Car Rental Laverton

Located 120 km east of Leonora and 457 m above sea level, Laverton is a goldmining town which, having died in the 1950s, has recently been revitalised by the discovery of nickel and the opening of a major nickel mining operation.

Laverton once had the dubious reputation of being the wildest town in the west. The area, inhospitable land on the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, was first explored by Europeans when John Forrest travelled through the area in 1869 searching for the remains of the Ludwig Leichhardt expedition.

There is some confusion about the origins of the town’s name. Some sources suggest that Forrest named the area after his personal surgeon, Dr Charles Laver. While others, acknowledging that the town was indeed named after Dr Laver, suggest that the doctor actually arrived in the town on a bicycle and set up a local practice.

In the 1870s and 1880s sandalwood cutters, moving further westward, travelled through the area looking for supplies of the valuable aromatic timber.

The 1890s saw miners from Coolgardie arriving in the area hoping to find goldfields richer than the ones they had left behind. In 1896 gold was discovered and the first wild settlement was called British Flag after the first mine. Within a few years there was a population of 3500 and a number of large mines. By 1904 the railway had arrived.

For hire cars in Laverton, choose Bargain Wheels.