Pootenup is a townsite in the Great Southern region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Pootenup is located in both the

Shire of Cranbrook The Shire of Cranbrook is a local government area in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, about north of Albany and about south-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is th ...

and the

Shire of Broomehill-Tambellup Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

. The

Great Southern Highway Great Southern Highway is a highway in the southern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, starting from Great Eastern Highway at The Lakes, from Perth, and ending at Albany Highway near Cranbrook. It is the primary thoroughfare for this ...

forms the shire boundary in this area and the area of the townsite of Pootenup spans either side of the highway. Because of its location across two shires, Tunney has two postcodes, 6320 for the eastern part, located in Broomehill-Tambellup, and 6321 for the western part, located in Cranbrook. Parts of the gazetted area of the former townsite is now covered by the Pootenup Nature Reserve.

History

Pootenup was established as a stop on the Great Southern Railway when the railway line opened in 1889. Demand for land in the area led to the decision to establish a townsite in Pootenup in 1907, which was gazetted the following year. The name Pootenup is of Aboriginal origin and was first recorded in 1851 but its meaning is not known. The site of the railway siding at Pootenup is on the Shire of Broomehill-Tambellup heritage list. A 1940 article in the '' Western Mail'' described the area around Pootenup as "a rich farming district in the vicinity of the

Stirling Ranges The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbro ...

" and "greatly favoured by sportsmen during the wild duck season" because of the lakes surrounding the town.

Nature reserve

The Pootenup Nature Reserve was gazetted on 27 May 1983, has a size of , and is located within the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low rel ...

bioregion. The reserve is exclusively located in the Shire of Cranbrook part of the townsite.

References

{{Towns Great Southern WA Shire of Broomehill-Tambellup Shire of Cranbrook