The Shire of Murray is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

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 t ...

. It has an area of and is located in the Peel Region about south of the Perth

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. The Shire extends across the Peel Inlet and the

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geo ...

into the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to ...

, including about of State forests. Timber logging and agriculture were the traditional enterprises of the district. However, in recent decades,

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...

mining and a significant equine and tourism industry have emerged. The

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

flows all year throughout the district. It offers premier country racing and trotting facilities, a golf course and an array of festivals and events. The Shire is centred on the town of Pinjarra, one of the oldest towns in Western Australia where a number of 19th-century mud brick buildings are still in use today.

History

The area was first settled in 1834 by Sir

Thomas Peel Thomas Peel (1793 – 22 December 1865)Alexandra Hasluck,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 2, MUP, 1967, pp 320-322. retrieved 2009-11-04 organised and lead a consortium of the first British settlers to Western Australia. He was ...

. On 7 November 1868, the Murray District Roads Committee had its first meeting in Pinjarra. The Shire of Murray originated as the Murray Road District, which was gazetted on 25 January 1871. On 1 July 1961, it became the Shire of Murray following the passage of the ''Local Government Act 1960'', which reformed all remaining road districts into shires.

Towns and localities

The towns and localities of the Shire of Murray with population and size figures based on the most recent

Australian census The Census in Australia, officially the Census of Population and Housing, is the national census in Australia that occurs every five years. The census collects key demographic, social and economic data from all people in Australia on census ni ...

* Indicates locality is only partially located within the Shire of Murray

Population

* At the 1954 census, Mandurah, which had seceded from Murray, had a population of 1,687.

Notable councillors

* John McLarty, Murray Roads Board member 1870; later a state MP *

Edward McLarty Edward McLarty (1 December 1848 – 13 August 1917) was an Australian pastoralist and politician who was a member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1894 to 1916, representing South-West Province. McLarty was born in Pin ...

, Murray Roads Board member 1875–1915; also a state MP * William Paterson, Murray Roads Board member 1875–1895; also a state MP

Heritage-listed places

As of 2021, 130 places are heritage-listed in the Shire of Murray, of which 13 are on the

State Register of Heritage Places The State Register of Heritage Places is the heritage register of historic sites in Western Australia deemed significant at the state level by the Heritage Council of Western Australia. History In the 1970s, following its establishment of the ...

Notes

External links

* {{Coord, -32.630, 115.871, type:adm2nd_region:AU-WA, format=dms, display=title

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...