Shire Of Dumbleyung

The town of Dumbleyung is the administrative centre of the Shire of Dumbleyung, which covers an area of 1, 150 square miles. It is situated 167 miles south-east of Perth and 25 miles east of Wagin. Pioneers arrived in the district as early as 1875 and established their farms out of virgin bush, having to tolerate a shortage of fresh drinking water, a lack of finance and medical facilities, and loneliness. The Dumbleyung area was first traversed by the explorers Landor and Lefroy in 1843, but it was more than thirty years before pastoralists, sandalwooders and overlanders began the settlement of the area. The steady but promising development of the young district received a setback due to the drought of 1914 and the outbreak of World War 1. Many of the settlers enlisted and went overseas in the armed services, and labour became scarce in the area. Some settlers were unable to overcome the difficulties of this period and were forced to leave the land at a time when land development and wheat production over the whole State were virtually at a standstill. This was followed by the national crisis of the depression years and finally World War II, and these affected the progress of the district. However, many of the early settlers maintained the spirit of the pioneering days and continued their struggle against adversity; they were rewarded in the early post-war years by high wool prices and an assured market for their grain. The prosperity of the post-war years resulted in increased acreages under cultivation, and a vast improvement in housing, farming machinery and outbuildings.