DONGARA

(PORT DENISON)

HEMA Map reference 76/G3

29° 14' 59" S 114° 55' 37" E

Statistics

Caravan Park

Services

Attractions

Old flour mill, Russ Cottage 10am-12pm on Sundays, Old East End, Old Police Station, Fisherman’s Lookout, South Beach, Seven Mile Beach, Cliff Head North, Freshwater, Irwin River nature trail, Heritage trail.

Buildings of note

Priory Lodge 1881, Royal Steam roller flour mill 1894, Russ cottage 1868, Old police station and court house 1870, St. John church 1884.

Calendar of events

Easter: Racing carnival, Markets. April: Races. May: Mixed bowls carnival, October: Hanging of the quilts, Music festival, November: Blessing of the fleet, Art exhibition, Lobster festival, Community festival. Monthly: Markets 1st Saturday of the month.

Old flour mill

Port Denison

From Max Jefferies site www.spiritland.net

Description

An expedition led by Lt. George Grey passed through the area in 1839, during their trek south to Perth after being shipwrecked. He discovered and named the Irwin River after Major F. Irwin who was commandant of the Swan River Settlement.

Coal was discovered in the area in 1845. More recently oil and natural gas have also been discovered. Cray fishing is an important industry as well.

The area was settled in 1850 and the town site was surveyed in 1852 (another source quotes 1873). The name seems to have come from the Aboriginal word 'Dhungarra' or ‘Thungarra’ which means 'meeting place of seals.' (Port Denison was named after William Thomas Denison who was Governor of both Tasmania and New South Wales.)

In 1865 a flour mill was built to process the local crops and a year later a jetty was constructed to ship the produce out.

The giant Moreton Bay fig trees which line Moreton Tce. were planted in 1906 at a cost of 16 shillings and 4 pence.
 

Originally the name was spelled Dongarra but in 1944 this was changed to the current spelling.

You can visit Russ cottage which was once the home of the Dent family whose child was the first born white baby in W.A.

There is a good scenic lookout at Port Denison that has good views of the Harbour. The Irwin River is another scenic attraction.

Of course one of the main reasons many people visit Dongara is fishing and good catches of tailor, snapper, whiting and dhufish are taken regularly in season.

The 'lobster' industry.

The industry started in the early 1950s when there was no thought of regulation. Crayfish (they are crayfish not lobster) were of little value and sold for as little as 3 shillings a dozen.

Transporting the lobsters was also a problem but some were sent down to Perth for the restaurant trade.

A processing factory started in 1959 and in the following decade frozen lobster tails were exported. From there the trade developed into live lobster exports and today it is one of the state's major fisheries.