GNOWANGERUP  

The town site had been declared on July 13 1908, and was still being cleared in 1909. Earlier in 1870 John Forrest had travelled through the District and had stayed with Edward Treasure at Martinup, not far from Whiteworth on the Gnowangerup-Broomehill road. This was originally a pastoral lease established in the early 1800’s.

VERY EARLY 1800s  MAP SHOWING GNOWANGERUP SPRING AT EXTREME RIGHT WHICH BECAME SITE FOR THE TOWN               #1
 

The local residents of Gnowangerup originally requested it be named Quinton, after James Quinn, the first white resident, or Ashton or Warrington – reputedly from whence he came in England. This request was denied by the State Government. The original spelling was Ngnowangerupp, but many locals were unhappy with this spelling and was later changed to the one we use today. James Quinn was cutting sandalwood which was the first industry in the area. A.H. Allardyce tells of the thousands of sandalwood trees that grew in the area. Sandalwood was very valuable evidently grew in areas where there were rocks.

Sometime between 1904 and 1906 the town site was surveyed. In the four years between 1906 and 1909 and 1910 over 100 buildings had been erected, there had been none in the town site before 1906. In 1908 the school opened and the Gnowangerup District Roads Board set out its constitution. The town in 1910 was very small; there was a blacksmith,
“Richardson & Co” a store owned by a businessman who also had a store in Katanning, another store and two or three other make shift buildings. A brick building for the Agricultural Board was completed in 1910.  The main street was a wide dirt road, and there were only a few hundred residents in the area. These were mostly farmers who had been agitating for a railway. Residents still had to make a 25 mile round trip to Broomehill for the many necessities that were still not available in Gnowangerup. By 1912 the estimated number of inhabitants was 300, and there were about 30 businesses. Soon people were flooding to the District, and this rapid rate of growth between 1910 and 1912 was when Gnowangerup was dubbed the ‘mushroom town’ for the speed in which it grew. Town lots were organized and a map of the streets of Ngnowangerup was available.

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1910            #2
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1912             #2
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1912             #
 

ENLARGEMENT OF SECTION YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1912             #
 

ENLARGEMENT OF SECTION YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1912             #
 

ENLARGEMENT OF SECTION YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1912             #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING SOUTH   1913c             #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING SOUTH WEST  1920c              #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1950c               #

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING NORTH  1959                #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING SOUTH    1986               #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING WEST   2016             #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING WEST  2918              #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING SOUTH              #
 

YOUGENUP ROAD LOOKING SOUTH              #
 

Every endeavour has been made to accurately record the details however if you would like to provide additional images and/or newer information we are pleased to update the details on this site. Please use CONTACT at the top of this page to email us. We appreciate your involvement in recording the history of our area.

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Copyright : Gordon Freegard 2024