Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in 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 reli ...

bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the ...

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 located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu.

History

The range was first recorded in 1836 by

Surveyor General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices. ...

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in t ...

. The area was settled by the 1900s (decade), and in 1911 the town of

Wongan Hills Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of Western Australia. It is located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu. History The range was first recorded in 1836 by Surveyor General of Western Australia Jo ...

was established and named after the range.

Etymology

"Wongan" is derived from the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

name "wangan-katta", "wankan" and "woongan". "Katta" is known to mean "hill", but the meaning of "wongan" is uncertain. It may be related to "

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

", an indigenous word for sandplain, or "whispering", in which case "wongan katta" would mean "whispering hills".

Flora and fauna

The hills are biologically significant because they contain the largest remaining single area of natural vegetation in northern parts of the wheatbelt. The hills are home to remnant woodlands of salmon gum, York gum, gimlet (''

Eucalyptus salubris ''Eucalyptus salubris'', commonly known as gimlet, fluted gum tree, gimlet gum and silver-topped gimlet, is a species of mallet that is endemic to low-rainfall areas of the wheatbelt and goldfields regions of Western Australia. Description '' ...

''), and silver mallet (''

Eucalyptus falcata ''Eucalyptus falcata'', commonly known as silver mallet or toolyumuck, is a species of Mallee (habit), mallee or marlock that is Endemism, endemic to Western Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in group ...

''), and low forest of jam (''

Acacia acuminata ''Acacia acuminata'', known as mangart and jam, is a tree in the family Fabaceae. Endemic to Western Australia, it occurs throughout the south west of the State. It is common in the Wheatbelt, and also extends into the semi-arid interior. ...

''), plant communities were once widespread but now rare in the Wheatbelt. Beecham, Brett (2001). "Avon Wheatbelt 1 (AW1 - Ancient Drainage subregion)" in ''A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002''. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001. Accessed 15 May 2022

/ref> Plants endemic to the Wongan Hills include '' Acacia botrydion, Acacia pharangites,

Acacia pygmaea ''Acacia pygmaea'', commonly known as the dwarf rock wattle, is a shrub of the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae'' that is endemic to south western Australia. Description The erect single-stemmed shrub typically grows to a height ...

Banksia bella ''Banksia bella'', commonly known as the Wongan dryandra, is a species of dense shrub that is endemic to a restricted area of Western Australia. It has narrow, deeply serrated leaves covered with white hairs on the lower surface, heads of yellow ...

Eremophila ternifolia ''Eremophila ternifolia'', commonly known as Wongan eremophila is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a low, many-branched, shrub with short, pointed leaves and small lilac-colou ...

Philotheca wonganensis ''Philotheca wonganensis'', commonly known as Wongan philotheca, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with thin, cylindrical leaves and white flowers with ...

'', and ''

Chenopodium aciculare ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classific ...

''. A species of dryandra is endemic to the locality, referred to by the epithet published by Alex George for his description of ''

Dryandra wonganensis ''Banksia wonganensis'' is a large shrub endemic to Western Australia that, until 2007, was previously known as ''Dryandra wonganensis''. It occurs within a small area in the vicinity of the Wongan Hills. It grows on lateritic soils in open wo ...

''. The same author described a new, possibly rare species of hakea he collected at Wongan Hills; the distribution range of ''

Hakea chromatropa ''Hakea chromatropa'' is a species of shrub found in Southwest Australia. The distribution is restricted to an area around Wongan Hills, where it is found on gravelly loam in open shrubland. The flowers are white or creamy, becoming pink, and wi ...

'' is also restricted to nearby regions. George thought this remarkable enough to note the fact that this region was settled shortly after colonisation, with a prolific botanical collector nearby, but it still revealed a new taxon. He also described a rare verticordia, the Wongan Featherflower ('' ''Verticordia staminosa'' subsp. ''staminosa'''') discovered by

Harry Butler William Henry "Harry" Butler (25 March 1930 – 11 December 2015) was an Australian naturalist and environmental consultant, best known as the presenter of the popular ABC television series ''In the Wild'' from 1976 to 1981. He was a househol ...

on a granite outcrop. A study of the area in 1982, published in a series of articles in ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'', described eight unknown species of plants. The hills are home to 90 species of birds.

Protected areas

There are several protected areas in the hills: * Wongan Hills Nature Reserve (4.17 km²), established 1975 * Elphin Nature Reserve (1.98 km²), established 1977 * Rogers Nature Reserve (3.41 km²), established 1985 * Fowler Gully Nature Reserve (2.3 km²), established 1993 * Unnamed WA51093 Nature Reserve (5.58 km²), established 2011 * Unnamed WA52103 Conservation Park (6.95 km²), established 2016UNEP-WCMC (2022). Protected Area Profile for Unnamed WA52103 from the World Database of Protected Areas. Accessed 20 May 2022

/ref> Elphin Nature Reserve and the two unnamed protected areas are contiguous. The others are separated from one another by unprotected lands.

References

{{reflist Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Landforms of Western Australia Avon Wheatbelt