The goldfields were rocked by three earthquakes over the past few days. Picture: Tourism Western Australia

Three earthquakes hit near Norseman, including a magnitude 5.2 tremor reportedly felt as far away as Perth.

The first was a 4.9 magnitude quake about six kilometres under the surface hitting about 11.30pm AWST, then the 5.2 was about an hour later and the last was a 3.2 magnitude tremor about 1.44am on Sunday.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Dan Jaksa said it was the largest event in WA since the magnitude 5 earthquake in Kalgoorlie in April 2010, which left several buildings badly damaged.

He said the quakes were caused by tectonic stress due to Australia’s continental plate moving about seven centimetres a year and the one that hit shortly after midnight was the equivalent to an atomic bomb going off.

“When we see a nuclear test occur, they’re generally a magnitude 5,” Mr Jaksa said.

Geoscience Australia asks the public to fill out surveys on their website whenever they feel tremors.

Mr Jaksa said so far about 100 surveys had been filled since midnight, including reports of the quakes being felt in Perth and Esperance, hundreds of kilometres away.

Brodie Woods, who works at Norseman BP, told AAP he woke up to the first tremor on Saturday night, thinking someone was trying to break into his house.

“The window in my bedroom was rattling like crazy,” he said.

Mr Woods said he ran outside to see who was trying to get into his house, only to see most of his neighbours also outside thinking the same thing and they realised it was a quake.

He then thought it was a nearby mine blasting, but then another quake happened.

People from as far away as Kalgoorlie and Esperance - both about 200km away - had phoned Mr Woods telling him they had also felt the earthquake.

GOLDFIELDS TREMORS MAY 28-29

11.30pm - 4.9 magnitude, 6km depth

12.38am - 5.2 magnitude, 15km depth

1.44am - 3.2 magnitude, 10km depth