Gwambygine is a small town 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 ...

. It is situated between the towns of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

, on the banks of the Avon River. One of the first known settlers was John Burdett Wittenoom, who was granted land in the area in 1831 and named his property ''Gwambygine''. This property was later purchased by the state government in 1901 and sub-divided into blocks called Gwambygine Estate. Some of the land along the Avon was developed as a townsite, which was gazetted in 1902. A railway siding known as Hick's Siding was established adjacent to the town in 1902. The siding was named after J. Hicks, who had leased the property in the 1860s. The siding was renamed Gwambygine in 1910. Gwambygine Pool is also close to the town. It is one of the few permanent pools found along the Avon River and a park has been built next to the pool with a boardwalk, viewing tower, playgrounds, gas barbecues and other facilities. The

Gwambygine Homestead Gwambygine Homestead is one of the earliest colonial buildings still remaining in Western Australia. Until the death in 1998 of the last occupant, Merton Clifton, the house had the reputation of being the oldest continually occupied house in the ...

, the oldest

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

in Western Australia, is close to the town. The homestead was being restored in 2011 by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

. The homestead was initially built by the Wittenoom family in the 1830s. The name of the town is

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 ...

in origin and is the name of a nearby hill also known as Bald Hill. The meaning of the name is not known.

References

{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Avon River (Western Australia) Shire of York

See also

References