Dandaragan Redgum Village in the township of Dandaragan and the Shire of Dandaragan West Australia.
165 km from the Perth CBD, 260 km from Geraldton, 19 km from Cataby and 33km from Moora “the heart of the Central Midlands”.
Informative Document on Dandaragan Shire Here
Dandaragan is a small town of around 200 people which can fluctuate to 295 if the Redgum Village was at capacity.
Entry to the Dandaragan Redgum Village from the southern end is via the first driveway on your left after the 60km speed limit, where you will see a sign “Dandaragan Accommodation Redgum Village”.
Built primarily for the working crews whom have projects in the Dandaragan Moora Region. Travellers, families or even wedding guests are also common guests here.
Work or pleasure, Dandaragan Redgum Village will supply the style of accommodation and meals package to suit your needs.
Make the most of our Function Room / Restaurant for a variety of occasions including:
- Corporate Events and Team Building Activities
- Private Function
- Tool-box Meeting
- Conference and Seminars
- Mini Expo and Presentations
- Wedding and Celebration Events
- Games Evening, Pool, Darts, Ping Pong …
- Check it out Here Dandaragan Function Centre
Pictures tell a better story than a thousand words, apparently so here are a few.
Pioneer Park, the recreational focal point for visitors and the local community, contains a small highly acclaimed transit Caravan Park.
The Park offers a modern ablution block, gas barbeque, gazebos and also contains a Pioneer’s Memorial Rotunda, depicting the history of the district since 1843.
Close by are first class sporting and recreational facilities.
St Anne’s Anglican Church, used as a school until 1960, was constructed in 1886 and has an interesting Gothic arch.
This charming building was constructed from local soap stone from the nearby “Kayanaba” farming property. The Church is not open to the public.
Wolba Wolba, or Aggie’s Cottage, is situated on Dandaragan Way, just 7 kms north of Dandaragan. This brick and stone cottage was erected in 1871 by a pioneer farmer and is still used by local craft and historical groups.
The cottage overlooks a freshwater lake with many different species of water birds.
Quite often used for weddings.
The historic Post Office house, built in 1896, is also made from local stone, was designed by a famous Government architect and was used for many years as a post and telegraph office. The building is no longer open to the public.
“Dandaragan Way” is a scenic drive from Regans Ford to Badgingarra through Dandaragan. This is an alternative route to Brand Hy. and very rewarding in terms of pleasant scenery and viewing historical buildings.
“A History of Agriculture Developments in Dandaragan”
The Dandaragan district has experienced three phases of agricultural development since first settlement in 1843, when James Drummond squatted at Dandaraga Spring, 9 kms north east of Dandaragan and employed shepherds to manage his stock on the native pastures.
Dandaraga is the aboriginal name meaning “place of many kangaroos” and was a favourite meeting place for the aboriginal population.
Dandaraga Spring, from which the town and Shire of Dandaragan derives their names was the early focal point of the Dandaragan district and had a police station and mail distribution centre in the early 1850s. The perennial stream from the spring flows through the town of Dandaragan towards the coast.
The pastoral industry developed over the next 100 years by pastoralists acquiring freehold blocks round the natural water points, plus large areas of leasehold land adjoining them and gradually converting this land to freehold tenure. Pastoralists employed shepherds, including ticket of leave convicts, to manage their sheep flocks, cattle herds and horses and a very small area of fertile land was used to grow crops.
The property “Yathroo” was developed into a model farm by the famous entrepreneur of the day, Walter Padbury. The farm grew some grain which was milled by its own water powered flour mill.
Yathroo also had a dairy, beef herd, sheep flock and piggery. The produce from the farm was sold to local settlers as well as supplying markets in the fledgling city of Perth. Produce was carted by wagon and stock driven on the stock route to Guildford. Wool was carried on a rough track to Jurien Bay where it was loaded on to sailing ships of Padbury’s own shipping line and transported to England.
Many attempts to grow crops ended in failure and it was not until the late 1930s that trials showed these failures were due to lack of trace elements, copper, zinc and molybdenum, in the soil.
The discovery ushered in the second phase of agricultural development, where viable crops could be grown in conjunction with pastoral pursuits.
This resulted in a very large area of light land, previously considered useless, being opened up for selection and attracted a rush of farmers from all over Australia. This was due to the very safe rainfall, assured water supplies and favourable growing climate.
The land boom lasted through the 1950s-60s with many pioneer farmers living in basic conditions as they cleared and developed their farms from scratch.
Poison plants were an impediment to grazing stock initially but by ploughing the country and hand picking, these were eradicated.
It was also shown that cobalt and selenium were essential for stock health, which had previously limited livestock production on the light soils.
By the 1980s most pioneer farmers had raised their farms to great productivity and the third era of agricultural development was about to begin.
Aquaculture of marron (fresh water lobsters), viticulture, farm forestry and floriculture (Australian flowers) were established by family farmers as a sideline to their mainstream enterprises.
Later in the 1990s the corporate sector became interested in using the artesian water available to establish large horticultural projects.
The name changing Dandaragan Olives, have planted a 400 ha olive plantation, together with a modern crushing plant, and their premium olive oil, marketed as Dandaragan Estate, is exported overseas.
Two large citrus orchards have been planted by private companies and recently amalgamated with another Group and planted a large orchard of mangoes and stone fruit.
These industries are very labour intensive and will require many hundreds of casual labour pickers.
Some farmers are irrigating summer crops with centre pivot irrigators, but these will be limited by water licence capacity.
The corporate sector have also found Dandaragan farmland attractive and established large holdings. Carpenter Beef have vertically integrated by establishing a feed lot and abattoir, while another large feed-lot associated with an abattoir is in the planning stage. For Latest developments read here
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 only.
In recent times two mineral sand mining companies have secured leases in the district. Tronox operates a mine west of Brand Highway, which employs many local people, and Iluka holds leases in the same area for a future mining operation that is imminent towards construction.
A large wind farm has recently been established by a partnership of Stanwell and Griffin Energy,(has since changed hands) with fifty wind turbine units at Emu Downs, west of Brand Highway.
Another wind-farm is proposed for the Dandaragan area 3 to 5km from the township.
There are also reserves of oil, gas and coal as yet undeveloped
The deposits of rock phosphate and chalk lime are now deemed commercially viable.
Potash Mining have completed vigorous studies and sample drilling that has encouraged the first stages of mining the material.
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 tree change, are purchasing small agricultural holdings in the Dandaragan district.
