Burtville, Western Australia
{{Short description|Abandoned town in Western Australia}}
{{Copypaste|url=https://outbackfamilyhistory.com.au/records/record.php?record_id=82&town=Burtville|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox Australian place | type = town
| name =Burtville
| state = wa
| image =
| caption =
| lga = Shire of Laverton
| coordinates = {{coord|28.46|S|122.39|E|display=inline,title}}
| postcode = 6440
| est = 1902
| pop =
| elevation= 447
| maxtemp =
| mintemp =
| rainfall =
| stategov = Kalgoorlie
| fedgov = O'Connor
| dist1 = 29
| dir1 = SE
| location1= Laverton
| dist2 = 247
| dir2 = NE
| location2= Kalgoorlie
| dist3 = 740
| dir3 = ENE
| location3= Perth
}}
Burtville is an abandoned town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located {{convert|29|km|mi|0}} south east of Laverton.
History
In 1897, gold was discovered in the area by two prospectors, B. Frost and James E. Tregurtha.{{Cite web |title=Mindat website |url=http://www.mindat.org/loc-269008.html |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=Mindat.org}}{{Cite book |last=Tregurtha |first=James, E. |title=Leaves from a Prospectors Diary |publisher=Hesperian |year=1996 |isbn=0859052125 |location=Carlisle, Western Australia}} The surveyor, J. Rowe, planned the town lots in accordance with the Goldfields Act in 1901. The settlement was initially known as Merolia which is the Indigenous Australian name for the district.{{LandInfo WA|c|B|10 November 2010}}
The town was eventually named after the grandson of the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Sir Archibald Burt. Archibald Edmund Burt JP was the chief mining warden of the Mount Margaret Goldfield.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28842499 |title=The Mount Margaret Goldfields - Present position and future prospects|newspaper=The West Australian|location=Perth, WA |date=27 May 1908 |accessdate=30 August 2012 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
The town was gazetted as Merolia in 1902 but was regazetted to compliment Archibald Edmund Burt later the same year.
File:Burtville, Wester Australia ruins 2008.jpg
The population of the town and district rose to approximately 400 by 1903 as a result of gold mining. The town also had a water supply from a government well and a sealed pan sanitation system. A police station was opened in 1903 along with a school and two hotels. A ten stamp state battery and five stamp battery known as The Burtville Ore Reduction works were operated within the town from 1903 to 1906. Another privately owned ten stamp battery that allowed public access known as The sons of Westralia was also operating at the time.{{cite web|url=http://members.westnet.com.au/caladenia/ghosttowns/B.pdf|title=Morowa District Historical Society|year=2009|accessdate=2010-11-09|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312055951/http://members.westnet.com.au/caladenia/ghosttowns/B.pdf|archivedate=12 March 2011|df=dmy-all}}
By 1916 the population had reduced to 45 and the police station was closed.{{Citation | author1=Layman, Lenore, (editor.) | author2=Fitzgerald, Criena, (editor.) | author3=Western Australian Museum, (issuing body.) | title=110 degrees in the waterbag : a history of life, work and leisure in Leonora, Gwalia and the northern goldfields | date=December 2011 | publication-date=2012 | publisher=Western Australian Museum | isbn=978-1-920843-68-7}}
All that remains of the town today is the entrance door arch of one of the town's hotels.{{cite web|url=http://www.exploroz.com/Places/61295/WA/Burtville.aspx|title=ExploreOz - Burtville, WA|year=2009|accessdate=9 November 2010}}
References
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{{Towns Goldfields-Esperance WA}}
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