Laverton, situated on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert, 360 kilometres north east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is one of Western Australia's remote inland townships, but visitors are constantly amazed by the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside. It is a land of contrasts.
From rugged breakaway cliffs, to quiet, cool billabongs, from the magnificence of the wedgetail eagle to the beauty of the Sturt Pea, Laverton is a welcome oasis for travellers crossing from Alice Springs on the Outback Highway, one of the worlds great road journeys.
It is also where fortunes were won and lost in the 1960s and 1970s when the gold price dipped nickel shares boomed with Poseidon shares leaping from 80 cents to $280 in less than six months.
Laverton was a thriving district of gold strikes and mines in 1900, but the gold price fluctuations of the 1960s reduced it almost to a ghost town. The discovery of nickel in 1969 at Mt Windarra sparked the world famous Poseidon share surge and nickel boom, but as so often happens in mining, the nickel ran out and Poseidon disappeared from the Stock Exchange.
Today Mt Windarra is a silent reminder of the subtleties of mining.
The mine site has been rehabilitated into the Mt Windarra Heritage Trial and is one of many interesting attractions in the region - a ghost mine from the modern era - a stark contrast with the gold mines of the 1890s.
Poseidon was only one of many mining stories from the region. You can visit the lonely ghost towns and cemeteries at Burtville (28 kilometres) and Mt Morgans (48 kilometres), Lavertons historic police station and gaol (built 1900) and take your photo with the impressive statue of Dr Charles Laver and his bike.
Today Laverton boasts two major gold mines and one of the worlds largest nickel mining operations as well as a thriving pastoral industry.
But there is so much more. You can discover the subtle beauty and vivid colours of a desert wilderness and breakaway country alive with a diversity of acacia woodlands and flora, or explore a landscape rich with sites of Aboriginal culture and dreamtime stories. Many of Australias great explorers passed through the Laverton region on their quest to discover new lands.
Laverton features a motel, caravan park, chalets and station homestay.
