kilometres (60 mi) north-east of Perth.
The area around Northam was first explored in 1830 by a party of
colonists led by Ensign Robert Dale, and subsequently founded in 1833.
It was named by Governor Stirling, probably after a village of the same
name in Devon, England.
Almost immediately it became a point of departure for explorers and
settlers who were interested in the lands which lay to the east. This
initial importance declined with the growing importance of the other
nearby towns of York and Beverley, but the arrival of the railway made
Northam the major departure point for fossickers and miners who headed
east towards the goldfields.
Accommodation in Northam
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