Nornalup is a small town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

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

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 ...

. The town is located along the

South Coast Highway South Coast Highway is a Western Australian highway. It is a part of the Highway 1 network. With a length of , it runs from Esperance to Walpole roughly in parallel to Western Australia's south coast. Even then the journey is pretty much i ...

, on the banks of the Frankland River and the shore of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. Much of the locality, including its entire coast, is taken up by the Walpole-Nornalup National Park. The name derives from the local indigenous language: "place of the black snake". It is composed of ''Norne'', meaning "black snake" (a.k.a.

tiger snake The tiger snake (''Notechis scutatus'') is a large and highly venomous snake of southern Australia, including its coastal islands and Tasmania. These snakes are often observed and locally well known by their banding, black and yellow like a ti ...

); and '' up'', meaning "place of". The area attracts considerable numbers of tiger snakes due to its proximity to the river and wetlands, though fewer now than in the past. Anecdotal evidence from early settlers mentions uncomfortably large numbers of these highly venomous and aggressive reptiles, particularly during spring and early summer. From 1929 to the official closure of the line in 1957, Nornalup was the western terminus of the Elleker to Nornalup railway line. Nornalup was the original name of Walpole, which led to some confusion as the townsite and the terminus of the railway line were a considerable distance apart. In 1934, Walpole received its current name. The current gazetted townsite of Nornalup is in the west of the locality, just north-west of where the South Coast Highway crosses the Frankland River.

References

{{authority control Shire of Denmark Coastal towns in Western Australia