Overnight Earthquake Rattles WA Wheatbelt, Felt Across Perth
So, if you were jolted awake in the middle of the night around Perth or anywhere in WA’s southwest, you weren’t imagining things—it was an earthquake. A magnitude-4.8 tremor hit just after 2am local time, centered roughly 30 kilometers southeast of Wyalkatchem, a small agricultural town about 200 kilometers northeast of Perth.
The quake didn’t cause any reported damage, but it certainly got people talking. According to Geoscience Australia, over 500 “felt reports” were submitted from all over—from Kalgoorlie, to Mandurah, and of course, Perth itself. It’s been confirmed as the largest earthquake in that particular area in recent history.
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Now, because it happened during the early hours of the morning, a lot of people either slept through it or were too groggy to realize what had happened right away. But those who did feel it, especially those closer to the epicenter, described a strong rumble and even what sounded like a truck passing right outside their homes.
One woman in Goomalling, about 60 kilometers west of where the quake struck, said it felt like a heavy engine revving at the other end of the building. She even stepped outside, thinking a vehicle was nearby—but the street was completely quiet.
For the folks in the Wheatbelt, earthquakes aren’t totally out of the ordinary. In fact, the area has had about 130 tremors since July last year. But this one was the biggest in the current sequence. A couple of days earlier, there was a magnitude-4 quake, and the previous high in the region was 4.5—so this 4.8 has definitely topped the list for the moment.
Dr. Trevor Allen, a senior seismologist with Geoscience Australia, explained that the region is quite seismically active. Though it’s not always associated with major disasters, the area has a long memory of significant quakes—most notably, the devastating 1968 Meckering quake, which was a magnitude-6.5. That one completely flattened the town and is still very fresh in the minds of older residents.
This time around, the depth of the quake was about five kilometers, and because of its relative remoteness, major structural damage was avoided. People closer to the epicenter would’ve felt stronger shaking, while those in Perth likely just experienced a mild swaying.
Authorities are urging anyone who felt the tremor to report it to Geoscience Australia. That kind of data is critical—not just for scientists tracking seismic activity, but for emergency services who rely on it to understand where impacts might be concentrated.
So while it wasn’t destructive, it was certainly a wake-up call—literally and figuratively—for much of WA.
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