Grey nomads travelling in WA’s Wheatbelt and beyond were rocked by a powerful earthquake which hit in the early hours of this morning.
The magnitude 4.7 earthquake was recorded at 5.24am in the tourist-friendly town of Wagin, about 200 kilometres south-east of Perth.
Happily, the famous ram statue which stands proudly in the town was apparently undamaged.
Wagin shire president, Phillip Blight, told The West Live that the ram, which is known as Bart and was built in 1985, is ‘still standing in all his glory’.
The area has reportedly been experiencing a number of minor earthquakes in the past week, but this morning’s quake was easily the strongest.
Cr Blight said he felt a ‘rumble start’ and then it ‘felt like a truck driving past’.
“The rumble built up and was sustained enough to know it was an earthquake,” Cr Blight said.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Perth and Margaret River, with social media users reporting that their beds were shaking.
On Twitter, the Weather WA account tweeted that their house was ‘shaking a bit’ and the ground underneath their chair felt like it had moved.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Tanja Pejic said more than 743 community reports had been made about the earthquake, with several people reporting damage in the Arthur River area.
Bart the ram was apparently undamaged by the quake. PIC: Shire of Wagin
“That number is steadily climbing up. I’ve seen it go up, and up, and up since the earthquake occurred,” Ms Pejic said. “There have been reports of damage but these reports have not been verified — meaning we haven’t had the team out there to check.
Perth Now reports that WA’s biggest earthquake was back in 1968, when a 6.9-magnitude quake struck in the Wheatbelt town of Meckering.
Besides its giant ram, Wagin is known for its wheat and sheep industry. And, last year, in a bid to attract more grey nomads and other tourists, the town joined up with other towns with ‘gin’ in their names’ – Badgingarra, Gingin, Dangin, Muntadgin, Wagin, Narrogin and Corrigin – to develop some special spirits. Each community developed a namesake gin, made with botanicals unique to each region, hoping travellers would be eager to take the ‘gin trail’.
One lady interviewed on the radio in country WA stated she was in bed and it started moving. Big question the reporter didn’t ask was “you are sure it was the earthquake” 🙂
Good one ray.