Broomehill - Beginning the Holland Track

Broomehill, like Katanning 20 kilometres to the north, was planned as a township along the route of the Great Southern Railway, which was constructed between Beverley and Albany in the late

1880's.  The town was founded under the Land Grant System, and named Broome Hill after the Governor, Sir Frederick Napier Broome. The opening of the line in 1889 was soon followed by the

purchase of town lots, and the first buildings (two hotels and two stores) were erected by November of the same year.

 

Long before the introduction of the regular time table in June 1889, settlers made good use of the railway. From August 1888, they had been travelling to and from Albany at a cost of 3d (pence) per

mile and, in November/December 1888, farmers sent all of their clip to Albany by train at 6 shillings per bale freight.  However, first settlement in the district was much earlier. By 1852, pastoral leases

had been taken out near a pool on the Gordon River about 5 kilometres south-west of the Broome Hill site. The aboriginal name for the pool was Yeeticup meaning Singing Place or Song Camping

Place, but the settlement that gradually grew nearby was always called Eticup, and it was Patrick Garrity, owner of the Eticup Inn, John Garrity and R&D Krakouer, owners of the two Eticup Stores,

and another Eticup settler, Patrick Carmody, who built in Broome Hill in 1899.

 

In 1892, the Broome Hill district, which included the areas that are now the Shires of Gnowangerup and Tambellup, was excised from the Kojonup Road Board, and a Broome Hill Road Board

elected.  The Post Office and the Police Station were built in 1892 and both still stand today, although the latter is now the Anglican Church of St Elizabeth of Hungary and is heritage listed. Formal

schooling for children was also started in 1892.  In 1893, Carmody's son John, and brothers Rudolph and David Krakouer accompanied John Holland in the blazing of Holland Track, creating a

direct route from Broome Hill to the new goldfields at Coolgardie, through more than 500 kilometres of virgin country. This cut weeks off the usual journey.

 

The Shire of Broomehill (the spelling was changed to one word in 1959) is a farming area with cropping in cereals, canola and pulses, and sheep production for both meat and wool. It is also well

known for the quality rams produced from the many stud farms within the district.

 

Although it is a small community (present population 600), the residents successfully organised and hosted an Aquafest and Boat Show in 1999. Despite the absence of any large expanse of

water, the event attracted a large number of participants and spectators, and was so successful that the event was repeated the following year.

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Dumbleyung - Donald Campbell’s Memorial

Dumbleyung, which became a town site in 1906, is surrounded by a rural district dominated by wheat farming. It lies 53 kilometres North-East of Katanning, and is 38 kilometres West of Kukerin,

a busy grain receival and delivery centre.

 

The name Dumbleyung is thought to be taken from the Aboriginal word Dambeling, meaning large lake or sea.  Lake Dumbleyung is a wildlife sanctuary fed by the Coblinine River, and is one of

the largest inland salt lakes in Western Australia. Dumbleyung and its Lake made world headlines in 1964 when the late Sir Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record at 273.3 miles

per hour, or 442.08 kilometres per hour, in his boat Bluebird.

 

The Dumbleyung area was first travelled by explorers Landor and Lefroy in 1834, some thirty years before pastoralists, sandalwood cutters and overlanders settled the district.  In the 1870's one

of the first homesteads to be built in the Dumbleyung area was on the property known as Wheatfields, constructed from native timber and materials. It was owned by George Kersley, who brought

the first flock of sheep to the district in 1875.

 

Like Katanning and other towns in the region, the railway was very important to their prosperity, and as Dumbleyung was the terminus, it became a natural meeting place for settlers meeting or

farewelling their families, relatives and friends on the weekly train.

 

Although the importance of the railway has been overtaken by road freight, and the population of the township has declined, the area remains as one of Western Australia's important agricultural

and grain handling centres.

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Gnowangerup - Gateway to the Stirlings

The name Gnowangerup is derived from Gnow the Noongar, or south west aboriginal, word for Malleefowl. For thousands of years the plains were hunting grounds for the Goreng Noongars -

evidenced by stone implements still found along the creeks.

 

Gnowangerup, situated 342 kms from Perth, provides access to the Stirling Range National Park approximately 56 kms to the south, and is the centre of a major sheep producing and grain

growing area.  Gnowangerup forms the eastern point of a triangle connecting with Tambellup and Broomehill.

 

The first European to report on this area was the Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe, who passed through the area in 1835. In the nineteenth century Sandalwood cutting played an

important role in the area, as it did in other areas in the Great Southern, and a sandalwood cutters' camp was established to the east in the 1840's.  While some settlement took place in the

second half of the nineteenth century, it wasn't until 1905 that Gnowangerup was surveyed for town lots. A number of attractive buildings constructed during the pioneering days still remain,

including the Memorial Hall, present Shire Office, Banks, early Hospital, St Margaret's Anglican Church and the Hotel.

 

Gnowangerup's population is now approximately 900 and supports a number of light industries including Silo Manufacturing, Fencing Wire Fabrication, and Transport. It also boasts a District

High School, Agricultural Farm School, Hospital, Pharmacy, Post Office, Banks and Sporting Facilities. A local tourist attraction is the large steam tractor, imported in 1889, which is now situated

adjacent to the Shire Office.  As it was used to clear much of the local countryside, it stands as a monument to the settlers of the district.

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Katanning - Heart of the Great Southern

Katanning (known originally as Ke'-tungain or Ke'tungup) was the junction point of three aboriginal tribal grounds whose people lived in the area long before it was occupied by its first white settlers.

Katanning's name originated from the languages of these tribes, and the most popular version of its meaning is meeting place. The aboriginal use of words ending with up or ing, both suffixes

meaning place of, is evident in many Western Australian town names.

 

Agricultural farmers and sandalwood cutters settled the area from the 1840's, and Katanning became a meeting place for traders and landowners alike. In 1889 the Great Southern Railway was

opened, and although Katanning didn't officially become a town until 1898, its founding father, F.H. Piesse, had already established his farm and orchard, a hotel, and other buildings including

shops and a bank. A dam on his property, which he allowed the townsfolk to use free of charge, supplied water to his brickworks, aerated water factory and roller flourmill.  The entire Piesse

complex was supplied with electric power generated by the flour mill machinery, and in 1902 Katanning became the first country town in Western Australia to have street lighting.

 

 

Later, the establishment of the stock-selling yards, the largest in Western Australia outside the metropolitan area, strengthened Katanning's role as an important commercial centre for industries

associated with stock production.  The export abattoir was opened in 1974, and with the arrival of a large number of Christmas Islander workers and their families, Katanning became a town with

an ethnic influence.

 

Today, more than a hundred years after its foundation, Katanning remains an important centre for the trading and transportation of stock and agricultural based activities in the Great Southern

region of Western Australia, and a meeting place for shopping, sport, entertainment and commerce.

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Kojonup - Gateway to the South

Nestling in the rural heartland of the Great Southern region, historic Kojonup is more than just a gateway to the beautiful South. Settled over 150 years ago, this bustling rural town still bears all

the trademarks of a traditional country settlement, with its historic buildings and friendly, safe atmosphere.

 

At the heart of Kojonup is the fresh water spring which first attracted European settlers to the town in 1837. Overlooking the Spring is the old Military Barracks, constructed in 1845 and one of the

oldest surviving military buildings in Western Australia.

 

Today Kojonup is a thriving country town, proud of its heritage but looking to the future. Located on Highway 95, running directly from Perth to the historic port of Albany, Kojonup is just a two hour

drive from the state capital, and a short 160km from Albany.  It is the administrative and commercial centre of a prosperous pastoral district, offering a wealth of business and lifestyle opportunities

to those who set store by traditional Australian values. 

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