KATANNING

HEMA Map reference 74/G6

33° 42' S 117° 33' E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Sunbeam                08 9821 2165

Services

Attractions

Saleyards, Old Mill Museum, Police Pools Memorial, All ages playground, Mosque, 1930s garage, Kobeelya, Heritage rose garden, Mini steam train (2nd & 4th Sunday of the month), Piesse historical winery, Herald print museum, Lions Park, Heart park.

Buildings of note

Old Mill Museum, Mosque, King George hostel 1910, Roller flour mill 1891.

Calendar of events

January: Multi cultural festival. 3rd week in February: Multicultural festival. July: State horse trials. September: Regional gymnastics. October: Spring Lamb festival. November: Salt bush youth festival. December: Caboodle Street Festival. Wednesdays: Sheep sales. Monthly (2nd and 4th Sunday): Miniature railway. (3rd Saturday): Farmers markets.

Description

Possibly named after an Aboriginal word ‘Kartannin’ meaning big meeting place. (given in one source as 'meeting place of head tribesmen', from the Aboriginal words 'kart' meaning head man and 'annin' meaning meeting place). It is the centre of a rich agricultural area. James Stirling explored the area in 1835. (Another theory suggests that the name was derived from an Aboriginal woman, Kate Anning but the real meaning has been lost in time.)

Development of the town first began with the coming of the railway in 1889. Initially it was a private town developed by the Western Australian Land Company. The government purchased the railway in 1896 and the town was formally gazetted in 1898.

Katanning has the honour of being the first town to have street lights and a public library and was one of the first inland towns to have a public swimming pool.

The town developed at a site where the railway from Perth eventually joined the section coming north from Albany. Frederick Piesse had been following the railway in a specially constructed mobile store and now decided to build a permanent shop at the place where the rail lines met. Later in 1891 Piesse built the Roller Flour Mill and farmers began to crop wheat in the area. The mill is now an interesting museum. Piesse had a hand in the construction of many of the early buildings and as he also owned the local brickworks, he managed to do rather well out of it. He even donated 10,000 bricks to the construction of the imposing town hall which was completed in 1896.

Prior to the opening of the town hall church services were held in the local hotel (Chipper’s). This obviously didn’t go un-noticed as it was even reported in the Sydney Bulletin. Locals breathed a sigh of relief when the town hall opened a couple of weeks after the story broke and services were moved to a more sober location.

In 1897 a fire broke out in the hotel burning it to the ground. The cause is thought to have been a lit candle catching curtains alight. A baby left in the hotel by its mother who was working over the road was killed in the fire.

St Andrews Church was opened by Mrs Piesse (surprise surprise) in 1898 after her husband had donated 40,000 bricks.

To house himself and his family Piesse constructed a seven bedroom mansion called 'Kobeelya' in 1902. The building contained a billiard room, ballroom and had hot and cold running water.

F.C. Piesse had some very old fashioned ideas about people’s station in life and could be quite autocratic, but his love for Katanning and his tireless efforts to develop the town are what stand out most about his life. He died in 1912 and his funeral was a fitting tribute to someone who had given so much to the town over the years. Some time later a statue was erected to commemorate his life and his dedication to the establishment and betterment of the town.

The Piesse family was a large one and was to influence a great deal of the development not only around Katanning but north to Wagin and Piesseville south of Narrogin.

A mosque was constructed by the newly arrived Islamic community in 1980 after they relocated from Christmas Island in 1974.
 

The Katanning sale yards operate each Wednesday starting at 8:30am. Over 1 million sheep pass though here (on average) each year.

Tall tales & true: Do not disturb

In the early 1900s there was an acute labour shortage in the area and farm labourers were beginning to wake up to the fact that they could demand higher wages.

A story is told of one desperate farmer searching the local hotels for workers only to be told time and again that 25 shillings a week was not enough.

He was so desperate he kept on returning to the hotels only to find that workers had posted a sign stating that they would not work for less than 30 shillings a week. He even found one labourer asleep on his belly with a note pinned to his back saying ‘Don’t wake me up under 35s a week.’

Road Board scandal.

In April 1922 a vast number of financial records for the local Road Board dating from June 1919 vanished from the Board’s offices.

The Assistant Secretary was arrested but when the case was heard in Perth it was dismissed for lack of evidence.