Beacon History

BEACON

1926 – 2003

Situated

320km north-east of Perth

142km north-west of Merredin

140km north -east of Wongan Hills

Beacon is in the North-East Wheatbelt in the Mt Marshall district.  The district was first explored by Surveyor General J.S. Roe in 1836.  It is not known with any great certainty if it was Sandalwood Cutters or the sheep farmer who first came to the Beacon area before it was settled and developed.  It is recorded that shepherds were in the district from 1870 with a pastoral lease being taken up at Datjoin, 20kms east of Beacon, in 1872 and it is thought that the sandalwooders came in the 1880s after a boom in sandalwood prices.  A number of settlers were allocated blocks in 1921-22. Land at Beacon was not officially opened for selection until 1926. Further development of the area 25km north of Beacon came about after the railway line was laid from Kulja to Bonnie Rock in 1931 and more land was opened for farming in the Tampu-Nth Beacon-Nth Cleary area out to the vermin fence in 1965.

The total population of the Beacon district is approximately 300, with 110 people living in the township. The Beacon township has excellent facilities which include the CommunityCentre/Telecentre/Town Hall, Recreational Complex, Oval, Silver Chain Nursing Centre, Primary School, Country Club, Churches, General Store/Post Office,  Stock & Station/Hardware Stores, Mechanic, Panel Beater, Caravan Park, Motel Units and Barracks Accommodation.  Community organisations and sporting bodies are numerous within the district.  Broadacre farming is the dominant industry. 

North of Beacon the district has an abundance of ideal picnic spots and stop-off points on your way thru to the Emu Proof Fence and out into station country with a wonderous display of wildflowers along the way.

Location:

Beacon is a small town in the Shire of Mt Marshall. Beacon is approximately 325km north-east of Perth, located 42 km north of Bencubbin and the M40-Wyalkatchem-Southern Cross Rd, 140km north-east of of Wongan Hills, 160km north-west of Merredin.  Beacon is approx 70km south of the Emu Proof Fence.

Economic Base

Climatic influences:

Beacon experiences hot dry summers with temperatures ranging from 35 - 45 degrees. The daytime temperatures in the mild to cool winters range from 9-18 degrees. 

The town is influenced by strong east to north-easterlies from spring to summer, variable in autumn and south-west to southerly winds in winter.  During late spring and autumn it is usual to expect thunderstorms.

Summer nights can be very hot and winter nights bring frosts.  Beacon has an average rainfall of 275mm. The district has experienced exceptionally dry seasons over the past 2 seasons, 2001 & 2002, the like not seen in the area in 50 yrs or more. 2003 promises to be an average to above average cropping season.

Settlement and Circumstances:

Lt James Septumus Roe, Surveyor General of the Swan River Colony explored the Mt Marshall district in 1836.  Other explorers, Robert Austin, AC Gregory, FT Gregory, John Forrest, Surveyor H King made records of all the water points and named them, along with many number of hills and rocks as they travelled thru on their way to Shark Bay and other far off places. In 1889 Surveyor H King traversed the Mt Marshall district and it was not long after this that land was thrown open to agriculture in the areas around Bencubbin.

It is recorded that shepherds were in the district from 1870 and it is thought the sandalwood cutters came in the 1880's after a boom in sandalwood prices.  The area was opened to pastoral leases as far north as Datjoin in 1872.  Sandalwood cutters were very active in the district around Beacon from 1880's and they extended further north in the 1920's when the industry was thriving. The sandalwood cutters used the water points recorded by the early explorers and in later days the sandalwooders tracks were used by early settlers linking them to many areas.  It is not known for certainty whether it was sandalwood cutters or the sheep farmer who first came to the Mt Marshall sector and on to Beacon before it was settled and developed.

Surveyors had been at work since 1921, dividing the country into 1000 acre blocks.  A number of blocks were allocated after the paying of a fairly stiff survey fee. Interested settlers formed the North Bencubbin Railway League in 1924 to push the railway line north from Bencubbin to the Beacon Rock area. Land at Beacon was not officially opened for selection until 1926 with further development of the area 25km north of Beacon coming about after the railway line was laid from Kulja - Bonnie Rock in 1931.  More land was opened for farming in the Tampu - Nth Beacon area out to the vermin fence in 1965.

The North Bencubbin Railway League formed in 1924.  In 1927 it became redundant and the North Bencubbin Progress Association was formed.  Meetings were held at Warkutting and by 1929 meetings were being held in Beacon, then known as Beacon Rock.  Thus the Beacon Rock  Progress Association was formed.  In 1931 the township of Beacon Rock was officially renamed Beacon. The name was shortened to Beacon because of postal confusion with another siding.  The Beacon Progress Association went into a short recess in the late 1970’s.

The Progress Association is still in action today and it has worked extremely hard for Beacon for 77 years improving the life of the community by obtaining necessaties such as water, electricity, telephone, rail services, roads, grain facilities, Local Govt representation and most of the other community facilities we have in Beacon today.

Beacon has been established over the past 70 years by the very strong, active and caring spirit of the pioneers of Beacon and their community of today. 

The name Beacon Rock is still in existence today.  It is the Beacon Rock water catchment area 5km north of the Beacon township where storage tanks were built and it was used as a railway water supply. Today the tanks and the catchment is owned by the Water Authority and the scheme water supply links into to it and supplies the townsite and surrounding farmers. The Scheme water supply was opened in Beacon on 16th December 1970 after 6 years of hard lobbying of the Government and other bodies.

The first train came to Beacon on 4th May 1931.  The train was a welcome means of supply and communication to the tradespeople of the community.  The township was just beginning to flourish with buildings springing up.  Beacon had at times a: store, bakery, butchery, garage, greengrocer, barber shop, greengrocer, Buffalo Lodge, progress association, cricket and football teams. 

Beacon's first school, a one room building, was the North Bencubbin School that was re-erected at Beacon in 1932 for the cost of 79 pounds.  The school was closed in 1945 due to low attendance but re-opened in 1946.  In 1954 the Cleomine School building was erected at Beacon for 1210 pounds.  The new school was opened on 23rd July 1954.  The old CWA room across the road from the school was used to house the junior grades in 1962 and in 1963 the children moved to a portioned section of the Progress Hall.  On 27th November, 1964 the building of permanent additions to the school were started. This project was at a cost of 11,498 pounds.  In 1967 the old Cleomine school building was removed and re-sited in Dunne Street.  It is used as a private residence today.  In 1967 - 68 there were 100 children in attendance at the schoo and in 1969 the there were 143 children at school.  The school library on site at the north end of the school was the old Wialki school building. After the closure of the Wialki school the building was dismantled and transported to Beacon and  rebuilt by the  Beacon  Primary School  P & C and the Headmaster,  Richard Bushell,  in 1994. 

The original Hall was a structure of bush timber.  The roof and walls were of corrugated iron with hessian partitions with a dirt floor.  The site of the old hall was on the north side of the railway line in Kirby Street where the Shire Yard now stands. The first talking pictures shown in the Beacon were projected at the Hall in 1936.  The Beacon Town Hall was built at the corner of Hamilton Street and Rowland Street in the early 1950's.  After extensions to the Town Hall in 1959 &1964 it was also used as an outdoor picture theatre . In 1994 additions were made to the Town Hall to house the Playgroup, Telecentre, offices, changerooms,  toilets, and a new kitchen. This section became what is known as the Beacon Community Centre.  Further additions are planned in the near future to house the Telecentre,  Beacon Bulletin newspaper, Library, Landcare office and another office to accommodate visiting professional services and as well as being available to the community for seminars or meetings.  The area housing the Telecentre in the existing building is not adequate and the old building housing the Beacon Bulletin and the Library is not in a healthy state.  With the need for better access to technology these four services need to be housed together.           

The original Beacon Country Club, situated in Rowlands Street at the rear of the existing Country Club was built in the 1950's. The current Country Club was built in 1967. Additions to cater for patrons children were built in the mid 1980's.  The old building is used by four groups,  the community to produce the local newspaper, the Beacon Bulletin, the Mt Marshall Shire who provide a once weekly library service to the community, the Policeman also visits once a week and is available at the library.  The local veterinarian, who travels from Bimbijy Station once a fortnight holds a clinic and the Theatre Arts group uses a room for storage.  The building has sadly seen better days and is becoming too costly to repair and it is planned that the library and the newspaper will move to the Community Centre along with the Telecentre when a new facility is built.  The original Club Manager's house is situated opposite the old Country Club at 32 Rowlands Street.  The club updated their Manager's housing in the late 1970's when they purchased a home at 97 Shemeld Street.  This home was built in the late 1960's by Mr & Mrs Crabbe Snr.  In 1998 the Country Club built a new transportable home for the Manager  at 101 hemeld Street directly opposite the Country Club.

The Beacon Bulletin, the local newspaper, was first published in 1976.  The paper was originally started as a Football Bulletin after the re-formation of the Beacon Football Club in 1976. Today this paper is the life line of the community. It is edited, printed, assembled and managed on a voluntary basis by the women in the Beacon community.

The original football/sporting oval was situated on the north side of the railway line in Kirby Street in the early 1930's.  This was a dirt oval and the football shed was a bough shed.  In the early 1960's the Shire made funds available for the club to build a corrugated iron shed.  Changerooms and hot water facilities were added in 1975.  This sports ground and facilities was also used as a caravan park. A new caravan park was eventually built in Lucas Street in 1982. Work began on a new Beacon Sporting Complex in Shipway Drive in June 1978. The building was officially opened on 31st March 1979 and the first football match was played on the ground on the 28th April 1979.   The farmers and the local community transported most of the materials for the building and the oval.  The community raised a self supporting loan to assist in the payment for the cost of the building.  Renovations to the building to provide a ladies changeroom, storeroom and a squash court were carried out in 1994. The community fully self funded this project. 

The first mention of football played by a team from Beacon appears to be in 1930 against a team at Kulja. In 1938 it is recorded that they played a match against Marindo and beat them 15.2 to 2.1.  It was a pretty rough and ready game with no umpire to uphold the rules.  The Beacon Football Club officially formed in 1961.  They went into recess at end of 1969 and then reformed for the 1976 season. From the period of 1976 – 2003 the Beacon Football Club has played in 24 Grandfinals and has won 13.  Of these, 7 were in consecutive years from 1991 to 1997.

Similarly Beacon has supported a very successful ladies hockey team.  The ladies formed a side in 1975.  During the period from 1988 to 2003 the hockey team participated in 16 consecutive Grandfinals.  Of these they won 11 premierships, 10 of them in a row.

Beacon Rock people formed a tennis club in 1930 and built tennis courts north of the railway line near the hall. (Opposite the old Football oval which is now the Shire yards).  Previous to this they played at Warkutting.  New tennis courts were built next to the Country Club in Rowlands Street in the early 1950's, next to where the CWA is now situated.  When the new sporting complex was built the club moved to the new facility in 1979 and in .the early 1990's built themselves a new transportable club rooms.

Beacon support two cricket teams, Beacon & Wialki. While surrounding towns have found it difficult to maintain a cricket side the district has managed to keep two sides in competition.  Both these teams have been very successful over the many years since their formation in the 1930’s.

The building that houses the Old Beacon Bakehouse Café business was built in early 1930's as a bakery and private dwelling. This building is of cement brick and later fibro additions were made to it.  In the mid 1950's the premises was turned into a private home for the school teacher. In the 1960's it became a hardware store/stock and station agency.  In 2002, despite the worst drought in the area in 50 years or more, Marilyn Dunne, a farmer, established the “Old Beacon Bakehouse Café” in this building. As there is no similar establishment within 200kms or more, the success to date of this Café has far exceeded Mrs Dunne expectations as well as those of the community. In the space of 1 year the business has grown from requiring 2 full time staff members to 5.

The Beacon CWA was formed on 3rd June 1933.  In 1934 their membership was 16.  Early meetings were held in the Presidents home and then later in a small room in town.  A cement brick rest room was built in 1939 by volunteer labour.  School children used the room one afternoon a week to make and sell leather work. The Beacon CWA were very active in all activities and fund raising events and made substantial contributions to the war effort.  The CWA numbers varied from 15 to 20 during the 1930's & 1940's. The members built a new transportable CWA rooms in 1970's at 39 Rowlands Street.  Beacon still have an active CWA, though numbers have fallen over the years with young women being so involved in other activities and having better access to transport they are more on the move.

The Silver Chain Centre was built in 1962.  This building is constructed out of brick and has a tiled roof.  This premises houses the medical clinic and the nursing sisters home. 

A new transportable family home will be on site at 15 Lindsay Street in early 1999 and renovations to the existing clinic will be carried out to upgrade the centre following the establishment of the new home. The hospital is 100kms from Beacon and another 50kms further for the northern residence of the Beacon district.  The Silver Chain Centre is an essential and much valued service in the community.

Beacon Co-op in Lindsay Street was purchased by the community in May 1998.  This building was erected in 1964  as a general store.  The success of this store is due to the committed support of the Beacon Community.  The Co-op is managed by a volunteer committee with a full time store manager employed.

BEACON COMMUNITY CENTENARY PARK

The community of Beacon established a Community Playground in the centre of Beacon that caters for residents, families visiting town for community activities, business, etc;  touring families. This playground was made possible by financial assistance from the Centenary of Federation Committee, the Mt Marshall Shire, donation of the use of the land by the Beacon Country Club, and the generous volunteer effort of many members of the Beacon Community. The park was named the Beacon Community Federation Park to recognise the achievements of all those, past and present, who contributed towards the development of Beacon.

The project has been of tremendous value to Beacon as an essential facility, accessible to families and their children on a daily basis and also for those who are users of the Beacon Community Centre /Telecentre/Town Hall, Beacon CWA, Beacon Country Club, and as an attractive facility to encourage visitors to stop and enjoy.

The Beacon district has been established over the past 70 years by the very strong, active and caring spirit of our pioneers.  This pioneering spirit has existed in the farmers and the supporting businesses in our district over a period of 50 years or more, as during this time someone was always starting off from scratch, clearing new ground, taking a gamble with the seasons and always needing the strong support of their fellow community members to help them succeed.  This is the same pioneering spirit shown by the early settlers of Australia towards the development of our country as we know it today.   

Beacon people have a very strong, loyal, active, and caring spirit in their community and they hope to promote and develop the same attitude in their youth by their ongoing involvement in the establishment and further development of facilities such as this playground.

Our community today still continues with this same tough, loyal spirit, whether in our daily business/farming activities, community groups working together to achieve new facilities for our people or in our sporting teams showing commitment to  fellow team members and supporters resulting in many great achievements.