Kondinin is a town located in the eastern 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 ...

, east of the state capital,

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 i ...

via the

Brookton Highway Brookton Highway is a long undivided single carriageway highway in Western Australia, running from the southern Perth suburb of Kelmscott, Western Australia, Kelmscott, through Westdale, to the southern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbe ...

and State Route 40 between Corrigin and Hyden. It is one of three towns in the

Shire of Kondinin The Shire of Kondinin is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east of the state capital, Perth. The Shire's land area of ...

. At the 2006 census, Kondinin had a population of 311.

History

The first European known to have visited the Kondinin area was Captain

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 ...

, Surveyor General of the Swan River Colony on his 1848–1849 expedition to examine the south coast. He encountered a group of

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

east of Nalyaring (near Brookton) who guided the expedition party to several water sources before leaving the party at Yeerakine (just south-east of Kondinin) as this was the limit of their territory. The lake and well nearby came to be known as Kondinin, although the meaning is unknown. In the early years, settlers occasionally encountered groups of Aborigines hunting possums. Although artifacts such as grinding stones and stone choppers have been found in the district, no signs of permanent occupation were found by early settlers other than the mia-mias built by "Europeanised" Aboriginal shepherds from Narrogin in the employ of Michael Brown. Brown, a businessman from Narrogin, took up large pastoral leases in the Kulin/Kondinin area in 1905. These and other leases in the area were terminated in 1909/1910 to allow the government to distribute the land for agricultural purposes. The town of Kondinin began life as a railway station on the railway line from Yilliminning (near Narrogin) to Kondinin, built from 1911 to 1915. The district around Kondinin was already settled when the government chose to construct a railway line here in 1911. The townsite was gazetted in 1915. In 1949 the bulk wheat bin in town and another at Notting, located about from Kondinin, were both filled after a good season with excellent yields in the area despite the recorded rainfall of the previous year being only .

Present day

Kondinin has a population of about 300 and is a key agricultural centre for a district whose main activities are wheat and sheep farming. It contains a TAFE centre, a primary school (the nearest high school being 23 km away in Kulin), National Australia Bank, Bankwest, shopping facilities, accommodation (hotel, motel, caravan park), council offices and a

telecentre A telecentre is a public place where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others while they develop essential digital skills. Telecent ...

. The town is a stop on the

Transwa Transwa is Western Australia's regional public transport provider, linking 240 destinations, from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south west to Esperance in the south east. The Transwa system provides transport to the major regional ...

bus service to Esperance. The surrounding areas produce

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and other cereal crops. The town is a 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 ...

. It is also known as the "Home of the Group" – the Kondinin Group, a farm improvement group that originated in Kondinin in 1955 and now has its head office in Perth, and other offices in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. The Kondinin Group was formed as a self-help farmer group to study farm machinery reliability in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. It grew substantially in the 1990s and since 2000 has had about 10,000 members from mostly large scale cropping and livestock enterprises. Research suggests that the Kondinin Group has had a significant impact on the farm practices of its members. In surveys, it was preferred over consultants, suppliers, state departments of agriculture and accountants as a source of reliable and impartial information. The Kondinin Group runs an online bookstore that sells manuals on practical farm skills, teaching guides on agricultural industries and other materials, and publishes a magazine; both channels are used to disseminate Kondinin Group's research and related training. The community of Kondinin, through its historical innovation, continues to have a major impact on broadacre agriculture throughout Australia and is an acknowledged influence on

agricultural extension Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of 'extension' now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for r ...

throughout the world. This is recognised by Kondinin's continued use as the brand name of the group. The Centenary of Women's Suffrage Gazebo is located in Kondinin.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Shire of Kondinin

Hoonavation
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Grain receival points of Western Australia Shire of Kondinin