Woodanilling 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 Woodanilling, 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 ...

Location

The town is south 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 ...

on the

Great Southern Highway Great Southern Highway is a highway in the southern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, starting from Great Eastern Highway at The Lakes, from Perth, and ending at Albany Highway near Cranbrook. It is the primary thoroughfare for this ...

, from Katanning and from Wagin. The town is in a sheep and grain producing area and was named after a spring in the Boyerine Creek, found about south of town.

History

The

Wiilman The Wiilman people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Noongar group, from the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West regions of Western Australia. Variant spellings of the name include Wilman, Wirlomin, Wilmen and Wheelman. ''Wiilm ...

people of the

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

nation are the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the Woodanilling area. The name Woodanilling means in

Noongar language Noongar (), also Nyungar (), is an Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, uni ...

"the place of little fishes". During 1830–31, the area was first explored by Europeans, in expeditions by Captain Thomas Bannister. The construction of

Albany Highway Albany Highway links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany, Western Australia, Albany, on the state's South coast of Western Australia, south coast. The highway travels through the southern Wheatbelt (Weste ...

in the early 1850s and the Great Southern Railway in 1889 brought settlers to the area and helped to establish the town, which was located on a railway siding that was initially known as Round Pool. The townsite was gazetted in 1892. In 1895 it was renamed Yarabin and changed finally to Woodanilling the following year (1896). The name Woodanilling is Aboriginal in origin and means either "lots of minnows" or "place where the bronzewing pigeon nests". An agricultural hall and public school were built in the town prior to 1903 (when the school was closed temporarily after the teacher, a Mr Campbell, was transferred). By 1906, the Woodanilling Road Board was formed and the population of the shire swelled to 800, during its most prosperous period (1905 to 1920). At around this time the town boasted five general stores, a blacksmith, post office, bakery, hotel, railway station and trotting track. "Mallet" ( marlock or mallee) bark was also exported from the area in large quantities by 1907. The

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

of the local

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church was laid in 1908 in front of a large gathering including the local

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

, Rev. W. Kennedy. The Western Australian Bank branch and new hotel were erected in the town in 1908, along with many improvements being made to the school. Local farmers were confident of a bumper crop after experiencing favourable conditions for the year. The railway station yard was upgraded later the same year, a

weighbridge A truck scale (US), weighbridge (non-US) or railroad scale is a large set of Weighing scale, scales, usually mounted permanently on a concrete foundation, that is used to weigh entire Railroad car#Freight cars, rail or road vehicles and their co ...

, new crossing, tracking yards and enlarging the current yard were all completed the following year. The school changed teachers four times in 1908, with finding suitable quarters being the main problem. The school was also enlarged to cater for the growing enrolment. Between 1920 and 1960 migrants from Ireland, Germany, England and even China arrived contributing to the fabric of the local community. The local school was destroyed by fire in June 1949, the school had 64 students enrolled at the time. By November the minister of education decided that a new primary school would be built but older students would travel to Katanning for their classes.

Economy

The town services the surrounding area which is primarily concerned with sheep and wheat.

Nature reserve

The Woodanilling Nature Reserve, east of the townsite, was gazetted on 8 September 1911, has a size of , and is located within 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 rel ...

bioregion.

References

{{authority control Shire of Woodanilling Grain receival points of Western Australia