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Boyup Brook
Latitude 33 50 S
116 21E
The townsite of Boyup Brook is
located in the great southern agricultural region, 269 km south
south east of Perth and 31 km north east of Bridgetown. The
Boyup Brook area was known as Upper Blackwood when in 1896 the
government set land aside for a future townsite on the Blackwood
River about 8 km south of the present townsite. In 1899 farmers
in the area met and formed the "Upper Blackwood Progress
Committee", and wrote to the government requesting the
setting aside of a townsite in which to erect a school, places
of worship and other public purposes. The Committee was seeking
to "advance the interests of this rising and important
district".
The request for
a townsite shrewdly proposed it be named "Throssell".
It was addressed to the Minister for Lands, at that time George
Throssell. The Lands Department resisted the proposal at first,
as it did not consider there was enough demand for lots, but
the Progress Committee persisted, and the Minister directed
the Department to survey some lots. The survey was carried out
in 1899 and although the name Throssell was used for a short
time, Sir James Lee Steere, former resident of the area and
prominent politician, suggested the Aboriginal name Boyup, by
the which the area was locally known, should be used. The townsite
was gazetted as Boyup in 1900, although local usage was mostly
"Boyup Brook". In 1908 there was a major expansion
of the townsite, and locals suggested that as there was some
confusion with the similarity of Boyup and Boyanup, the townsite
should be renamed Boyup Brook. The renaming was approved, and
the townsite regazetted as Boyup Brook in 1909.
The name is derived
from the Aboriginal name of a nearby watercourse, Boyup Brook,
which was first recorded as Booyup Brook in 1877. Buyu is said
to mean "place of smoke", and another account states
that "Booy" means "big smoke", and was named
because the brook was originally surrounded by blackboys which,
when set alight, sent up a cloud of black smoke.
Harvesting
the Net
sponsored
by the
Western Australian Department of
Agriculture
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