Kukerin is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, south-east of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

between Dumbleyung and

Lake Grace A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a depression (geology), basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land an ...

just off Dumbleyung Lake Grace Road on State Route 107. The town itself is small but services a considerable agricultural region in the eastern

Shire of Dumbleyung The Shire of Dumbleyung is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, about east of Wagin and about southeast of Perth, the state capital. The Shire covers an area of , and is involved in grain and livestock produ ...

. At the 2021 census, Kukerin and its surrounding areas had a population of 55.

History

According to an official source, Kukerin's name is of Aboriginal origin, was first recorded as the name of a local soak and

gully A gully is a landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given ter ...

in 1908 and has also been spelled "Cookerin", but the precise meaning is not known. However, in local languages, words such as ''karkar'' mean "east", and the townsite is near the eastern edge of country traditionally owned by the

Wiilman The Wiilman people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Noongar group, from the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West regions of Western Australia. Variant spellings of the name include Wilman, Wirlomin, Wilmen and Wheelman. ''Wiilm ...

people. There is no evidence for a popular theory that the area was named after

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods. Sanda ...

cutters named "Cooke" and "Ring". Until 1912, the area was known as Merilup (a name that now refers to an area to the south). In the 1870s, John Holland took up a pastoral lease of in the area and established a sandalwood depot. Sandalwood cutters opened up much of the surrounding area, and in 1904 the

Rabbit-Proof Fence The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, formerly known as the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence, and the Emu Fence, is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits, and other agricultural pests from ...

was built near the town. In 1912, the town was gazetted when it became the terminus of an extension of the Wagin to Dumbleyung

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

in 1912. The primary school and hall were built in 1914, and Kukerin Hotel began trading in 1928—all are still open to this day.

Present day

Kukerin is largely an agricultural town, with wheat and sheep farming being the main occupations. The town contains a secondary receival site for

Cooperative Bulk Handling The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled ...

and one of the state's three Bunge grain depots west of the main town. It functions as a service town for the surrounding agricultural area, and contains a general store, primary school, hotel, newsagency/post office, and the Nenke Park sports fields. The TrachMach Fair used to be held with various vintage and modern vehicles on display. In recent years this has transformed into the Kukerin Creekbed and Burnout Competition, which is held during the

King's Birthday The King's Official Birthday or Queen's Official Birthday is the selected day in most Commonwealth realms on which the birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people a ...

long weekend and is hosted at Nenke Park. During this event a large screen is set up where the

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. Prior to 1990 it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league was then known as the Victorian Football Leag ...

can be viewed.Information available from Shire of Dumbleyung, contacted 27 October 2006.

References

External links

History of Kukerin

Shire of Dumbleyung

Kukerin creek bed races
{{authority control Towns in Western Australia Wheatbelt (Western Australia)