Zanthus, Western Australia

Zanthus was established as a railway town during the construction of the Trans-Australian Railway. Trains arrived in 1915 mostly carrying materials to the railhead from Kalgoorlie.^[1] The 1933 Australian census recorded Zanthus as having nine dwellings and a population of 47.^[2] As at the 2021 Australian census, Zanthus had a population of zero.^[3]

In 1996 the timber station building was donated to Rail Heritage WA and relocated to the Railway Museum in Bassendean.^[4]

Passengers were stranded at Zanthus in 1948 when a train was delayed resulting from floodwaters causing washaways along the tracks between Zanthus and Kalgoorlie. Several passengers completed the journey to Kalgoorlie via a Goldfield Airways aeroplane while over 50 men worked to fix the two big washaways.^[5]

A derailment of a train occurred in 1953 when five carriages of an eastbound transcontinental express left the tracks near the town tearing up a section of the line. Repair crews worked through the night and built a deviation by the following day.^[6]

In 1975, large amounts of rain had inundated inland Western Australia from the remnants of Cyclone Trixie. A large washaway close to Zanthus had resulted in the closure of the line. A new bridge was constructed as part of the repairs in just two weeks.^[7]

Zanthus has a crossing loop on the line. On 8 August 1999, an Indian Pacific passenger train collided with a stationary freight train.^[8][9]

The locality also has notoriety due to its position in place name lists of Western Australia.^[10]