Laverton

Located 120 kms north east of Leonora, 360 kms north east of Kalgoorlie and 957 kms east of Perth. Laverton is just a 1 hour and 40 minute flight with Skippers Aviation from Perth.

Laverton is situated on the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert. It is the Western Gateway to the Outback Highway, which traverses Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

The Laverton area was traversed by many early explorers including John Forrest, David Carnegie and Frank Hann. In the Gold Rush of the 1890’s many prospectors and miners found gold in the area and they established small towns like Mt Morgans, Burtville, Euro, Lancefield and Mt Margaret.

In the early 1970’s gold was only $60 an ounce but in 1969 the area 'took off' due to the prospecting skills of Ken Shirley who found a huge nickel deposit in the area - a find which prompted the famous Poseidon stock market boom.

Western Mining Corporation developed the deposit into the huge Windarra Nickel Project and mined and processed nickel for over 20 years. In 1994 when the operation ceased WMC then spent over $4 million rehabilitating the mine area and establishing the Windarra Heritage Trail.