Some Interesting Facts and Places to Visit in Dandaragan Dandaragan is a town in the Shire of Dandaragan, which now has its administrative centre at Jurien Bay, while retaining the original shire office at Dandaragan to service local residents and visitors as a library and other community based activities. Although Dandaragan was discovered in 1843, the historic town dates back to 1886 when St Anne's Church / School was built. The town has a population of some 200 people and is situated in the picturesque Dandaragan valley amongst the scenic redgum trees. Today it services the productive grain and livestock industries of the district, the nearby Tiwest mineral sand mine and the developing new industries of horticulture, floriculture, viticulture and aquaculture. Dandaragan has a very strong community spirit and all the first class community and sporting facilities in the town have been built by community fund raising and mostly voluntary labour. There are a number of community groups and sporting clubs in Dandaragan today, which indicates the strong on-going community spirit of this town. Dandaragan is close to the well established tourist route between the historic monastery town of New Norcia and the Pinnacles. Many Baby Boomers elect to visit the town, while some stay overnight in the Pioneer Park Transit Caravan Park. There are some interesting things to see and do around Dandaragan and they are marked on a map at the Tourist Information Bay opposite Pioneer Park, while other tourist information can be obtained at the Dandaragan Shire office.
"Dandaragan Way" is an alternative scenic tourist route between Badgingarra and Regans Ford on Brand Highway and being only three kms longer, is a rewarding experience for tourists, particularly in winter- spring when there are wildflowers to be seen. Just 170 kms north of Perth and 37 kms west of Moora in the central west region of Western Australia which is approximately two hours drive from Perth. The Dandaragan district has experienced many phases of agricultural development since first settlement in 1843, when James Drummond squatted at Dandaraga Spring, 9 kms north east of Dandaragan . 
Dandaraga is the aboriginal name meaning “place of many kangaroos” and was a favorite meeting place for the aboriginal population. Dandaraga Spring, from which the town of Dandaragan got its name was the early focal point of the Dandaragan district and had a police station and mail distribution centre in the early 1850s. The stream from the spring flows through the town of Dandaragan towards the coast. The pastoral industry developed over the next 100 years by settlers acquiring freehold blocks around the natural water points, plus large areas of leasehold land adjoining them and gradually converting this land to freehold. Pastoralists employed shepherds, including convicts, to manage the sheep flocks, cattle herds and horses and a small area of fertile land was used to grow crops.
“Yathroo” was developed into an almost self supporting farm by entrepreneur, Walter Padbury The farm grew some grain which was milled by its own water powered flour mill. It also had a Dairy, Beef herd, Sheep flock Piggery.
The produce from the farm was sold to local settlers as well as supplying markets to the growing city of Perth. Produce was carted by wagon and stock driven by walking the stock route to Guildford. Wool was carried over rough tracks to Jurien Bay, where it was loaded on to sailing ships of Padbury’s own shipping line and shipped to England. Many attempts to grow crops failed and it was not until the late 1930s that trials showed a lack of trace elements, in the soil: The discovery created the second phase of agricultural development, where viable crops could be grown ialong with pastoral pursuits.
This resulted in a very large area of land, previously considered useless, being opened up for selection and attracted a rush of farmers from all over Australia. This was due mainly to the very safe rainfall, assured water supplies, hence a favourable growing climate. The land boom lasted through to the 1960s with many pioneer farmers lived in basic conditions as they cleared and developed their farms. Poison plants were a constant thorn to grazing stock initially, although by ploughing the country and hand picking, these problems were solved.
It was also shown that were essential for stock health, which had previously limited livestock production on the light soils. By the 1980s most farmers improved their productivity and the next era of agricultural development was about to begin.
In the 1980s a number of new agricultural industries appeared in Dandaragan. Later in the 1990's the corporate sector became interested in using the under ground water available to establish large horticultural projects. Olea Australis, now Dandaragan Olives a public listed company, has planted a 400 ha olive plantation,together with a modern processing plant. Their premium olive oil, marketed as Dandaragan Estate, is exported overseas. Two large citrus orchards have been planted by private companies.
In 2007 potatoes were grown commercially in Dandaragan and since then there have been a few more crops planted through out the district. The Rewards Group have planted a large orchard of mangoes and stone fruit. These industries are very labour intensive and will require many back packers. Some farmers are irrigating summer crops with motorized irrigators. These will be restricted by water license capacity. The corporate sector have also found Dandaragan farmland attractive and established large holdings. Carpenter Agriculture have vertically integrated their cattle enterprise by establishing a feed lot and abattoir.
The district is served by an extensive road network, with Brand Highway being the major artery to Perth.
A railway line services the eastern area for seasonal grain haulage.
In recent times two mineral sand mining companies have secured leases in the district.
Tiwest operates a mine west of the Brand Highway, which employs many local people. A large wind farm has recently been established by a partnership including Griffin Energy, with nearly fifty wind turbine units at Emu Downs, west of the Brand Highway. There are also reserves of oil and coal, deposits of rock phosphate and chalk lime which are ready for development. A gas field is being constructed north east of Dandaragan. The future of agriculture in Dandaragan looks very bright, as land in the district is highly sought after due to rainfall and climate. There could well be another agricultural era dawning for more intensive production, as city people looking for a better lifestyle, or change, and are purchasing small agricultural holdings in the Dandaragan district. Places Of Interest 1 CBH... Grain handling terminal. 2 Yathroo Station. Yathroo was established in 1855 by the famous entrepreneur, Walter Padbury.
It soon became a self contained farm with a water powered flour mill,
piggery and beef cattle herd. By 1870 the farm population had grown to 300 people, including "ticket of leave" convicts who built many fine buildings and stone walls visible from the road. 3 St Anne’s historic church est... 1888 as a school and church. Built by an ex convict using local materials. 4 Post Office House built 1897... Designed by the famous colonial architect George Temple. 5 Pioneer Park featuring: 6 Dandaragan Olives 400 ha olive grove.
  7 Rewards Group Tropical and stone fruit orchard.   8 Yandin Lookout. Panoramic view of coastal plains, also fauna and seasonal wildflowers. 9 Wolba Wolba Cottage ( affectionately called Aggie's Cottage ) Pioneered by Thomas Jones in 1870, and operated by the Jones family until 1978 when Agnes Jones ( Aggie ) sold to Jim Payne on her retirement. Jim Payne donated the cottage and surrounding 2ha of land to the community for historical, craft and cultural purposes.Wolba Wolba Lake features an abundance of water birds.   10. Waddi Farms Bush Resort Located north west of Dandaragan on Koonah Road and can be accessed from Brand Highway. Like most other farms in the district, it originally grew cereal crops and livestock.In 1984 the farm diversified and established an Australian wildflower plantation and raised emus for commercial purposes and although these commercial activities have ceased, remnants of the enterprises can still be seen. Today the Bush Resort is the main enterprise with chalets, caravan park and restaurant in a beautiful bush setting. 11 Cooljarloo Mineral Sands mine. 12 Vern Westbrook Heritage and Wildflower walk. Best in winter and spring 13 Emu Downs Wind Farm Powering 50 000 homes.   14. The Pinnacles and Red Desert.  15 Stock Yard Gully Cave. Access by 4WD vehicles only. 16 High Valley Farm. Nature farm tours. 17 Road to New Norcia. The historic monastery town. 
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