Just like man walking on the Moon or the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy, many West Australians remember where they were when the 1968 Meckering earthquake hit.

It was one of Australia’s biggest.

The tremor from that 6.9-measured quake on October 14 could be felt up to 700km away from the tiny Wheatbelt town. Its main focus was 7km deep, with a force equivalent to 10 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.

In Perth, crockery and food tins fell from shelves. Cracks appeared on roads and up walls. Even the cross from the top of a city church crashed to the footpath.

Camera Icon Damage on the York to Meckering road. Credit: The West Australian

But it was nothing compared with the destruction in Meckering, 130km to the east.

Most buildings were either destroyed or badly damaged. Miraculously, no one was killed or seriously injured. It would have been far worse if the quake had hit at night or it had not been a public holiday.

Great Eastern Highway, the transcontinental railway, the Eastern Goldfields water pipeline and telephone lines were damaged. Forty-five families left town, never to return.

One man who was driving on the highway at the time said the road “just rose up in front of me”.

Camera Icon An aerial view of the affected area. Credit: WA News

With the hotel destroyed, local publican Gordon Berryman shifted the beer and equipment over the road to a petrol station to quench the thirst of locals. The makeshift location became known as the Quake Arms Hotel, the Rock‘n’Roll Pub or Shake-Inn.

To commemorate today’s 50th anniversary of the earthquake, events, activities and entertainment were planned. Throughout the day, visitors could take a site tour to the fault line and earthquake ruins, including the rubble of Graham and Alice Snooke’s former home. They also heard firsthand accounts of the earthquake from local residents.