Dattening is a small town in the

Shire of Pingelly The Shire of Pingelly is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about southeast of the state capital, Perth, between the Shires of Brookton and Cuballing along the Great Southern Highway. The Shire covers an ...

, between Boddington and Pingelly in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. During the 1890s a farmer named Norris Taylor sunk a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

in the locality and the area was initially known as Taylor's Well. By 1906 the local progress association petitioned for a townsite to be surveyed and blocks were subdivided in 1907. Blocks were sold in 1908 with 20 "working men's blocks" being put on the market with prices between £8 and £14. The name, Dattening, was suggested as an alternative to Taylor's Well after this name had been rejected because it duplicated the name of a town in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. The Morambine Road Board suggested the name Dattening, being the

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

name of a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

in the vicinity of the well. The meaning of the name is unknown. The town was gazetted in 1908. The town residents petitioned for the name of the town to be changed to Taylor's Well in 1925 and 1929 but were unsuccessful on both occasions.

References

{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Pingelly