Minilya, Western Australia facts for kids
Minilya is a small place in Western Australia, a large state in Australia. It's located north of a town called Carnarvon. Minilya is an important spot because it sits right on the North West Coastal Highway, which is a major road for traveling along the coast.
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What is Minilya?
Minilya is mainly known as a stopping point along the North West Coastal Highway. It's a place where you can find a turn-off to Exmouth, another town about 220 kilometers (137 miles) away. If you keep driving on the main highway past Minilya, the road continues for another 217 kilometers (135 miles) until you reach the Nanutarra Roadhouse. A roadhouse is like a rest stop with fuel and sometimes food.
People in Minilya
Every few years, Australia counts its population in what's called a census. This helps us understand how many people live in different areas. During the 2016 census, only 19 people were living in Minilya. This number was much lower than in 2006, when 137 people lived there. This shows that Minilya is a very small and quiet community.
Natural Features Nearby
Just north of Minilya, you'll find a place called Marsh Hill and a waterway known as the Lyndon River. The Lyndon River is interesting because it flows into a large salt lake called Lake Macleod. Lakes like Macleod are often dry salt flats for much of the year, filling with water only after heavy rains.
Minilya's History
The Minilya area was first explored by Europeans in 1876. Two men, Charles Brockman and George Hamersley, were the first to visit this region. They were the ones who gave names to some of the natural features they found.
Naming the Rivers
Charles Brockman and George Hamersley named both the Minilya River and the Lyndon River. The name "Minilya" is thought to come from an Aboriginal word, though its exact meaning isn't fully known today. This shows the long history of Aboriginal people living in and knowing this land before European explorers arrived.
A Local Photographer
The Minilya area has also inspired artists. A photographer known by the pen name Coyarre (whose real name was Amelia Bunbury) took many beautiful pictures of this region. Her photographs were so good that they won multiple awards and were even published in a well-known newspaper called the Western Mail.
