Of about 160 authenticated impact sites known in the world, Australia Jays claim to no less than 18, with seven of them in the WA outback. As far as craters go, Dalgaranga is on the small side at only 25m diameter and around 5m deep. It is the smallest authenticated in Australia. The eastern side is much higher than the western rim, indicating that the meteorite probably slammed into the Earth at an angle from the west.
The crater was discovered in 1920 by an aboriginal stockman, Billy Seward, when he almost rode into it at full gallop during a muster on the station. He showed his find to station manager Gerard Wellard but from here on recognition of Dalgaranga site takes a slow and somewhat strange path.
The meteorite which caused it was one of the very rare, stony-iron types which, when it hit the Earth's surface at colossal speed, would have buried itself deep in the ground. It would then have exploded like a pressure cooker blowing upwards and outwards creating the crater seen today. The explosion would have almost totally destroyed the meteorite itself with only small shrapnel-like pieces remaining around the rim. Dalgaranga may not be spectacular but when occasional visitors find their way to the lonely site and imagine what it would have been like to witness the fireball falling out of the sky and the explosion which followed, it would have been spectacular.