Katanning is a town located south-east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Southern Highway. At the 2021 census, the population was 4,057, up from a 2016 population of 3,687.

History

thumb|left|King George Hostel, Katanning, 2018

thumb|left|Katanning Post Office, 2018

The name Katanning is derived from the Aboriginal name for a camping place. That name for the camp was , with meaning and meaning or . In the very early days before town settlement, a big group of traditional custodians lived in the area. When the community of another district would visit annually, was the head camp or meeting place. Some sources say that means , or that means . Others suggest that the place is named after a local Aboriginal woman. when the population of the town was 226, comprising 107 males and 119 females.

In April 1891 the Premier Roller Flour Mill was opened in the centre of the town by brothers Frederick Henry Piesse and Charles Austin Piesse. The mill provided an important cash market for local wheat growers. Initially the mill supplied flour to the whole of the Albany district, replacing more expensive imports from Adelaide. At that time Albany was Western Australia's principal port. The ground-floor street frontages of the mill were converted into shops from the 1930s, including a music shop, butchers, dress shops, a barber, and tearooms. By 2008 the building was owned by the Shire of Katanning, which sold it for

Katanning remains an important centre on the Great Southern Railway to Albany.

Features

thumb|left|Frederick Henry Piesse statue, Katanning|300x300px

thumb|left|Hung Wins Restaurant (formerly a Baptist church), Katanning

A statue of Frederick Henry Piesse (by sculptor Pietro Porcelli) was erected in 1916 and stands beside the railway line in Austral Terrace. The Piesse family constructed a regal mansion which was named Kobeelya and after being used for many years as a girls' boarding school, is now a conference centre managed by the local Baptist church.

Katanning features a unique playground of oversized structures named the All Ages Playground. The town has many other attractions, including a recreation, leisure and function centre.

Katanning has a relatively large Muslim population of about 350 people and consequently has a mosque, the Katanning Mosque. The vast majority of local Muslims originated in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and travelled to Katanning to work in the local abattoir, which was established in the late 1970s.

Other religious buildings include churches of Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Seventh Day Adventist, Uniting, and Wesleyan denominations, along with a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.

The town has a castle-like structure that was built as a winery. The town's entrance features an antique truck loaded with imitation wool bales, a windmill, and several sculptures of sheep made from corrugated iron.

The town has become a regional service centre for the Great Southern, and services the nearby towns of Broomehill, Tambellup and Woodanilling plus several more. It contains three primary schools (Katanning Primary School, Braeside Primary School, and St Patrick's School), and a high school (Katanning Senior High School).

Transport

Katanning railway station has an elevation of above sea level and a rail distance of from Perth.

Climate

Katanning sits on the border between the warm-summer and the purely subtropical mediterranean varieties with January and February being just below . Under the Köppen climate classification it is classified as Csb.

Demographics

As of the 2021 census, 9.3% of the town is Indigenous.

Cocos Malay community

Katanning is known for its large Malay community. However, most of the Malays in the town descend from Christmas Island or the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. In the 1970s, the local abattoir (the largest employer in Katanning) began employing Cocos Malays to cater to the halal market overseas and back home in Australia. Malay culture and cuisine and the Malay language are present in the town, and it was the Malay community that built the local mosque in 1980.

As of the 2021 census, 5.6% of the town's residents speak Malay (mostly Cocos Malay) at home. 9.3% of the town is Muslim.

The town has received tourists from Malaysia due to its large Malay population, which was made known to Malaysians by multiple Malaysian travel YouTubers who visited the town, with their videos garnering over a million views.

Notable residents

  • Shai Bolton, Australian rules footballer
  • Kevin O'Halloran, Olympic gold medallist swimmer, born in Katanning
  • Percy Gratwick, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient in World War II, born in Katanning
  • Angela Ryder, a Wilman Noongar woman
  • Tiah Toth, AFLW player
  • Mark Williams, Australian rules footballer
  • Lydia Williams, goalkeeper for the Australia women's national soccer team
  • Alan Quartermaine, WAFL footballer, 1975 Sandover Medallist
  • Dave Shaw, cave diver

References

  • Katanning WA