Broomehill
Postcode: 6318
Broomehill is a town located along the Great Southern Highway between Katanning and Albany, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
The town of Broomehill owes its creation to the Great Southern Railway, which was completed in 1889. The railway runs from Beverley to Albany. Broomehill is named after Sir Frederick Napier Broome (1842-1896) who was then the Governor of Western Australia. A group of settlers from the now extinct town of Eticup moved to the present site of Broomehill to help establish a township after the construction of the railway was completed. These settlers included the withams, the Walshes, and the Curnows. these three families worked hard to establish the early structures. In 1892, a Police Station and Post Office were also established. The town is located 302 km southeast of Perth on the Great Southern Highway and is 20km south of Katanning.
Members of the tiny Broomehill Historical Society agree that ‘the only incident in the history of the town that might be of national interest is the blazing of a trail from Broomehill to Coolgardie – directly across country – in 1893 following the discovery of gold in Coolgardie. The party was led by John Holland and the trail became known as Holland’s Track. Prospectors came from all directions to Albany and travelled to Broomehill by train and then, usually, walked the rest of the way wheeling all their possessions, rations, and equipment in their wheelbarrows. The distance of the track was somewhere over 450 km.’ A memorial to Holland’s Track is located outside the Shire Office.
The town site of Broomehill was officially declared in 1897 however the locals celebrated the town’s centenary in 1989 presumably recognising the arrival of the railway and the establishment of the local Post Office as being more important than any official gazetting of the town.