MEEKATHARRA Meekatharra is a next town encounted after Cue when heading to Newman. Meekatharra is a major supply centre for the pastoral and mining area in this part of WA. Meekatharra, given the vast distances will be an accommodation consideration. It is a centre for sheep and cattle transshipment, initially by rail but now by road trains. The name Meekatharra is unknown as at the time of writing the synopsis. A huge 2,181-metre runway, now known as Meekatharra Airport, was built by the Americans during WW ll It serves as an important diversional for inbound transcontinental flights to Australia. It is also a regional home to the Flying Doctor Service. Meekatharra is a former gold rush town. It seems the first settlement at Meekatharra occurred in 1894 and that, in May 1896, after the prospectors Meehan, Porter and Soich discovered gold, miners moved to the new settlement from the other East Murchison fields and mining grew rapidly in scale and sophistication. Success on the Meekatharra field was short-lived. It was only because a second gold discovery occurred in 1899 that the town survived but Meekatharra underwent a significant gold rush during the mining boom of the 1980s, with mining continuing until May 2004 at St Barbara Mine's restarted in the area and St Barbara sold out to a company known as Mercator Gold in October 2005. The placement of the Meekatharra War Memorial is remote from the cbd. Directions will have to be requested. The Meekatharra Hotels are  all classic for the era. The Meekatharra Churches are all very old and traditional. The ‘new’ catholic being the exception. There aspects of Meekatharra that are really positive and a stopover can be a consideration. Heritage diary