NANNUP

HEMA Map reference 74/H3

33° 58' 59" S 115° 46' 00" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Nannup                  08 9756 1211

Services

Attractions

Blackwood River, Donnelly River, Old police station, Scott National Park, Barrabup, Workers Pool, Heritage Trail, River Walk Trail, Kondil Park Wildflower Walk, Karri Gully Walk Trail, Kealleys Gem Museum, The Old Gaol, The Historical Society in the Main Roads Building.

Buildings of note

Old police station 1922, Hotel, Church, Town hall 1903, Former Road Board office 1923, Jalbarragup bridge 1900.

Calendar of events

January: Australia Day celebration, Art and photography exhibition. March: Music festival. May: Forest rally Australia. June: Boat race, Nannup Cup. July: Especially tulips guided tours. August: Flower and garden month, Sculpture walk.. September: Blackwood classic power boat race. November: Trout fishing competition, Rose festival.

Description

Exploration began in 1834 by Thomas Turner and the first land was taken up at Dudinalup in 1851. Times for the first settlers were tough as they cleared huge stands of karri to provide grazing lands for their cattle. Most of the clearing had to be done with little more than a cross cut saw and axes. Today timber, dairy and fruit are the area’s main activities.

A bridge was built across the Blackwood River in 1866 and soon afterward a police station and post office were constructed nearby. The area was first referred to as Lower Blackwood. In 1885 George Layman (MP) asked for land for a townsite to be reserved near the bridge. The town was surveyed in 1889.

The town site was gazetted in 1890 and the first school in the district established in 1903. The name is said to be Aboriginal for 'meeting place by the water'. (One source quotes ‘place of parrots’. Perhaps it is the ‘meeting place of parrots by water’??)
 

In 1909 a railway link to Jarrahwood and to the South Western Railway was completed but as with many towns in the south west, once road transport took over, the railway was closed down.

Fires in the area are quite frequent and many of the original buildings have been destroyed over the years. The Bunnings timber mill which has occupied the same site since 1926 was destroyed by fire in 1954.

In the park near the Vasse Highway there is a memorial to Marinko Tomas, a local youth, who was the first West Australian to be killed in the Vietnam War.

Over the years there have been many reported sightings of the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) around the town. Fossils found in caves to the west actually do show that these dog like creatures did once inhabit the area, but all attempts to confirm living specimens have failed.
 

The last claimed sighting of what has become known as the 'Nannup Tiger' was by a CALM ranger back in 1990.

The town is the centre of one of the most picturesque regions in the whole of the south west with 85 percent of the shire being covered by forest. The road between Nannup and Bridgetown winds its way over a series of hills and is best seen at the end of winter.