Pemberton, Western Australia

PEMBERTON

The Pemberton region was occupied by the travelling Bibbulmun Aboriginal tribe for thousands of years before white explorers discovered Australia.

And early accounts from white explorers from the coast were not favourable, hence the land was not explored until the mid 1800's.

The name "Pemberton" was taken from a relation of one of the first settlers who arrived soon after this time - his name was Pemberton Walcott. He tried to establish a property near Big-Brook Dam - but his venture failed and he moved on. However his name stuck!

In the late 1800's and again in 1912 the timber industry started to grow, three timber mills were established, and the town of Pemberton grew around these mills.

Photo courtesy of
www.pembertonwa.com

In the 1920's a new population boom occurred when free land was offered to group settlers, or "Groupies", in order to establish a dairy industry. Many of the Groupies were British ex-servicemen, however the land was the only thing that was free - and that was covered by huge tree's!

The Pemberton Mill was recently taken over by Auswest and for the first time in its history, the Mill has seen timber other than Karri pass through its blades. It is now milling blue gum and pine as well as Karri - this has value added to the industry and added new life to Pemberton.

Pemberton has always attracted visitors to view the Karri forest, however it wasn't until the 1980's that the tourism industry really started to grow. New businesses have started in the past 20 years including Chalets, Cottages, Resorts, Wineries, Galleries, Arts, Craft, Trout and Marron farms, Tramway & Steam train rides, Hiking, Canoeing, Abseiling, Fishing and 4WD tours. More information is available at www.pembertonwa.com.

Population	Around 1200 (including outlying farms)
Distance to Perth	343km
Distance to Bunbury	156km
Distance to beach	35km by 4WD only, or 57km to Point D'Entrecasteaux (Windy Harbour). There are some great fishing destinations within the area and the coast harbours a variety of fantastic 4WDing opportunities
Annual Rainfall	Approx 1400mm
Schools	1 Government District High School (Kindergarten to Year 10) and a Catholic Primary School, Telecentre with TAFE and other adult education opportunities
Police	Police station
Health Services	New hospital with aged care facilities, 2 doctors surgeries, child heath centre, volunteer Ambulance and Fire & Rescue.
Shops	1 Bank, Supermarket, Galleries, Wineries and speciality stores
Sport	The new Pemberton Sportsclub has facilities for bowling, snooker, squash, and a gym as well as football, soccer, basketball and netball. In the town there is a local cycling group as well as two golf courses and the Bibbulmun Track running through the centre of town for bush walking.
Other Facilities	Recreation ground, Youth room in the Sports club, Library, CWA, community woodwork room at the district high school and soon to be community science room.
Major Industries	The timber industry is still a large employer of local residents of Pemberton and the agriculture industry is flourishing with avocados, cauliflowers and fruit as well as potatoes a common crop. Originally destined to become dairying country there are still dairies catering to the major suppliers of milk. The viticulture industry is slowly increasing its percentage with a large percentage of employment seasonal and still a backpacker industry. There are a number of large growers buying Pemberton grapes from small vineyards who haven't as yet opened to cellar door sales. The tourism industry is increasing and employing more local people in the running of the provision of accommodation and tours as well as local artisans and craftspeople and caters to a independent traveller market.

Local Links

Things To Do In Pemberton		www.pembertonwa.com

Pemberton Travel Guide		www.west-oz.com