History & Heritage

 

Access our online interactive heritage walk trail through this link - https://bit.ly/KulinHeritageTrail

The first inhabitants of the South West corner of Western Australia were the Aboriginal Noongar people. Noongar people had a strong relationship with the natural environment, which continues today. The Shire of Kulin forms part of the traditional lands of the Njaki Njaki Noongar group. Stories, historical records and artefacts found in the Shire of Kulin, provide insight into the traditional lifestyle and culture of the Njaki Njaki prior to European settlement.

In the 1870's Sandalwood cutters cut tracks between waterholes to the finest stands of sweet smelling sandalwood in the Kulin district. They hauled the dried stacks to Fremantle where they were shipped to the East and South-East Asian market.

The lure of gold saw the cutters down their tools and head further inland to seek their fortune. Stands of sandalwood can still be found in the reserves around Kulin.

The first pastoralists took out grazing leases from 1905. Kulin Rock Soak, north of Kulin, provided fresh water year round and attracted the first settlement to the area. The belt of salt pans around Jilakin lakes, east of Kulin, also held great grazing potential, and once the grazing leases expired, the early farming settlers took up land around the lake and Jilakin Rock in the 1910's.

The town of Kulin developed after the railway connected from Narrogin in 1915, and the trains began running on the line in 1916. A Roe Roads Board office was originally established in Day Street until the Kulin Road Board was established in 1926.

100 years on and Kulin remains one of the most productive districts in the WA Wheatbelt.