Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Guilderton WA

Guilderton

Postcode: 6041

Guilderton is a small coastal town north of Perth, Western Australia at the mouth of the Moore River.

It was originally known as Gabbadah, an Aboriginal term meaning “mouthful of water” until its gazetting as a town in 1951. The river mouth regularly opens and closes depending on the seasons, and alternates between a closed lagoon and a tidal estuary.

The town is a popular holiday destination for Perth residents who commonly refer to it as Moore River.

In 1931, 40 17th-century silver guilder coins were found in the sandhills near the entrance to the Moore River – thus the name Guilderton. The coins were thought to be from the wreck of the Dutch ship, the Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon) that had foundered on a reef north of the river-mouth near Ledge Point in 1656.