MINGENEW, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

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The town of Mingenew is located in the part of the northern agricultural area known as the Irwin District.
Location: 367 km north of Perth and 54 km east of the coastal town of Dongara.
Origin of name: one of the earliest cattle leases in the area was Mengenew Spring, and this name was first recorded in 1856. It is Aboriginal, and said to mean "place of many waters". The Midland Railway line from Walkaway was extended into the area in August 1891. The terminus was called Mingenoo Springs.
Brief history: in the 19th century, the Irwin district was an important cattle raising area, with Samuel Pole Phillips and Edward Hamersley the principle lease owners. It was settled by pastoralists in the 1850s. A private subdivision was surveyed in 1891 near the new Mingenoo Springs station, and it became the town of Mingenew. WA’s first coal shafts were sunk in the Mingenew district. Remnant coal shafts can be seen in Coalseam Park.

Natural features: Lockier River; Coalseam Park (WA's first coal lining shafts; marine fossils in the rock strata - 32 km north east)
Built features: villages of Strawberry and Lockier.