A railway line was completed in the area in 1895 and Meckering was selected as a station site. The first name chosen for the townsite was Beebering, the Aboriginal name for the hills just north of the town.
The townsite of Beebering was gazetted in 1895. The name of the town was changed to Meckering in 1897 to agree with the station name and the name for the town that was used locally. Meckering is an Aboriginal word thought to mean "moon on the water" or "good hunting".[2]
In early 1898 the population of the town was 225, 150 males and 75 females.[3]
The town was struck by an earthquake on Monday 14 October 1968.[6]
The earthquake occurred at 10:58:52 local time, with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage amounted to $2.2 million with 20–28 injured.[according to whom?]
Transport
Road freight
Meckering is a main stopping point for freight trucks on the way to the eastern states.
Meckering is home to "The Big Camera" – so named because the building resembles a camera – a museum of photography with a collection of over 4000 cameras. The collection includes items from the late 1800s up to modern cameras, as well as related items such as projectors and light meters.[9][10][11]
^Bunbury, Bill, 1940-; ABC Radio (Australia). Social History Unit (1986), The Story of the Meckering earthquake, ABC Radio Tapes, retrieved 13 March 2019{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Gordon, F.R and J.D. Lewis (1980) The Meckering and Calingiri earthquakes October 1968 and March 1970 Geological Survey of Western Australia Bulletin 126 ISBN0-7244-8082-X
