Our Region - Manjimup
Though Manjimup is generally regarded as one of WA’s great, historical timber towns, it wasn’t gazetted as a town until 1910.
The earliest white settlers in the Manjimup or “Warren” region were the pioneering pastoralists Charles Rose and Frank Hall in 1859. Hall's property passed to J Mottram who named his homestead "Manjimup House" in the 1860’s and in 1863 a local brook was recorded by surveyor T Treen as Manjimup Brook.
However, it wasn’t until the late 1890’s that demand for quality agricultural land in Western Australia focused attention on the heavily forested areas near Manjimup. A report by surveyor Terry in 1898 identified good land on the Wilgarup River, and an Agricultural Area was declared. There was also some demand for small lots, and in 1902 lots were surveyed near Balbarrup which was declare a townsite and the following year the original “Manjimupp” townsite was declared.
In 1909 the government decided to extend the railway from Bridgetown to Wilgarup with the terminus of the line being close to the original Manjimup homestead, which is about 5 kilometres west of the 1903 townsite. The proposed station was named Manjimup, and a subdivision was recommended at the site.
A new Manjimup townsite was gazetted the following year and the railway line was opened for traffic in 1911. By this time the timber industry was firmly established and the population of the area was increasing.
As each timber mill in the area was built, the timber near the mill was cut out and railway lines were laid. The logs would be hauled into position by steam winch and tractors and locomotives would haul the log rakes to the mill site. These rail lines were a vital part of timber milling enabling it to be conducted on a large scale over a period of several decades.
Many south west place names are derived from the original Noongar language and these Aboriginal people tell traditional stories of the Waagle (or Rainbow Serpent) giving life and sustenance to their people who in return were the caretakers of the land.
Manjimup was originally inhabited by the Bibbulmun tribe, one of the many tribes that comprised the Noongar Aboriginal group. Manjimup comes from the Aboriginal "Manjin", a local swamp reed whose edible root was valued “bush tucker”.
They used fire as a tool to clear undergrowth, promote new growth in plants and to assist in the capture of animals. They also trapped fish but were the area"s first conservationists, always respecting what the land could provide for them.
The land of the Noongar nation stretches from approximately Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. Of all the Aboriginal peoples in Western Australia, the Noongar were the most affected by early white settlement.
Visitors to Western Australia are often struck by the number of place names ending in "up" such as Cardup, Wonnerup, Burekup, Yallingup and Karrinyup. The "up" in these names comes from the Aboriginal Noongar language but there is some dissension as to whether it means place of, water place or meeting place and most likely it is a combination of all three translations.
All of these towns were originally spelt with a double "p" - so Cardupp, Wonnerupp, Burekupp, Yallingupp and Karinyupp.
The double "p" spelling in the original Western Australian Government gazettal of these names was used because the Lands and Surveys Department had adopted a system for spelling Aboriginal names developed by the Royal Geographical Society. The RGS system had a rule that vowels are pronounced as in Italian and consonants as in English.
This would have meant that names ending in "up" should have been pronounced as "oop", because the Italian "u" was a long "u", as in flute. These Aboriginal names were meant to be pronounced as "up", and the Department asked the RGS for a rule to assist in correct pronunciation.
The RGS solution was that doubling the following consonant shortened the preceding vowel, and this meant the "upp" ending ensured the "up" pronunciation. However, this particular rule was rescinded in 1915 for south west towns with the suffix "up", as the Australian way of pronouncing the letter "u" was almost always short, and rarely the Italian "oo" - something you always wanted to know!
Boyup Brook Latitude 33 50 S Longitude 116 21E
The townsite of Boyup Brook is located in the great southern agricultural region, 269 kilometres south south east of Perth and 31 kilometres north east of Bridgetown. The Boyup Brook area was known as Upper Blackwood when in 1896 the government set land aside for a future townsite on the Blackwood River about 8 kilometres south of the present townsite. In 1899 farmers in the area met and formed the "Upper Blackwood Progress Committee", and wrote to the government requesting a townsite to be called Throssell where they could erect a school, church and other public facilities.
The request fwas sent to the Minister for Lands, at that time whose name was George Throssell. The Lands Department resisted the proposal at first, as it did not consider there was enough demand for lots, but the Progress Committee persisted, and the Minister directed the Department to survey some lots. The survey was carried out in 1899 and although the name Throssell was used for a short time, Sir James Lee Steere, former resident of the area and prominent politician, suggested the Aboriginal name Boyup. The townsite was gazetted as Boyup in 1900, although local usage was mostly "Boyup Brook". In 1908 there was a major expansion of the townsite, and because of confusion between the townsite names Boyup and Boyanup (near Bunbury), the townsite was regazetted as Boyup Brook in 1909.
The name is derived from the Aboriginal name of a nearby watercourse, Boyup Brook, which was first recorded as Booyup Brook in 1877. Buyu is said to mean "place of smoke", and another account states that "Booy" means "big smoke", and was named because the brook was originally surrounded by blackboys which, when set alight, sent up a cloud of black smoke.
Bridgetown Latitude 33 57S Longitude 116 08E
Bridgetown is a picturesque townsite on the Blackwood River between Greenbushes and Manjimup. The name Bridgetown was proposed by Surveyor TC Carey in 1868 at the suggestion of the settlers of the area "as it is at a bridge and the "Bridgetown" was the first ship to put in at Bunbury for the wool from these districts". It was approved by Governor Hampton at the suggestion of Surveyor General JS Roe in 1868.
Greenbushes Latitude 33 51 S Longitude 116 03 E
Greenbushes is located between Balingup and Bridgetown, 251 kilometres south of Perth. Tin had been discovered near here by Stinton in 1888, and the place referred to as Greenbushes apparently because of particularly green bushes which stood out from the grey of the local Eucalypts.
A townsite of Greenbushes was gazetted in 1889 but was abandoned in 1893 because of poor soil in the area. The railway from Donnybrook to Bridgetown was opened in 1898, and a station of Greenbushes established about six kilometres north of the original townsite. The Surveyor General decided to create a townsite at the railway station, and following the survey of lots, a new Greenbushes townsite was gazetted in May 1899.
However, the location of this townsite was around three kilometres North of the main road through the tinfields, where a number of businesses and residences were established, including some government buildings. This area was also known as Greenbushes, and was the cause of some confusion. In October 1899 Greenbushes was renamed North Greenbushes, and later that month a new townsite of Greenbushes was gazetted for the business and residential area on the main road, this being the third townsite of Greenbushes within a single decade.
Northcliffe Latitude 34 38 S Longitude 116 07 E
Northcliffe is 366 kilometres south of Perth and 31 kilometres south east of Pemberton. The centre of a large Group Settlement scheme, the area around the the terminus of the extension of the Bridgetown-Jarnadup railway was surveyed in 1923 at the request of Premier James Mitchell. The town was gazetted in May 1924, being named after Alfred Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe, who had died in 1922. He had been the proprietor and publisher of the London Times and the Daily Mail, and a renowned commentator on world affairs.
Pemberton Latitude 34 27 S Longitude 116 02 E
Pemberton is 335 kilometres south of Perth and 31 kilometres from Manjimup. It is the site of the original Number 2 and Number 3 State Sawmills. The area had become known as "Big Brook", but local farmer WL Brockilometresan suggested Pemberton, after Pemberton Walcott who was the first settler in the area in 1862. The name Pemberton was used from 1916 but the area remained under total control of the State Sawmills Department which resisted the founding of the townsite until October 1925.
Quinninup
The Quinninup Group Settlement consisted of 17 families who arrived in the area in May 1924, having landed at Albany on the SS Borda before transferring to Fremantle by train. Quinninup operated as a Millars mill town until Millars was sold to Bunnings in 1982 who proceeded to shut down Quinninup operations.
Tonebridge Latitude 34 14 S Longitude 116 42 E
Tonebridge is 330 kilometres south south east of Perth and 61 kilometres south east of Boyup Brook. It’s name comes from it being alongside the bridge where the Boyup Brook-Cranbrook Road crosses the Tone River. The Tone River was named by the explorer Lt Crossman in 1853, probably after Tone in Somerset, England, which is a small river which rises in the hills to the west of Taunton, a corruption of Tone Town. The townsite was gazetted in 1961.