Gnowangerup, Western Australia

Gnowangerup is named as the place of the mallee fowl in the Aboriginal Noongar language, being derived from nearby Gnowangerup Creek and Spring, both names being first recorded in 1878. The name means "place where the mallee hen (gnow) nests".{{LandInfo WA|c|G|2007-06-08}}

The town was first gazetted under the spelling of Ngowangerupp. Local dissatisfaction with this spelling led to it being altered to Gnowangerup in 1913.

The traditional owners of the area are the Goreng people of the Noongar nation, who lived on the plains in the area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers.{{cite web|url=http://www.hiddentreasures.com.au/towns/gnowangerup.aspx?_Town=7|title=Gnowangerup|access-date=14 December 2017|publisher=Hidden Treasures of the Great Southern|archive-date=15 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215001222/http://www.hiddentreasures.com.au/towns/gnowangerup.aspx?_Town=7|url-status=dead}}

The townsite was first gazetted in 1908.

Following a severe drought the town was flooded in 1940 after a torrential downpour. The bridge was covered by water, parts of the railway line, the local tennis courts and pavilion were washed away.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37940688 |title=Western Australia|newspaper=Western Mail |volume=55 |issue=2,854 |location=Western Australia |date=14 November 1940 |access-date=1 January 2018 |page=38 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Gnowangerup State School was opened in November 1908 on a site on the northern edge of town.{{cite web|url=http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/7d5a664b-8296-457e-89b1-d5cfa7881bf0|title=Gnowangerup District High School|work=InHerit|access-date=14 December 2017|date=27 November 1996|publisher=Heritage Council of Western Australia}} It is now known as Gnowangerup District High School and caters for students from Kindergarten to Year 10.{{Cite web |title=ABOUT |url=https://www.gnowangerupdhs.wa.edu.au/about |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=gnowangerup-dhs |language=en}}

The local Agricultural Hall was opened on 20 July 1910 by Arnold Piesse, MLA for the Katanning electorate.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38361774|title=Farm & Station|newspaper=Western Mail |location=Perth, Western Australia|date=6 August 1910|access-date=1 October 2013|page=4|publisher=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news|title=Gnowangerup Agricultural Hall|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146212141|access-date=23 October 2015|work=Great Southern Herald|date=23 July 1910|location=Katanning, WA|page=3}}

The Ongerup branch railway from Tambellup was open for service to Gnowangerup on 1 July 1912. It was extended to Ongerup on 6 January 1913. Train services east of Gnowangerup ceased on 13 October 1957.Milne, Rod (2002) The Ongerup Branch Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, May, 2002 pp163-170{{cite news|title=Local News|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70103939|access-date=23 October 2015|work=Albany Advertiser|date=6 July 1912|page=2}}

The War Memorial Hall was opened in 1923, the same year that electric light was being installed. The population of the town in the same year was 1,350 people.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211144576 |title=Gnowangerup. |newspaper=Tambellup Times |volume=IX |issue=967 |location=Western Australia |date=5 September 1923 |access-date=15 December 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

A United Aborigines Mission, Gnowangerup Mission, was established on Muir Hill in 1935 on a {{convert|61|ha|acre|0|adj=on}} site to replace the mission run on the Government reserve that ran from 1926 until 1935. The mission ceased operations in 1954 and then reopened as the Agricultural High School for Indigenous Australian boys.{{cite web|url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/wa/WE00222|title=United Aborigines Mission, Gnowangerup (1935 - 1954)|access-date=14 December 2017|publisher=Find & Connect|archive-date=15 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215000541/https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/wa/WE00222|url-status=dead}}

In 1972 the Gnowangerup Noongar Centre was established by the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship operating out of a 1913 former bishop's residence that was also the headquarters of the Gnowangerup Noongar Corporation until 1989. The building was placed on the State Heritage Register. in 2012{{cite web|url=https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Barnett/2012/05/State-celebrates-first-Noongar-Centre.aspx|title=State celebrates first Noongar Centre|access-date=1 January 2018|date=29 May 2012|work=Media Statements|publisher=Government of Western Australia|archive-date=1 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101194412/https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Barnett/2012/05/State-celebrates-first-Noongar-Centre.aspx|url-status=dead}}

The area was being used for cereal cropping and grazing livestock, particularly sheep. The areas around the town were running a flock of around 204,296 sheep in 1917.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155970382 |title=Gnowangerup. |newspaper=Wickepin Argus |volume=III |issue=344 |location=Western Australia |date=12 July 1917 |access-date=15 December 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The town also consists of a small industrial area where there are many different businesses to support the district's farms.

The surrounding areas produce wheat and other cereal crops. The town is a receival site for Cooperative Bulk Handling.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbh.com.au/media/120302/cbh%20receival%20sites%20-%20contact%20details.pdf |title=CBH receival sites |year=2011 |access-date=1 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318082458/https://www.cbh.com.au/media/120302/cbh%20receival%20sites%20-%20contact%20details.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2012 }}

The Gnowangerup Star (1942–2003), also published as the Gnowangerup Star and Tambellup Ongerup Gazette (1915–1942), was a weekly English language newspaper published in Gnowangerup.

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{{Towns Great Southern WA}}

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Category:Towns in Western Australia

Category:Shire of Gnowangerup

Category:Grain receival points of Western Australia