Noonkanbah

Kimberley
Yungngora (Mangata, Nykina and Walmajarri Country)

Surrounded by dusty red plains and imposing boab trees, Noonkanbah or

Yungngora, operates as a huge 170,000-hectare cattle station run and managed by
the Yungngora Association Councillors. The name Yungngora is from a dreamtime
story about a mythical ancestral being who was one of two dogs that travelled
through country to the south of the Fitzroy River in the Kalijidi Ranges (St George
Ranges). The story goes that the dog crossed the river and entered a waterhole
near the old Noonkanbah homestead. The station was established in the early
1880s by the Emanuel family. After a dispute in the 1970s with Yungngora people,
the land was purchased by the Aboriginal Land Fund. Noonkanbah Station is well-
known for the 1978 incident over protection of sacred land on site, which led to
the formation of the Kimberley Land Council.

Beagle Bay
Kimberley
Ngarlun Bur (Nyut Nyut Country)

Beagle Bay is an Aboriginal community located on the Dampier Peninsula. To travel

to Beagle Bay, you need to take a two to three-hour journey north of Broome on
the Cape Leveque Road past rich red dirt and shrubs. The small coastal community
is home to the Nyul Nyul people who have lived in the area for thousands of years.
In 1838, Scottish explorer John Clements Wickham who captained the survey ship
the HMS Beagle, named the place Beagle Bay. The creamy blue ocean that
surrounds Beagle Bay is filled with dugongs, turtles and fish, all traditional food for
the Nyul Nyul people. The iconic Sacred Heart Catholic Church is on the State
Register of Heritage Places. Built in 1917 by members of the Beagle Bay
community, it features a mother of pearl shell altar, inlaid pearl shell mosaics and
external wall cladding, which was initially painted with a whitewash of cooked and
crushed shells.

Menzies
Goldfields
Kabrun Bardu Country

Menzies is a tiny mining town between Kalgoorlie and Leonora on the Goldfields
Highway. The local Kabrun Bardu people tell the well-known dreamtime story of
the Seven Sisters who are inspired by the seven stars in the Pleiades constellation.
As the story goes, the Nalpaljarri sisters were flying over Lake Ballard when they
decided to stop and play on the surface. A man became interested in the sisters
but was from the wrong skin group to marry them, and so the sisters fled through
the country to escape him. If you visit the lake you can view Australia's largest
outdoor gallery with 51 striking metal figures created by British Artist, Anthony
Gormley. The sculptures were created by scanning the naked bodies of local
Menzies residents and people from surrounding areas. The artwork was
commissioned for the Perth Festival's 50th anniversary in 2003, and is now a part of
the State's artistic story.
Shay Gap
Pilbara
Njamal Pundju Country

On the edge of the Great Sandy Desert 1,600 kilometres north of Perth is the
small, isolated mining town of Shay Gap. The mine was commissioned in the early
1960s and later in 1973 the Shay Gap townsite was established. Njamal Pundju are
the traditional owners of Shay Gap and surrounds. The remnants of stone tools,
campsites, engravings and dulloos can be found on the country. Dulloos are
ceremonial sites made by pushing rocks together and were constructed to bring
rain to the local area and increase the chances of having babies. Shay Gap was
often called a 'space age town' due to its unique building structures. Designed by
Perth Architect Lawrence Howroyd, the buildings were molded and connected to
one huge air-conditioning system in the centre of town. In 1993, mining activities
at Shay Gap mine ceased and the town was closed a year later. The remaining
buildings and structures were either sold, relocated to Yarrie or demolished.

Goldsworthy
Pilbara
Nyamal Country

Goldsworthy was the first iron ore town in the Pilbara located 110km east of Port
Hedland. Named after the international mining consortium, Goldsworthy Mining
Limited, the town was established in 1965 to support the onsite mine. At its peak,
Goldsworthy's population reached about 700 people but today all that remains of
the town is a small row of lone trees, a flooded mining pit and memories shared by
past residents. Although ore deposits were confirmed as early as 1890, mining and
construction of the town only began in 1963 after an embargo to mine the area
was lifted. It only took 15 months to build the mine, townsite and port. The mine
at Goldsworthy closed in 1982 and the town was finally abandoned in 1992.

Leeuwin-Naturaliste
South West
Wardandi Country

The Leeuwin-Naturaliste sub-region in Western Australia's South West comprises

land and coastal waters within the City of Busselton and the Shire of Augusta-
Margaret River and is renowned for its unique natural environment. Named for the
95km long Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, for thousands of years the Wardandi people
followed the rugged coastline during the warmer months, catching salmon, blue
groper and abalone, before moving inland for the cooler weather to take
advantage of food sources in rivers and lakes. In 1895, construction began on the
Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. Situated at the most south-westerly tip of Australia, it is
still a working lighthouse and collection site for meteorological data. Weather
recording began here in 1897, and the site now has the longest unbroken record of
weather recording in Western Australia.
Cowaramup
South West
Cowara (Wardandi Country)

Cowaramup holds the Guinness World Record for hosting the largest gathering of
people dressed as cows (1,352 in case you are wondering) and is home to 42 life-
sized fiberglass Friesian cows and calves. It is little wonder the locals often refer
to it as " Cowtown", yet its name has nothing to do with cows at all. Cowaramup's
name is believed to be derived from Cowara, the Noongar name for the Purple-
crowned Lorikeet. Established in the 1920s to support the timber industry and the
emerging dairy industry, Cowaramup had a railway station that was essential for
the transport of goods. Cowaramup is now at the centre of a large viticulture
industry with over 200 vineyards in the area. The first commercial vineyard was
established in 1967, but 50 years before that the first grapes were grown in the
area by Jimmy Meleri, who would produce wine and sell it at local dances. Today
nearly 5,500 hectares of the region is planted with grapes.

Nannup
South West
Wardandi/Bibulmun Country

Nannup is an inland town situated in the southern forests. Now surrounded by

farmland, the area would have once been heavily forested. Nannup is a Noongar
word meaning either 'stopping place' or 'place of parrots'. The earliest European
settler, Thomas Turner, followed the Blackwood River to the district in 1834 and a
townsite was gazetted in 1890. The isolated settlement grew gradually, with
farmers and timber mill workers moving to the district. In 1906, the first school
was built. Nannup suffered many setbacks in the years following, including
bushfires in the 1920s and 1930s and severe floods in the 1940s however the main
street has changed little over the years.

Narembeen
Wheatbelt
Narimbeen (Ballardong/ Nyakinyaki Country)

The name Narembeen is derived from 'narimbeen’, which is said to mean the place
of female emus in the local Aboriginal language. When the citizens of the
neighboring town of Emu Hill opposed the building of a hotel in their town, two
enterprising men purchased 12 hectares of land at Narembeen and built their hotel
in1923. While not the best choice of location because of flooding, Narembeen
prospered because of rumors that gold had been discovered about 50 kilometres
east of the town, and it was the closest rail connection. By 1925, Narembeen had a
population of 2,100 and Emu Hill had ceased to exist. Today, Narembeen is a
modern centre supporting the surrounding farms and is home to the Grain
Discovery Centre where visitors can follow the journey of grain from paddock to
product Narembeen is rich in heritage with five places listed on the State Register
of Heritage Places.
Cossack
Pilbara
Bardjinurpha (Ngarluma Country)

One of the first pearling towns in Western Australia, Cossack is nestled within the
Butcher Inlet at the mouth of the Harding River. To access this living ghost town,
you need to drive 15 kilometres down a single red-dusted country road out of
Roebourne. Cossack or Bardjinurpha is on Ngarluma people's country. This country
is rich in Aboriginal heritage and abundant with totem or thalu sites, each with its
own song and ceremony. Cossack received its European name in 1871 after the ship
HMS Cossack. The town was established in 1863 and is on the State Register of
Heritage Places. The first building constructed in the Cossack was Galbraith's Store
which was built between 1890 and 1891. The store provided essentials and was a
welcome relief to pearlers and travelers who visited the area. Since 1992 the town
has hosted the Cossack Art Awards, the richest acquisitive art award in regional
Australia.

Fitzroy Crossing
Kimberley
Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Nyikina, Wangkatjunka and Walmajarri Country

Fitzroy Crossing is a small outback town that can be reached from Perth by
travelling 26 hours on long windy roads, or by plane soaring over deep gorges. The
town is set on the banks of the mighty Fitzroy River, which according to the
dreamtime stories, was forged by the spirit of the snakelike serpent of Gullaroo
who used his body to create the river's twists and turns. The picturesque landscape
surrounding the town is full of red dusty sands, large boab trees and the Devonian
coral reef. Near the town is the rocky Windjana Gorge. It is said that sometimes
when you look over to the gorge you can see a silhouette of Jundamarra (or
"Pigeon"), who was part of the Bunuba tribe and one of the most notable Aboriginal
freedom fighters in Western Australia.

Walkaway
Mid West
Wagga Wah (Naaguja (Nowkadja) Country)

Walkaway is a small agricultural town with a pioneering history nestled on the

banks of the picturesque Greenough Ri ver. Due to the fact it is very windy, it is
now also a hub for renewable energy. Walkaway was established in the late 1800s
and is located seven kilometres inland from the North West Coastal Highway.The
name Wagga Wah refers to a nearby bend in the Greenough River. The town was
also known as the Black Flats and had an inn that served the lumbering carts and
wagons headed for the northern pastoral areas of Murchison and Yalgoo. The
Walkaway Station was built in 1887 to service Geraldton by rail, and was later
linked to the Midland Junction in 1894. The station was closed in1966 and now
hosts a museum displaying railway and pioneer memorabilia. The Walkaway
Railway Station is listed on the State Register of Heritage Places.
Bunbury
South West
Goomburrup (Wardandi Country)

When Dutch explorers on the ship Elburg sighted the place where Bunbury now
stands in 1658, it was known to the local Elaap people who lived there at the time
as Goomburrup. In 1829, Lieutenant Henry Bunbury mapped the inland route to the
area from Pinjarra and the settlement was named Bunbury in honour of his work.
Bunbury was accompanied by Noongar guides who provided detailed explanations
of the land and waterways as they went. He recorded encounters with hundreds of
Aboriginal people as he travelled. In the 1890s, Bunbury became the go-to holiday
resort for miner’s flush with cash from their finds in the Goldfields. Today, mining
and mineral processing is the main driver of Bunbury's economy.

Geographe
South West
Wardandi/Binjareb Country

Geographe Bay is a wide curve of beautiful coastline extending from Cape

Naturaliste to Bunbury. It was given its name by the French explorer Nicolas
Baudin, whose expedition sailed to the area in 1801 in the ships Geographe and
Naturaliste. The Geographe Bay area is home to the Wardandi and Binjareb people
and many towns in the area, like Yallingup and Wonnerup, retain their original
Aboriginal names. Agriculture was the main activity in 1832 but the world's thirst
for railway sleepers - including for the London Underground - soon made the
region's hardwood karri and jarrah timber industry a significant contributor to the
local economy. The Geographe wine region, the youngest wine region in the State,
was established in 1999. The regular cool afternoon breezes create a long and
stable growing season that is perfect for crafting shiraz, semillon and sauvignon
blanc wines.

Kalannie
Wheatbelt
Kapurn Country

Kalannie is a small town about 260 kilometres north-east of Perth. The name
originates from the local Aboriginal word for the 'place of white stone for spears'
and indeed there is a place in the area where Aboriginal people mined the white
stone to be fashioned into cutting tools and spear tips. Wheat growing began in the
area in 1914 but drought and World War I almost obliterated the venture. Despite
this, settlement continued after the war and the town was gazetted in 1929,
coinciding with the arrival of the railway line. In the 1930s, sheep and wool were
added to commodities produced in the area and this fostered the growth of a
grocery shop, butcher, baker, garage, hall and a school. Today, Kalannie is a major
centre for grain production. Some of the wheat grown is specifically for export to
the Japanese and South Korean udon noodle market.
Kununoppin
Wheatbelt
Coonoonoppin (Nyakinyaki country)

Set amongst towering Salmon Gums (Eucalyptus salmonophloia) so named for the
salmon coloured bark they display through summer and autumn; the town of
Kununoppin is located 257 kilometres north-east of Perth. Located in Nyakinyaki
country, the town’s name derives from the local Aboriginal name for the
surrounding area, Coonoonoppin. Starting out as a railway siding on the Dowerin to
Merredin railway line, Kununoppin was gazetted as a town in 1911. The original
Kununoppin Hall in the main street was built in 1923 and extended in 1936 to meet
the growing need for recreational and social activities. In 2005, the first of a series
of unique tin sculptures were placed around the town. Created by local man
Norman Waters, who found inspiration in the history of the town, the collection
was added to over the years.

Warburton
Goldfields
Ngaanyatjarra

Warburton is 920km north-east of Kalgoorlie on the Great Central Highway

between the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert. The Warburton
settlement was established as a United Aborigines Mission in 1934. In 1973, control
of the Warburton settlement was finally handed back to the Aboriginal people and
has since been run by the Ngaanyatjarra Council. The tjukurrpa (dreaming) is
strong for Aboriginal people of Ngaanyatjarra country who maintain their
connection and cultural knowledge through passing on stories, hunting and getting
bush tucker. The Wilurarra Creative Centre in Warburton is an incubator for
creative expression through art, music, fashion and skills development, and was
built on a foundation of empowerment, equality and collaboration. Home to the
Wilurarra Desert Reggae Project, songs produced at the centre are mostly in
Ngaanyatjarra, but also sung in Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjarra and English.The
music project connects Ngaanyatjarra talent to people near and far with songs
about family, looking after and missing country, love, travel and prison.

Damboring
Wheatbelt
Yued Country

Pronounced “dambring”, the name derives from the language of the local
Aboriginal people. In 1886 a surveyor recorded the word Damborin being used to
describe a small waterhole in the crown of a hill. Located about 185 kilometres
north-east of Perth in a nest of salt lakes, Damboring was established as a railway
siding in 1915. Why the establishment of a railway siding in the middle of salt lakes
was considered a good idea remains a mystery, but it resulted in the small town
growing around it. A local farmer donated five acres of land east of the town for a
school, which opened in 1924 to meet the influx of settlers after World War I.
Today, there is little left to mark Damboring but it still has an official population
of 11 residents.
Wyalkatchem
Wheatbelt
Ballardong Country

The origin of the name Wyalkatchem dates back to the 1870’s when the name of a
local waterhole was recorded as “Walkatching”. The spelling changed several
times over the years before being formalised as Wyalkatchem when the town was
gazetted in 1911. Europeans first settled the area in the 1860s, seeking pasture for
sheep. Wheat production began in 1906. By 1909, the local Progress Association
began to lobby for the railway to come to town as the wagon journey to the
nearest railhead with a load of bagged wheat could take up to three days. The
railway from Dowerin opened in 1911 and Wyalkatchem was just a minor siding,
but its importance grew as the railway was extended to the north and east. By
1931, the first trainload of bulk wheat departed, and the town originally had three
out of five Western Australian bulk wheat loading facilities. Since then,
Wyalkatchem has become known as the cradle of bulk loading in the Wheatbelt.

Wongan Hills
Wheatbelt
Wangan-katta (Ballardong Country)

Set amongst the ranges and wildflowers, the Noongar name of Wangan-katta refers
to the whispering hills. The hills themselves are composed of hard metamorphic
rocks that have been eroded away to form striking flat-topped elevated land - like
large tables - that protrude sharply from the surrounding plains. When then
Surveyor General of Western Australia, John Septimus Roe, explored the hills in
1836 he called the area Wongan Hills. The hills are ecologically significant because
they contain the largest remaining single area of natural vegetation in the northern
part of the Wheatbelt. The area is popular for wildflower enthusiasts looking to
catch a glimpse of the rare verticordia - the Wongan Featherflower. It is also home
to the Malleefowl, now considered to be a species vulnerable to extinction.