J is for JENNACUBBINE

I chose this town for my J post because, although we travelled through it on the way to Goomalling we didn't stop, and I just love the name (jenna-cub-ine).  Thought it'd be good to find out a little more about the town itself.

According to Wikipedia it is a small town located in the wheatbelt of Western Australia, to the east of Perth, between the towns of Northam and Goomalling.  The name of the town is derived from the Noongar name for a well in the area, which may mean 'salt water' according to some sources and was first recorded by explorer Augustus Gregory in 1848 as "Jenacubine", with the current spelling being adopted in 1889.  Jennacubbine was established as a siding on the railway line from Northam to Goomalling in 1902.

At that time Jennacubbine had an hotel, a general store, two other shops and eight houses in the main street.  The main street ended at the front door of the hotel (wonder why that was?).  Several railway huts were constructed on the opposite side of the rail line from the main street and a church was constructed in 1905 and was used as a school until 1911.  By the 1960s, all that was left was the hotel, the general store and one house.

In 1970 the general store was burnt to the ground, in a late night fire which was reported to have been caused by the store's old kerosene refrigerator.  The store was over 100 years old when it was destroyed.  A fire truck from Goomalling attended the fire, but its onboard water tanks were dry from a previous fire, and there was no town water in Jennacubbine.  Ironically, the State's Water Authority had gazetted that Jennacubbine was to get town water and pipes had been laid in the ground to the town, but there had been no connections to any building nor any public facilities including fire hydrants.

I have no idea what the town is currently like but apparently in the 2006 census Jennacubbine had a population of 174.

Saint Isidore (Patron saint of agriculturalists) Catholic Church which was dedicated on 17th November, 1907 by the Lord Bishop of Perth, The Most Rev. M. Gibney.

In the centre of the town is the war memorial.  The trees in this area were planted by members of the Jennacubbine C.W.A. in June, 1974 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of their Association in Western Australia.

The Jennacubbine Tavern:

The Country Women's Association building, a couple of hundred metres from the tavern:

Jennacubbine Hall to the rear of which are tennis courts and a fire station:

At the rear of the hall and adjacent to the CBH depot is this track with what appears to be a judge's box. Is it perhaps a go-cart speedway or similar?  It looks very well kept.

The surrounding area produces wheat and other cereal crops and the town is another receival site for wheat for Co-operative Bulk Handling.  This is the access road to CBH adjacent to the Northam-Goomalling narrow gauge railway line and the depot itself.  In the foreground is the weighbridge and beyond that is the grain loading equipment:

Lastly, I will leave you with this lonely tank stand in a paddock near the town:

Many thanks to mingor.net  for the above pictures which were taken in 2011-2013.