Wongan Hills is a range of low flat-topped hills in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low rel ...

bioregion 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 ...

. It is located at , in the Shire of Wongan–Ballidu.

History

The range was first recorded in 1836 by

Surveyor General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices. ...

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

. The area was settled by the 1900s (decade), and in 1911 the town of Wongan Hills was established and named after the range.

Etymology

"Wongan" is derived from the

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

name "wangan-katta", "wankan" and "woongan". "Katta" is known to mean "hill", but the meaning of "wongan" is uncertain. It may be related to "

kwongan Kwongan is a plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibulman Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as sand-h ...

", an indigenous word for sandplain, or "whispering", in which case "wongan katta" would mean "whispering hills".

Flora and fauna

The hills are biologically significant because they contain the largest remaining single area of natural vegetation in northern parts of the wheatbelt. The hills are home to remnant woodlands of salmon gum ('' Eucalyptus salmonophloia''), York gum (''

Eucalyptus loxophleba ''Eucalyptus loxophleba'', commonly known as York gum, daarwet, goatta, twotta or yandee, is a species of tree or Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to Western Australia. It has rough bark on the trunk, smooth olive to brownish bark ...

''), gimlet ('' Eucalyptus salubris''), and silver mallet ('' Eucalyptus falcata''), and low forest of jam (''

Acacia acuminata ''Acacia acuminata'', commonly known as raspberry jam, jam, jam wattle, jamwood, jam tree, or raspberry wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,

''), plant communities were once widespread but now rare in the Wheatbelt. Beecham, Brett (2001). "Avon Wheatbelt 1 (AW1 - Ancient Drainage subregion)" in ''A Biodiversity Audit of Western Australia’s 53 Biogeographical Subregions in 2002''. Department of Conservation and Land Management, Government of Western Australia, November 2001. Accessed 15 May 2022

/ref> Plants endemic to the Wongan Hills include '' Acacia botrydion, Acacia pharangites, Acacia pygmaea, Banksia bella, Eremophila ternifolia, Philotheca wonganensis'', and '' Chenopodium aciculare''. A species of dryandra is endemic to the locality, referred to by the epithet published by Alex George for his description of '' Dryandra wonganensis''. The same author described a new, possibly rare species of hakea he collected at Wongan Hills; the distribution range of '' Hakea chromatropa'' is also restricted to nearby regions. George thought this remarkable enough to note the fact that this region was settled shortly after colonisation, with a prolific botanical collector nearby, but it still revealed a new taxon. He also described a rare verticordia, the Wongan Featherflower ('' ''Verticordia staminosa'' subsp. ''staminosa'''') discovered by

Harry Butler William Henry Butler (25 March 1930 – 11 December 2015) was an Australian naturalist and environmental consultant, best known as the presenter of the popular ABC television series '' In the Wild'' from 1976 to 1981. He was a household name ...

on a granite outcrop. A study of the area in 1982, published in a series of articles in ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'', described eight unknown species of plants. The hills are home to 90 species of birds.

Protected areas

There are several protected areas in the hills: * Wongan Hills Nature Reserve (4.17 km²), established 1975 * Elphin Nature Reserve (1.98 km²), established 1977 * Rogers Nature Reserve (3.41 km²), established 1985 * Fowler Gully Nature Reserve (2.3 km²), established 1993 * Unnamed WA51093 Nature Reserve (5.58 km²), established 2011 * Unnamed WA52103 Conservation Park (6.95 km²), established 2016UNEP-WCMC (2022). Protected Area Profile for Unnamed WA52103 from the World Database of Protected Areas. Accessed 20 May 2022

/ref> Elphin Nature Reserve and the two unnamed protected areas are contiguous. The others are separated from one another by unprotected lands.

References

{{reflist Wheatbelt (Western Australia) Landforms of Western Australia Avon Wheatbelt