Coordinates: 31°54′04″S 127°01′08″E / -31.901, 127.019
Madura is a small roadhouse community located on the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain. It is 1,253 kilometres (779 mi) from Perth.
History
Madura was settled in 1876 as a place to breed quality cavalry horses for the British Indian Army for use in the Northwest Frontier region of India (now part of Pakistan). The horses were shipped from the coast at Eucla. (Cervantes, north of Perth, was also used for breeding.) The site was chosen as it was one of the few with free flowing bore water in the area.
Present day
Like other locations in the Nullarbor Plain area, the area consists of little more than a roadhouse, open 6:30am to 8:30pm each day. 2 km west of Madura is a scenic lookout with sweeping views of the Madura Pass across the escarpment and the Roe Plains. Natural blowholes may also be found nearby. The area is used for pastoral purposes, mainly sheep rearing.1
References
Further reading
- Main Roads, Western Australia (2006) Distance book: distances to towns and localities in Western Australia East Perth, W.A. Main Roads ISBN 0730976688
External links
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