I is for ISSEKA and ILKULKA and ILLAWONG

I couldn't find a well known town in Western Australia beginning with the letter I but have found three little known places that you may find of interest.

ILKULKA Community (often spelt Ilkurlka) is a small community and roadhouse on the Anne Beadel Highway in Western Australia.  Located 165km west of the South Australian border, it is the only fuel and supplies depot on the 1340 km long desert track between Laverton in Western Australia and Coober Pedy in South Australia.  This is the roadhouse:

Opened in 2003, the roadhouse is managed by Ilkulka Aboriginal Corporation  Located at the intersection of madua Loongana Track (Aboriginal Business Road) and the Anne Beadell Highway it mainly caters to local Aboriginal communities.

Ilkulka Roadhouse was built, is owned and operated by the Spinifex People who holt "native Title" ovr the Spinifex Native Title Determination area.  Ilkullka is located in the centre of these lands.  It is named after a major rockhole nearby.  It is 600km east of Laverton and 750km west of Coober Pedy and may be the most isolated roadhouse in Australia.

The Anne Beadell Highwasy is an outback unsealed track linking Coober Pedy, South Australia and Laverton, Western Australia, a total distance of 1340 km (830 miles).  The track was surveyed and built by Len Beadell, Australian surveyor, who named it after his wife.

The track passes through remote and arid deserts and scrub territory of South Australia and Western Australia, which often has daytime temperatures as high as 50ºC (122ºF).  Sand dunes predominate for a major part of the track.  The track is only suitable for well provisioned and experienced four wheel drivers.  There are no settlements between Cooper Pedy and Laverton.


ISSEKA (Latitude 28º 26' S Longitude 114º 39' E) is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia.  It is located on the North West Coastal Highway, 10km south of Northampton in the northern agricultural area and 410km north of Perth, and is close to the Bowes River.  It has a population of about 310 people.  It is situated on a railway siding that was also named Isseka.  The local progress association requested blocks to be released in the area in 1912.  The townsite was gazetted in 1913.

The name is an alternative spelling to the nearby Isachar Well, but little is known about the origin of this name.  The site of the Isseka school has historic significance of the development of the Northampton district.  Combined with other school sites this place reveals the effect of centralisation of education as well as the changing settlement patterns of the area.  This town was where our former Premier, David Brand, spent part of his schooling.


ILLAWONG (Latitude 29º 42' S Longitude 114º 57'E) is a coastal townsite on the west coast of Western Australia between Jurien and Port Denison.  In 1971 the Government decided it would establish a townsite here for professional fishermen who were operating in the area.  The place was locally known as Sandy Bay at the time, but was named Illawong when gazetted in 1972.  The source of the name is unknown at present, although it appears to be an eastern states Aboriginal name.  That is the only information I can find out about this town but just to show you it truly does exist I found it on a Google map: