Kununurra, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia
located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley Region approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) from the border with the Northern Territory
. Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation scheme.
Kununurra is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome
, with the closest town being Wyndham
, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Kununurra is 3040 kilometres (1,889 mi) from Perth
via the Great Northern Highway
.
The town is situated in among the scenic hills and ranges of the far north-east Kimberley Region, having an abundance of fresh water, conserved by the Ord River Diversion dam and the main Ord River Dam.
The tropical agriculture crops grown in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have changed over the years. Tourism and mining have also become important to the local economy.
Kununurra District High School comprises a primary school and high school teaching up to year 10, and up to year 12 via distance education. It also has a number of additional smaller schools including St Joseph's primary school, the Barramundi School and a Technical and further education
(TAFE) college. Kununurra has a local hospital, dentist and leisure centre including a 25 metre pool.
Key farm activities including the growing of melons, mangoes and until recently, sugar cane. Farmers are now turning to a more lucrative (though longer term) crop of Indian Sandalwood. Other crops that have been grown in the Ord are cotton
, safflower
and rice
, which is being trialled once again, having been the first crop planted on the Pilot Farm in 1960. The town has a melon picking season, which attracts migratory farm workers to the area. There is also a thriving tourism industry with most tourist operators capitalising on the scenery of the Ord River
, Lake Argyle
, Diversion Dam and other local locations, including the relatively nearby Bungle Bungles.
, is the flooded section of the Ord River
valley that was formerly known as Carlton Reach, which was at times a ten kilometre long waterhole held back by the natural rock barrier, known as Bandicoot Bar. At this site in 1959 drilling and blasting marked the start of construction of the Ord River Diversion Dam, which is anchored down onto the Bandicoot Bar. This dam with twenty radial flood gates was almost completed when visited by the Queen and Prince Phillip in March 1963, then later completed and officially opened by then Prime Minister, (Sir) Robert Menzies
on 20 July 1963 when he said that Kununurra and the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) is "..the most exciting place in Australia."
As well as the town site some ORIA farmers live on their farms, however the initial idea of the Ord Scheme was for "closer settlement" to allow farmers the convenience of living in the town and since the start of the first Pilot Farm in 1960 most farmers in the valley have lived in the town. Other agricultural and residential localites exist within a 50km radius of the town, including various Aboriginal Communities, Crossing Falls, the Riverfarm Road and Packsaddle farm areas, and the Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture, formerly known as the Kimberley Research Station (KRS). KRS started in 1945 from the original Carlton Reach Research Station, set up by Kimberley Michael Durack with help from his brother William Aiden Durack in 1941, and unofficial support from the WA Department of Agriculture and the WA Public Works Department, being the first serious attempt at tropical agriculture on the banks of the Ord River.
The scheme involved damming the Ord River by building the Ord River diversion dam
so that the waters could be conserved and directed to irrigate about 750 square kilometres (289.6 sq mi) of land. By 1966, there were 31 farms on the Ord River plains. In 1968 the second stage of the scheme was started with the building of the Ord River Dam (or Ord River Main Dam), known locally as "Top Dam," which holds back the waters of Lake Argyle. The second stage of the Ord Project still has not been fully developed but new work is underway. In May 2010, with major funding from the Federal Government, the extension of the main channel construction got underway under the Moonamang Joint Venture and images of this as well as historic archive images of the Ord Scheme can be seen on the Kununurra Historical Society website from the external link below.
Flooding of the Ord River continued until completion of the Main Ord River Dam situated 55 km upstream from Kununurra, which was started in 1968, and officially opened on 30 June 1972, with support from WA Premier John Tonkin, by then Prime Minister William McMahon, when he said "This marks the beginning of Ord Stage II (Two)." The Ord River Dam flooded the land of the Argyle Downs station, the home station of the pioneering Durack family, to form what has become known as Lake Argyle
. Stone work from the original Argyle Downs homestead, was removed before Lake Argyle filled and was re-erected near the dam site to become the Argyle Downs Homestead Museum. The Museum had been run by Tourism WA but was taken on by the Kununurra Visitor Centre during 2010.
with a general meaning of "Big Waters" having become the popular definition or "Big River" Other accounts of the name of Kununurra state that it was the Miriwoong name for this part of the Ord River, which makes sense in that the Ord River runs for hundreds of kilometres coming from the south near Hall's Creek
. It is likely that other parts of the Ord River were known by other Aboriginal language names, by the various tribal language group areas, over which the river traverses.
A 1943 soil classification had named the volcanic clay known locally as "blacksoil", being the predominant soil type of the irrigation area, as "Cununurra Clay" and "Cununurra" was put forward as a possible name, among others in 1960. The General Post Office (GPO) representative from WA on the Nomenclature Committee, objected saying that Cununurra was too close in name to the town of Cunnamulla
and that could cause postal confusion. A compromise was reached and "K" was used with an argument having been put forward that this would bring it into line with other East Kimberley placenames, such as Kalumburu, and Karunjie. The name was only finally decided just days before the newest town of the Kimberley Region, being gazetted on 10 February 1961.
Rivers.
The town is located close to the confluence of the Ord
and the Dunham River
. Lake Argyle
, Australia's largest artificial lake, over 100 square kilometres (38.6 sq mi) in size, is 72 km by road from the town, being held back by the main Ord River Dam.
The town lies within the Ord Irrigation Area
Important Bird Area
(IBA), so identified by BirdLife International
because of its importance for wild birds, especially estrildid finch
es.
, Kununurra paradoxically experiences a steppe climate (Köppen climate classification
BSh).
, and more recently Baz Luhrmann
, after the majority of the filming for his film Australia
was conducted just outside of Kununurra. The town has many local attractions, including waterfalls, gorges and ranges. It was voted the second best town to live in Australia for outdoor adventure by Outdoor Australia magazine in the March/April 2007 edition.
Nicole Kidman
feels that area water helped her get pregnant while filming in this town stating, "Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy. There is something up there in the Kununurra water because we all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we can call it the fertility waters now."
founded by the late James O'Kenny and Brian Cole.
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley Region approximately 37 kilometres (23 mi) from the border with the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
. Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation scheme.
Kununurra is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome
Broome, Western Australia
Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
, with the closest town being Wyndham
Wyndham, Western Australia
Wyndham is the oldest and northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1885 as a result of a gold rush at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a...
, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Kununurra is 3040 kilometres (1,889 mi) from Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
via the Great Northern Highway
Great Northern Highway
The Great Northern Highway is a generally north-south Western Australian highway which links the state's capital Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is in length, with being National Highway...
.
The town is situated in among the scenic hills and ranges of the far north-east Kimberley Region, having an abundance of fresh water, conserved by the Ord River Diversion dam and the main Ord River Dam.
The tropical agriculture crops grown in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have changed over the years. Tourism and mining have also become important to the local economy.
Characteristics
The 2006 census population includes only people in the townsite area who called the Kununurra town site their "usual place of residence." Kununurra has a transient population; if itinerant residents, the outlying farm areas and communities were included in these population figures, numbers would have exceeded 7,000 for 2006. An influx in the dry season (From April to September), of tourists and itinerant farm workers pushes up the population to around 10,000 on any day during the dry season.Kununurra District High School comprises a primary school and high school teaching up to year 10, and up to year 12 via distance education. It also has a number of additional smaller schools including St Joseph's primary school, the Barramundi School and a Technical and further education
Technical and Further Education
In Australia, training and further education or TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational tertiary education courses, mostly qualifying courses under the National Training System/Australian Qualifications Framework/Australian Quality Training Framework...
(TAFE) college. Kununurra has a local hospital, dentist and leisure centre including a 25 metre pool.
Key farm activities including the growing of melons, mangoes and until recently, sugar cane. Farmers are now turning to a more lucrative (though longer term) crop of Indian Sandalwood. Other crops that have been grown in the Ord are cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, safflower
Safflower
Safflower is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds. Plants are 30 to 150 cm tall with globular flower heads having yellow, orange or red flowers. Each branch will usually have from one to five flower heads...
and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, which is being trialled once again, having been the first crop planted on the Pilot Farm in 1960. The town has a melon picking season, which attracts migratory farm workers to the area. There is also a thriving tourism industry with most tourist operators capitalising on the scenery of the Ord River
Ord River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
, Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
, Diversion Dam and other local locations, including the relatively nearby Bungle Bungles.
History
Kununurra was built on land resumed from Ivanhoe Station pastoral lease during 1961, as the town for the Ord River Irrigation Area which started as the Ord River Project or Ord Scheme, with survey work starting in 1959. Lake KununurraLake Kununurra
Lake Kununurra is a long linear lake in the Ord River valley formed in 1963 by the construction of the Ord Diversion Dam in Kununurra, northern Western Australia, which was built to supply water to the Ord River Irrigation Area. The lake stretches for upstream from the Diversion Dam at towards...
, is the flooded section of the Ord River
Ord River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
valley that was formerly known as Carlton Reach, which was at times a ten kilometre long waterhole held back by the natural rock barrier, known as Bandicoot Bar. At this site in 1959 drilling and blasting marked the start of construction of the Ord River Diversion Dam, which is anchored down onto the Bandicoot Bar. This dam with twenty radial flood gates was almost completed when visited by the Queen and Prince Phillip in March 1963, then later completed and officially opened by then Prime Minister, (Sir) Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
on 20 July 1963 when he said that Kununurra and the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) is "..the most exciting place in Australia."
As well as the town site some ORIA farmers live on their farms, however the initial idea of the Ord Scheme was for "closer settlement" to allow farmers the convenience of living in the town and since the start of the first Pilot Farm in 1960 most farmers in the valley have lived in the town. Other agricultural and residential localites exist within a 50km radius of the town, including various Aboriginal Communities, Crossing Falls, the Riverfarm Road and Packsaddle farm areas, and the Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture, formerly known as the Kimberley Research Station (KRS). KRS started in 1945 from the original Carlton Reach Research Station, set up by Kimberley Michael Durack with help from his brother William Aiden Durack in 1941, and unofficial support from the WA Department of Agriculture and the WA Public Works Department, being the first serious attempt at tropical agriculture on the banks of the Ord River.
The scheme involved damming the Ord River by building the Ord River diversion dam
Diversion dam
A diversion dam is the term for a dam that diverts all or a portion of the flow of a river from its natural course. Diversion dams do not generally impound water in a reservoir...
so that the waters could be conserved and directed to irrigate about 750 square kilometres (289.6 sq mi) of land. By 1966, there were 31 farms on the Ord River plains. In 1968 the second stage of the scheme was started with the building of the Ord River Dam (or Ord River Main Dam), known locally as "Top Dam," which holds back the waters of Lake Argyle. The second stage of the Ord Project still has not been fully developed but new work is underway. In May 2010, with major funding from the Federal Government, the extension of the main channel construction got underway under the Moonamang Joint Venture and images of this as well as historic archive images of the Ord Scheme can be seen on the Kununurra Historical Society website from the external link below.
Flooding of the Ord River continued until completion of the Main Ord River Dam situated 55 km upstream from Kununurra, which was started in 1968, and officially opened on 30 June 1972, with support from WA Premier John Tonkin, by then Prime Minister William McMahon, when he said "This marks the beginning of Ord Stage II (Two)." The Ord River Dam flooded the land of the Argyle Downs station, the home station of the pioneering Durack family, to form what has become known as Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
. Stone work from the original Argyle Downs homestead, was removed before Lake Argyle filled and was re-erected near the dam site to become the Argyle Downs Homestead Museum. The Museum had been run by Tourism WA but was taken on by the Kununurra Visitor Centre during 2010.
Etymology
Kununurra comes from the English pronunciation of Gunanurang in the Miriwoong languageMiriwoong language
Miriwoong is an Australian Indigenous language which today has about 20 speakers, most of whom live in or near Kununurra in Western Australia....
with a general meaning of "Big Waters" having become the popular definition or "Big River" Other accounts of the name of Kununurra state that it was the Miriwoong name for this part of the Ord River, which makes sense in that the Ord River runs for hundreds of kilometres coming from the south near Hall's Creek
Halls Creek, Western Australia
Halls Creek is a small town situated in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located between the towns of Fitzroy Crossing and Turkey Creek on the Great Northern Highway...
. It is likely that other parts of the Ord River were known by other Aboriginal language names, by the various tribal language group areas, over which the river traverses.
A 1943 soil classification had named the volcanic clay known locally as "blacksoil", being the predominant soil type of the irrigation area, as "Cununurra Clay" and "Cununurra" was put forward as a possible name, among others in 1960. The General Post Office (GPO) representative from WA on the Nomenclature Committee, objected saying that Cununurra was too close in name to the town of Cunnamulla
Cunnamulla, Queensland
Cunnamulla is a small town that lies on the Warrego River in south west Queensland, Australia, south of Charleville, and approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane....
and that could cause postal confusion. A compromise was reached and "K" was used with an argument having been put forward that this would bring it into line with other East Kimberley placenames, such as Kalumburu, and Karunjie. The name was only finally decided just days before the newest town of the Kimberley Region, being gazetted on 10 February 1961.
Geography
The landscape surrounding Kununurra includes features such as Valentine Spring, Black Rock Creek and Middle Springs along with many other waterfalls and swimming holes. Popular fishing spots include Ivanhoe Crossing, The Diversion Dam, Buttons Crossing, and various locations along the Dunham and OrdOrd River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
Rivers.
The town is located close to the confluence of the Ord
Ord River
The Ord River is a 320-kilometre-long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was named in honour of Harry Ord, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880....
and the Dunham River
Dunham River
Dunham River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.The river rises between the Durack Range and the O'Donnell Range then flows north west parallel with the Great Northern Highway to the East and the Bedford Stock Route to the West...
. Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest artificial lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra...
, Australia's largest artificial lake, over 100 square kilometres (38.6 sq mi) in size, is 72 km by road from the town, being held back by the main Ord River Dam.
The town lies within the Ord Irrigation Area
Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area
The Ord Irrigation Area Important Bird Area is an area of land used for irrigated agriculture along the Ord River in the vicinity of the town of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of north-western Australia...
Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA), so identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
because of its importance for wild birds, especially estrildid finch
Estrildid finch
The estrildid finches are small passerine birds of the Old World tropics and Australasia. They can be classified as the family Estrildidae , or as a sub-group within the family Passeridae, which also includes the true sparrows....
es.
Climate
Like other areas in the tropics of Western AustraliaWestern Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, Kununurra paradoxically experiences a steppe climate (Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
BSh).
Popular culture
Kununurra has a Celebrity Tree Park with many trees planted by famous people including Rolf HarrisRolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, and more recently Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
, after the majority of the filming for his film Australia
Australia (2008 film)
Australia is a 2008 epic historical romance film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, behind Crocodile Dundee. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood...
was conducted just outside of Kununurra. The town has many local attractions, including waterfalls, gorges and ranges. It was voted the second best town to live in Australia for outdoor adventure by Outdoor Australia magazine in the March/April 2007 edition.
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
feels that area water helped her get pregnant while filming in this town stating, "Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy. There is something up there in the Kununurra water because we all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we can call it the fertility waters now."
Media
Since 1980 Kununurra has been the base of the Kimberley EchoKimberley Echo
Kimberley echo is a Kununurra, Kimberley, Western Australia based community newspaper.It was founded in 1980 by the late James O'Kenny and Brian Cole...
founded by the late James O'Kenny and Brian Cole.
See also
- Bungle Bungle RangeBungle Bungle RangeBungle Bungle Range is the landform that is the major component of the Purnululu National Park in Western Australia - it is often used as a direct synonym for the national park area.-The origin of the landscape :...
- Argyle diamond mineArgyle diamond mineThe Argyle Diamond Mine is a diamond mine located in the East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia. Argyle is the largest diamond producer in the world by volume, although due to the low proportion of gem-quality diamonds, is not the leader by value. It is the only known...
- El QuestroEl Questro Wilderness ParkEl Questro Wilderness Park is a privately owned Wilderness park that was previously a cattle station located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.The park is located West of Kununurra and can be accessed by the Gibb River Road....
- WyndhamWyndham, Western AustraliaWyndham is the oldest and northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1885 as a result of a gold rush at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a...
External links
- K Visitors Centre
- Kununurra
- walkabout in Kununurra
- ABC Local Radio - Kimberley
- Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley
- Kununurra Historical Society Inc. Archive, Library, Museum & Research for a "Photographic Journey on the Ord."