Dongara is a town north-northwest of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia on the Brand Highway. The town is located at the mouth of the Irwin River. Dongara is the seat of the Shire of Irwin. At the the shire had a population of 3,569, with 2,782 residing in the contiguous towns of Dongara and Port Denison.

History

Dongara Royal Steam Roller Flour Mill SI-39 30123-115-N

The place name 'Dongara' is an anglicised rendition of ''Thung-arra'', the local Wattandee people's name for the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

adjacent to the town, meaning '

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

place'. European settlement around the estuary began in 1853 when a harbourmaster, Edward Downes, was stationed there to look out for passing ships. He was employed by Lockier Burges, Edward Hamersley, Samuel Pole Phillips and Bartholomew Urban Vigors' Cattle Company, which was granted 60,000 acres of pastoral leases about 15 kilometres inland. By the 1860s, ex-convict small farmers were occupying the local river flats, and a flour mill (the Irwin or Smith's Mill) was operating. A

townsite A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat (United States) or plan ( ...

was surveyed, and in 1871 it became the seat of a local council established that year (now the Irwin Shire Council), and site of a police station and public school. The Anglican Church of St John the Baptist and a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church were built in the 1880s. In the 1890s, the larger Royal Steam Roller Flour Mill was built on the flats next to the new Midland Railway line that connected the district to

. The town slowly developed, and although still a comparatively small village by the time of

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

in 1901, it had several churches, municipal offices and hall, a variety of shops, two hotels, a public school and a railway station. The nearby localities were populated by wheat and sheep farmers, centred on the hamlets of Bookara, Irwin and Strawberry. There was also a small population of fishermen, including several Chinese men, at Port Denison. Dongara is the centre for a small oil and natural gas industry that began with the discovery of the Dongara Gas Field in 1966. Dongara railway station was demolished in 1975 as part of the realignment of the Midland railway line through the town, which was necessitated by the construction of the Dongara–Eneabba railway line. The new alignment was shorter than the original alignment and it opened on 1 June 1975. The route of the Dongara–Eneabba railway line travelled through the Dongara Roman Catholic Cemetery, located on the southern side of Brand Highway, so the remains there were re-interred in the Dongara Cemetery. The Dongara–Eneabba railway line opened in April 1976.

Notable people from or associated with Dongara

* Sir David Brand (1912–1979), 19th Premier of Western Australia, born at Dongara * Nathan Broad (1993– ),

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and 3 time AFL premiership player *

Robert Bruning Robert Bruning (27 May 1928 – 4 March 2008) was an Australian actor and film producer, who was the founder of film production firm Gemini Productions Biography Bruning was born as Robert Bell in Dongara, Western Australia in 1928. He worked ...

(1928–2008), born Robert Bell, PMG linesman, sales manager, actor, film producer, screenwriter, script editor * Jamie Elliott (1992– ), Australian rules footballer * Patricia Kailis (1933–2020), geneticist, lived in Dongara from 1962 to 1969 *

Carmen Lawrence Carmen Mary Lawrence (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian academic and former politician who was the premier of Western Australia from 1990 to 1993, the first woman to become the premier of an Australian state. To date she is the only female p ...

(1948- ), 25th Premier of Western Australia * Cranston Albury McEachern (1905–1983), Australian army officer and solicitor * Jaeger O'Meara (1994– ), Australian rules footballer * Roxanne Roux, AFLW player

References

External links

Shire of Irwin

Dongara Information
{{authority control Coastal towns in Western Australia Shire of Irwin Fishing communities in Australia