Kookynie, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Kookynie is a near-deserted gold-mining town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, about 796km north-east of Perth and 52km south-west of Leonora, in the Shire of Menzies. Its name is believed to be an Aboriginal word meaning 'waterhole' or 'spring'. Gold was found nearby in 1895 and the townsite was gazetted in 1900, taking its name from a local mine manager. Within a decade Kookynie had grown to several thousand people, with eleven hotels and four daily trains running up from Kalgoorlie, as the Cosmopolitan and other mines worked the field. As the gold gave out the town slowly emptied; today a single historic hotel serves passing travellers, and the nearby Niagara Dam fills after heavy rain.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Kookynie is more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 854, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Is Kookynie a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 1 component we can score for Kookynie from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
4/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (4/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Housing affordabilityNot scored — no ABS Census median-rent figure for this suburb.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Kookynie at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 99
- Median age
- 41
- Median weekly household income
- $1,312
- SEIFA score
- 854
- Local government area
- Menzies
- Coordinates
- -29.6349, 122.0590
Map of Kookynie
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Kookynie
What it costs to live in Kookynie and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Owner-occupied
- 100%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 0%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Kookynie demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Kookynie demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Kookynie using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is young adults (25–44) at 42% and 37% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 3 | 3% |
| Youth (15–24) | 6 | 6% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 44 | 42% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 33 | 32% |
| Seniors (65+) | 18 | 17% |
Share of the 104 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 4 | 100% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 0 | 0% |
| Rented | 0 | 0% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 8 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 8 occupied private dwellings in Kookynie.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,312
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,971
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 29 (37%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 7 (9%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 5 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 37 (38%)
- Labour-force participation
- 62.9%
- Employed full-time
- 52
- Employed part-time
- 0
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
Share your local knowledge of Kookynie
Lived here or spent time in Kookynie? Add a review or a quick tip. Reviews and tips are moderated before they appear.
Common questions about Kookynie
Is Kookynie a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage, Kookynie rates 4/100 overall (Lower on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
Where is Kookynie?
Kookynie is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Menzies local government area.
What is the population of Kookynie?
At the 2021 Census, Kookynie had a population of about 99.
Is Kookynie an advantaged area?
Kookynie has an ABS SEIFA score of 854, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 4 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
More suburb guides in Western Australia
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.