The main street at Northampton

Northampton
Attractive town on the edge of the wheatbelt.
Located 52 km north of Geraldton and 474 km north of Perth via the Brand Highway, Northampton is a small and attractive town in undulating country on the edge of the wheat belt.

Northampton was first settled in the late 1840s after Lieutenant George Grey had passed through the area on his retreat from North-west Cape. A further exploration in 1842 led to the discovery of lead ore and copper which were subsequently mined at the Geraldine and Gwalla Mines respectively. It is claimed by the locals that the Geraldine Mine (located about 5 km west of the town) was the first lead mine in Australia.

The town was surveyed and declared in 1864. Its original name was 'The Mines' but it got its present name in 1871 as a combination of Northampton in England and an honour to the then governor of Western Australia, John Stephen Hampton.

By 1877 the district was producing about 4000 tons of lead and copper each year. The minerals were moved to Port Gregory by wagon - a situation which was clearly very unsatisfactory. In 1879, after considerable local pressure, a railway was completed from Geraldton to Northampton. It was the first government built railway in Western Australia and continued to run until it was finally closed in 1957.

Today the town boasts three buildings of genuine historic interest - Chiverton House (which is now the local museum), the Church of St Mary in Ara Coeli which was one of the many buildings in the Central West designed by the architect-priest Monsignor John Hawes, and the ruins of Gwalla Church, a true experiment in non–denominational religion built by the ex–convict Joseph Horrocks.

Things to see:  

Chiverton House
Chiverton House was built by Captain Samuel Mitchell, the manager of the Geraldine Mine, between 1867-1874. It is claimed that convicts built the building. If this is the case it must have been one of the last structures built by convicts in Australia as transportation ceased in 1868. Chiverton House later housed the local branch of the Western Australian Bank and today it is the town's museum.

There are really three basic kinds of local museum in Australia. The theme museum which concentrates on an aspect of history, the time-specific museum where, for example, a house from the 1890s is precisely recreated, and the general repository museum where bits and pieces of memorabilia from the local community are stored in a rather haphazardous manner. In the latter category Chiverton Museum is one of the most fascinating and successful in Australia. It has managed to collect unusual pieces of memorabilia including a fiendish attempt to produce a rolling shaver which looks like it would scar its victim for life. There are also some very interesting old kitchen utensils including a strange butter cutter. The museum's emphasis is on the unusual rather than the common place and thus it is well worth a visit. It is open from 10.00-12.00 and 2.00-4.00 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday and can be opened at other times by phoning (08) 9934 1215.

Church of St Mary in Ara Coeli
Northampton is noted for its Church of St Mary in Ara Coeli which was constructed by the famous Western Australian architect-priest Monsignor John Hawes (see introduction for details of Hawes' life). Between 1915-1939 Hawes designed and helped to build a large number of churches and church buildings in the Central West. St Mary in Ara Coeli, which is located in Hampton Street (the main street), was described in the Cathedral Chronicle soon after it was built in the following glowing terms: 'As regards the exterior of the building, it gains character from the rugged nature of the hammer-dressed masonry, the deeply raked-out joints emphasising the charming and various colours of each stone. The main front of the church sheers up a precipitous cliff of rock: the effect of height increased by the long vertical lines of the massive buttresses springing upwards from the ground, and the soaring effect of the single deeply recessed arch. In the middle of this is set two–light long mullioned windows with traceried head. The green tiles that cover the roofs give a very similar appearance to the green Westmorland slates of the north of England. Over the intersection of chancel and transepts rises a tall slender fleche surmounted by a silver ball and cross of wrought iron.'

Hawes saw the church as expressing spirituality in its soaring Gothic lines.

Gwalla Church
A little way out of town to the south (turn east at Gwalla Street) are the cemetery and ruins of the Gwalla church which was built by Joseph Lucas Horrocks, a convict who was sentenced to 14 years transportation for forgery and arrived in Fremantle in 1852. In Fremantle he worked in the medical section of the convict settlement and, due to a chronic shortage of medical officers in the colony, was appointed medical attendant for the new settlement of Port Gregory in 1853. He was given an unconditional pardon in 1856 and spent the rest of his life (he died in 1865) working in the Northampton-Champion Bay area running a store, agitating for improved conditions for convicts, and building the Gwalla non-denominational church (it had separate Anglican and Nonconformists pulpits and a reading desk for anti-ritualists). Horrocks is buried in the cemetery which, sadly, in recent years has fallen into disrepair

	Tourist Information
	Northampton Tourist Bureau Hampton Rd P.O. Box 289 Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1488 Facsimile: (08) 9934 1488 Email: nortour@wn.com.au
	Motels
	Miners Arms Motel/Hotel Hampton Rd Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1281 Rating: *
	Hotels
	Northampton Motor Hotel Hampton Rd Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1240
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Port Gregory Lynton Bed & Breakfast 45km north west of Northampton Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9935 1040
	Farm & Eco Holidays
	Lynton-0n-Sea Farm P.O. Box 169 Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9935 1040 Facsimile: (08) 9935 1007
	Lodges & Chalets
	Glenorie Lookout Lodge Swamps Rd P.O. Box 8 Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9935 1017 Facsimile: (08) 9935 1075 Rating: ***
	Caravan Parks
	Northampton Caravan Park North West Coastal Hwy Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1202 Rating: **
	Backpackers
	The Old Convent Budget Accommodation Hampton Rd Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1692
	Camping & Other
	Eurardy Reserve North West Coastal Hwy Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9936 1038
	Restaurants
	Heidi's Restaurant Mary St Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1301
	Miners Arms Motel/Hotel Hampton Rd Northampton WA 6535 Telephone: (08) 9934 1281