Wundowie is a town in Western Australia located between

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and Northam in the

Darling Range The Darling Scarp, also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to th ...

. It was the location of an iron works, and siding and stopping place on the Eastern Railway. It was named in 1907 and was a siding on the Chidlow to Northam section of the railway. The origin of the name is from nearby Woondowing Spring which is an Aboriginal word thought to come from Ngwundow, meaning "to lie down". Following the decision of the government to construct the

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

and wood distillation plant (to produce

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

) in 1943 at Wundowie, plans were made to develop the townsite. Lots were surveyed in 1946 and the town was gazetted in 1947. The design of the town was based on the concepts of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

of town planning. This is reflected in its street pattern, subdivision layout, location of land uses, open space and the civic core of the town. Construction of the town was by the Western Australian Department of Housing. The charcoal iron works commenced production in 1948, and the railway station was opened in 1949. In 1974 the plant was sold to Agnew-Clough Ltd and upgraded. By 1979, a shortage of hardwood timber resulted in the saw mill being closed. In 1981 iron production ceased. The railway line was continued for a while from Northam to service Wundowieafter the main closure of the Chidlows route and the opening of the Avon Valley route in 1966.

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