Desmond and the Shire of Ravensthorpe are located on the traditional land of the Wudjari people of the Noongar nation.[3][4]
Desmond was a siding on the Hopetoun to Ravensthorpe railway line, which operated from 1909 to 1946, but the Desmond siding was closed by 1935.[5][6][7] The townsite of Desmond was gazetted at the railway siding in 1909, originally as Eldverton, after the nearby mine. When the Eldverton mine itself received a siding the following year, it became necessary to rename the townsite, with Desmond chosen, after the nearby Mount Desmond.[8]
The Desmond Townsite is listed on the shire's heritage register. The history of the town was a short one, with interest in mining in the area declining soon after establishment. By 1911, people started leaving the townsite again, with the last inhabitant of the town leaving in 1923.[9]
The Desmond Hotel predated the townsite, being established in 1905. The building was dismantled in the 1930s and moved to Ravensthorpe.[10]
The mine and the town were originally named after Bob Elverdton, who found gold and copper in the area in 1900 and a first phase of mining at Elverdton took place during the First World War, when copper was in short supply. The mine also produced gold as a by-product from the copper mining.[11]
A second area of mining at the Elverdton mine, north-east of the townsite, took place between 1956 and 1972, when copper was mined there.[12]
