A police station was built in about 1897, and settlers asked the Government to declare a townsite. By 1909, a general store and other buildings had been erected on private land, and in 1912, the Government finally acceded to the request, naming the town "Killili" after a local Aboriginal word meaning "bullrush" following the Surveyor General's request for a "euphonious native name". For many years, the police station, road board (1912) and hotel were the only buildings in the area, and in 1938, the Roads Board complained about the name, saying that "Gascoyne Junction" and "The Junction" were the names in common use, and asking the Lands Department to "expunge" the name of Killili. The name was changed and gazetted in 1939.
The local road board office, now a heritage-listed site, was used as a meeting place for local associations, and later as the first school in the area (1960–1965) and, since the late 1990s, as a museum. The town's population has been stable since the 1950s and stands at about 150 residents.
Gascoyne Junction is now a centre for mining, pastoral and desert merino fine wool industries, and serves as a gateway to nearby attractions such as Mount Augustus National Park. The town contains the council office, as well as a new Tourism Precinct. It provides the community with fresh social and retail infrastructure complete with a tavern, caravan park, children’s playgrounds, swimming pool and camping grounds, 24 hour fuel facility and a roadhouse / café including a convenience store.
A sports oval and tennis courts in the centre of town is the focus for sporting activities within the Shire. Adjoining the Oval is the Gascoyne Junction Pavilion, a fully air-conditioned venue, where public and private events are frequently held.
A bright new children’s playground is located on the main street, while the Federation Park beside the oval has a pleasant rotunda, providing shade for a lunchtime stop as well as free gas BBQ and wood fired pizza oven.
The town includes a Remote Community School, a Community Resource Centre (CRC) and also has a sealed air-strip with pilot activated lights (PAL) which is used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The floods of 2010 brought devastation across the region and in the town the historic Junction Hotel and the Gascoyne Caravan Park were lost. The Junction Hotel, which offered accommodation and pub meals and was originally constructed as the general store (1906). A fuel station, visitor centre and picnic facilities were also available.
Four years after the heart of Gascoyne Junction was destroyed by floods the little town has been rebuilt.
The 2010 floods are considered a once-in-a-hundred-years event but even so the new facilities have been built above the flood plain.
I placed this cache in the company of a long time resident who was able to point out the swimming pool and other facilities that are long gone.
The cache will need a firm tool to help with extraction. We did find a suitable tool amongst the rubble but it may disappear. Please replace the tool if it is still there beside the cache.