HARVEY
| Harvey is clearly a country town,
a rural community. The surrounds of the place
are still bound up in agriculture, with beef
and dairy farming the most obvious land uses,
and the horticultural pursuits of citrus growing
in evidence fairly liberally. Clearly there
has been a timber industry, but it’s been
gone for some time and evidence is not easy
to see. Things continue to change too, with
the arrival of wine and table grapes as important
crops in the area.
We understand that the land is extremely
useful because it’s flatness has made
irrigation viable, and so much of the land remains productive even
through hot dry summers. |
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Photo courtesy of Harvey Visitor
Centre |
The Shire of Harvey’s web site notes that "Very
little of the natural vegetation or native forests
still exist in the Shire. A couple of patches of remnant
tuart forests are now being protected in the north
west corner of the Shire. Nevertheless, the combination
of the rural elements described above make the Shire
picturesque in a 'settled meadow countryside' way,
most popular with city folk because of the obvious
park-like characters."
There are a number of Dams up in the hills behind
Harvey and the place can be a Mecca for water skiers
in the summer.
As the Main town in the northernmost Shire in the
South West, it has a role in providing a social and
service center for the farms and other pursuits. The
broad main street still seems to contain a lot of
utes, and this is clearly a working community, retaining
the resilience and sense of community common to rural
communities.
| Population |
4398 (estimated from
ABS in 2000) |
| Distance to Perth |
130km |
| Distance to Bunbury |
50km |
| Distance to beach |
42km |
| Annual Rainfall |
Approx 900mm |
| Schools |
5 Primary schools, 1 Senior High
school (to Year 12), TAFE Centre, Agricultural
College. |
| Police |
Police station |
| Health Services |
Public hospital, aged care facilities,
medical centres. |
| Shops |
Supermarket, bank, and a range of
smaller stores |
| Sport |
Australian Rules, Equestrian, Soccer |
| Other Facilities |
Recreation centre and ground, St
John Ambulance, transport to Perth and Bunbury
on the Australind daily. |
| Major Industries |
Farming, Dairy and Cattle are still
important industries, but value adding to the
product is becoming more important. Horticulture
is also a significant industry, and again value
adding through juice plants and wineries is becoming
a vital component of that industry. |
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