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Geraldton (28°46′52″S, 114°36′45″E) is a city and port in Western Australia located 424 km north of Perth. According to the 2001 census, Geraldton has a population of 29,996, making it the fifth-largest city in Western Australia.

Today the city is an important centre for mining, fishing, wheat, sheep and tourism.

Contents 1 History 2 Attractions 3 Nearby 4 Old Port 5 New Port 6 Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station 7 Images of Geraldton 8 External links 9 Notes

Though many European maritime explorers encountered or were even wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos islands 60 km to the west of Geraldton in the 17th and 18th centuries, there seems to be no evidence that any made landfall near the site of the current town. The first European to explore the area was George Grey in 1839. A decade later the explorer Augustus Gregory travelled through the area. He discovered lead on the Murchison River and the mine which was subsequently established was named Geraldine after the Governor Charles Fitzgerald. The town of Geraldton was gazetted in 1850.

The construction of the St Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral started in 1916 but was not completed until 1938. The cathedral was designed by Monsignor John Hawes who was both an architect and a priest.

The lighthouse located on Point Moore was recently repainted and established as another attraction of Geraldton.

Geraldton's public high school, John Willcock College is famous for having been attended by Ernie Dingo. Also recently the school became the first in Australia to have a laptop programme with all students being provided with Apple Notebook Computers for study purposes.

The HMAS Sydney is thought to have been lost off the coast and there is a memorial overlooking the city.

Geraldton is also an internationally renowned windsurfing location. The most famous spot is Coronation Beach, located just north of the town. "Coro" is a spectacular port tack jumping site, with flat water on the inside and unhindered Indian Ocean rolling swell offshore. In the late afternoon, the wind swings a little more offshore and starboard tack waveriding becomes possible.

Geraldton is also home to a flourishing horse racing industry, that since 1887 hosts the annual Geraldton Gold Cup. The 2007 Geraldton Gold Cup was won by the Clive Lauritzen trained 8yr old TapDog. The race was historically significant. Tapdog became the first horse to win the race three times, Clive Lauritsen became the first trainer to win the race 6 times, Roy McKay became the first jockey to win the race three times, and owners Peter Day, Jeannette Day, and Hans Hoiskar equalled the most wins by an owner in three. The race also passed the million dollar mark for the first time in tote turnover.

North of Geraldton is the town of Northampton, as well as the Hutt River Province, an area which claims to be an independent nation, since its self-proclaimed secession from Western Australia in 1969.

The Houtman Abrolhos islands are 60 km to the west of Geraldton. They are famous for the 1629 wreck of the Batavia. A stone portico recovered from the wreck has been reconstructed at the local museum, along with other artifacts.

Twenty-five kilometres south of Geraldton near Walkaway a windfarm was completed in August 2005. It consists of 54 turbines, each producing 1.8 MW and 80 metres high with 40 metre blades.

The original port has be dredged to a depth of 9.4m at the berths, which is suitable for ships of 64,000 DWT.

In 2006, it was proposed to establish a new deepwater port at Oakajee, about 25km north of Geraldton. This port would serve the mining industry, especially iron ore.

The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS) (28°41′39″S, 114°50′39″E) is located at Kojarena, inland near Geraldton. The ADSCS is part of the US signals intelligence and analysis network ECHELON. The station has four satellite tracking dishes which intercept communications from Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Pakistani regional satellites[1] and international communications satellites (INTELSATs and COMSATs), throughout the Indian Ocean and South-East Asian regions. Staff are drawn from the American National Security Agency and the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, and the site is operated under the UKUSA Agreement.[2]

On 15 February 2007, it was announced that a new US military communications base would be built in Geraldton, after three years of secret negotiations between the US and the Australian Federal Government.^[1]

Bill Sewell Complex

Windfarm

St Francis Xavier Cathedral

Coronation Beach Windsurfing

Coordinates: -28.7811° 114.6125°

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
• City of Geraldton
• Geraldton on Google Maps
• Western Australian Museum - Geraldton
• HMAS Sydney II Memorial Geraldton

1. ^ Brendan Nicholson. US gets military base in Western Australia. The Age, 15 February 2007.