Lake King, Western Australia Explained

Type:town
Lake King
State:wa
Lga:Shire of Lake Grace
Local Map:yes
Zoom:9
Coordinates:-33.085°N 119.689°W
Postcode:6356
Est:1936
Elevation:344
Stategov:Roe
Fedgov:O'Connor
Dist1:464
Dir1:ESE
Location1:Perth
Dist2:64
Dir2:NW
Location2:Ravensthorpe
Dist3:114
Dir3:E
Location3:Lake Grace

Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, 464km (288miles) from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the town and the surrounding area for a population of 332.

Lake King is named after a nearby lake which in turn was named after the Surveyor General of Western Australia, Henry Sandford King, by Marshall Fox, District Surveyor (Narrogin).

In 1926, following completion of an initial land classification survey of the Lake King district that defined 230,000 acres as suitable for settlement,[1] [2] a large official inspection party was led by Surveyor General John Percy Camm, Sydney Stubbs (MLA Wagin), Edwin Wilkie Corboy (MLA Yilgan), and James Cornell (MLC South Province).[3] The area was surveyed and access roads built during 1927, and land released in 1928 at prices from 4/6 to 16/- per acre.[4] The town struggled through the Great Depression but thrived in the postwar years on the back of high wool and wheat prices.[5]

The Lake King Progress Association lobbied the government to declare a townsite in 1935 and the town was gazetted in 1936.

The surrounding areas produce wheat and other cereal crops. The town is a receival site for Cooperative Bulk Handling.[6]

Notes and References

  1. News: Land Classification . 4 May 2020 . Great Southern Leader . 15 October 1926 . Pingelly, WA . 8.
  2. News: Land Settlement . 4 May 2020 . Western lMail . 4 November 1926 . Perth, WA.
  3. News: Lake King . 4 May 2020 . The Wagin Argus and Arthur, Dumbleyung, Lake Grace Express . 1 October 1926 . 3–4.
  4. News: Government Land . 4 May 2020 . Bruce Rock Post and Corrigin and Narembeen Guardian . 30 March 1928 . 6.
  5. Web site: The history of Lake King. 2006. 29 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080721125419/http://www.lakeking.com.au/history.htm. 21 July 2008. dead.
  6. Web site: CBH receival sites . 2011 . 1 April 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120318082458/https://www.cbh.com.au/media/120302/cbh%20receival%20sites%20-%20contact%20details.pdf . 18 March 2012 .