Population 1,264 (2011 census) Postcode(s) 6237 Elevation 40 m Postal code 6237 Lga Shire of Capel | Established 1894 State electorate(s) Collie-Preston Founded 1894 Local time Friday 11:42 PM Federal division Division of Forrest | |
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Location 195 km (121 mi) South of Perth
18 km (11 mi) South East of Bunbury Weather 21°C, Wind SE at 18 km/h, 79% Humidity | ||
Boyanup is a town on the South Western Highway in the South West agricultural region, 195 km south of Perth and 18 km south-east of Bunbury, Western Australia. The town is located on the Preston River.
Map of Boyanup WA 6237, Australia
Boyanup is an Noongar Aboriginal name, said to mean "a place of quartz" as "Boya" means "rock" or "stone".
The first European in the area was in December 1836 when Lieutenant Henry William Bunbury explored the route from Pinjarra to Busselton and thought it to be ideal for farming.
In 1845 Dublin solicitor James Bessonnet took up Location 54 in the Wellington District, consisting of 385 acres through which the Preston River flowed and the new road from Bunbury to the Blackwood had just been completed. The land also had a natural spring, sometimes known as Bessonnet Springs, and a permanent billabong. Bessonnet named his farm Boyanup. Bessonnet left the colony in 1849 aboard the Despatch. Location 54 proved to be ‘too far from anywhere to be workable and eventually the bush took it back’.
A road survey in 1869 shows the town name as "Boyinup". In 1894 the South Western Railway was completed from Perth through Boyanup to Bunbury. The Bunbury to Boyanup section was completed on 30 November 1887. The townsite was gazetted in 1894. A railway line extension between Boyanup and Bridgetown opened on 1 November 1898.
The population of the town was 198 (103 males and 95 females) in 1898.
The Yoganup North Mine site, closed in 1997, is owned by Iluka Resources, where mineral sands were mined and separated, is located 5.1 kilometres (3 mi) north-west of the town.