Kununurra, Western Australia

Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley Region approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) from the border with the Northern Territory. Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.

Kununurra is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome, with the closest town being Wyndham, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Kununurra is 3,040 kilometres (1,889 mi) from Perth via the Great Northern Highway.

The town is situated in among the scenic hills and ranges of the far north-east Kimberley Region, having an abundance of fresh water, conserved by the Ord River Diversion dam and the main Ord River Dam.

The tropical agriculture crops grown in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have changed over the years. Tourism and mining have also become important to the local economy.

Characteristics

The 2011 census population includes only people in the townsite area who called the Kununurra town site their "usual place of residence." Kununurra has a transient population; if itinerant residents, the outlying farm areas and communities were included in these population figures, numbers would have exceeded 7,000 for 2006. An influx in the dry season (From April to September), of tourists and itinerant farm workers can push up the population to around 10,000 during the dry season.