Kukerin 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 ...

, south-east of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

between Dumbleyung and

Lake Grace A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

just off Dumbleyung Lake Grace Road on State Route 107. The town itself is small but services a considerable agricultural region in the eastern

Shire of Dumbleyung The Shire of Dumbleyung is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east of Wagin and about southeast of Perth, the state capital. The Shire covers an area of , and is involved in grain and livestock prod ...

. At the 2021 census, Kukerin and its surrounding areas had a population of 55.

History

According to an official source, Kukerin's name is of Aboriginal origin, was first recorded as the name of a local

soak Soak may refer to: * Steeping * Bathing * Soakage (source of water), a source of water in Australian deserts * Soak dike, ditch or drain * Soak testing, a method of system testing in computing and electronics * Soak (singer), Irish singer-songwrit ...

and

gully A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...

in 1908 and has also been spelled "Cookerin", but the precise meaning is not known. However, in local languages, words such as ''karkar'' mean "east", and the townsite is near the eastern edge of country traditionally owned by the

Wiilman Wiilman are an indigenous Noongar people from the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, Wheatbelt, Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern and South West, Western Australia, South West regions of Western Australia. Variant spellings o ...

people. There is no evidence for a popular theory that the area was named after

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

cutters named "Cooke" and "Ring". Until 1912, the area was known as Merilup (a name that now refers to an area to the south). In the 1870s, John Holland took up a pastoral lease of in the area and established a sandalwood depot. Sandalwood cutters opened up much of the surrounding area, and in 1904 the

Rabbit-Proof Fence The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, formerly known as the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence, and the Emu Fence, is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits, and other agricultural pests from th ...

was built near the town. In 1912, the town was gazetted when it became the terminus of an extension of the Wagin to Dumbleyung train line in 1912. The primary school and hall were built in 1914, and Kukerin Hotel began trading in 1928—all are still open to this day.

Present day

Kukerin is largely an agricultural town, with wheat and sheep farming being the main occupations. The town contains a secondary receival site for

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling), is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a ...

and one of the state's three Bunge grain depots west of the main town. It functions as a service town for the surrounding agricultural area, and contains a general store, primary school, hotel, newsagency/post office, and the Nenke Park sports fields. The TrachMach Fair used to be held with various vintage and modern vehicles on display. In recent years this has transformed into the Kukerin Creekbed and Burnout Competition, which is held during the

Queen's Birthday The King's Official Birthday (alternatively the Queen's Official Birthday when the monarch is female) is the selected day in the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth realms on which the birthday of the monarch is officially celebrated in those ...

long weekend and is hosted at Nenke Park. During this event a large screen is set up where the

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...

can be viewed.Information available from Shire of Dumbleyung, contacted 27 October 2006.

References

External links

History of Kukerin

Shire of Dumbleyung

Kukerin creek bed races
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Wheatbelt (Western Australia)