History

The Shire of Nannup was founded in 1834. It covers an area of 2,953 square km and embraces the town and localities of Nannup, Donnelly River, Biddelia, Carlotta, Cundinup, Scott River East, Lake Jasper, Darradup, Barrabup, Peerabeelup, Jalbarragup and East Nannup.

The Shire of Nannup is the second largest Shire in the South West Region with the Shire of Nannup responsible for maintaining over 220 kilometres of unsealed roads and 250 kilometres of sealed roads. In general, the population of 1,328 (2016 census) is spread throughout the Shire district with about half of the population residing in the Nannup townsite. The word “Nannup” comes from the Noongar people and interprets as “stopping place”.

The Shire of Nannup is bounded by the Shires of Augusta-Margaret River to the west, Manjimup to the south-east, Bridgetown-Greenbushes to the north-east, Donnybrook-Balingup to the north and Busselton to the north-west. The Southern Ocean defines the southern boundary.

Prior to European settlement, the Wardandi, Bibbulmun, Nyungar and other Indigenous groupings collectively influenced the botany of the areas surrounding the present Nannup locality. Following the European settlement of Western Australia, in Albany and the Swan River in the 1820’s, settlers subsequently occupied Augusta and then Busselton (Bussell) in the 1830’s.

Settlers quickly looked beyond their immediate vicinity for additional grazing lands. One of the earliest, Thomas Turner of Augusta, followed the Blackwood River towards present day Nannup in 1834. Several expeditions followed in the 1840s, with consistent reports of good grasses. It would appear that some limited squatting commenced in the district during the early1850’s and considerable selections of land had been taken by 1860. The town was officially gazetted in 1890. The predominant industries of timber and agriculture exist to the present day, with recent diversification into tourism.