Day 94 Manjimup

Today we left Margaret River and drove to Manjimup on the Blackwood River Tourist Drive 251, a scenic route from Balingup via Nannup to Bridgetown. Much of the route from Balingup to Nannup, is alongside the Blackwood River, as is the end part of the route near Bridgetown, on Brockman Highway.

The forested areas surrounding Manjimup may have started out as timber country, but today the region is best known for its myriad fresh produce. Intermingled with tall karri forest, the surrounding farmlands take centre stage in a thriving fruit and vegetable industry.

The famous ‘Pink Lady’ apple was developed in Manjimup more than 50 years ago and the horticultural industry has continued to evolve since then, with new pursuits including avocado farming, green tea, finger limes and the rare gourmet black truffle.

Nannup's name is of Noongar origin, meaning either "stopping place" or "place of parrots", and was first recorded by surveyors in the 1860s. The area was at one point known as "Lower Blackwood", and the first European settler to explore it was Thomas Turner in 1834. In 1866, a bridge was built over the river and a police station was established. A townsite was set aside in 1885, surveyed in 1889 and gazetted on 9 January 1890.










The Blackwood River is the longest continually flowing river in Western Australia's South West region, stretching about 383 kilometers from near Wagin to the Southern Ocean at Augusta.






Ballinup - The town takes its name from Balingup Pool, located on the Balingup Brook which flows through the town. The name was first recorded by a surveyor in 1850, and is said to be derived from the name of Noongar warrior, Balingan.





Bridgetown In 1852, A.C. Gregory made the original survey of the Geegelup area and in 1857, Edward Godfrey Hester (now honoured in nearby Hester) and John Blechynden settled there. In 1861, convicts built the road from Donnybrook into the area. In 1864 the Geegelup Post Office was established in a building on Blechynden's property. A basic police station that had existed since c.?1862 was substantially reconstructed by former convict, Joseph Smith on the south bank of the Blackwood River in mid 1867. Mounted Constable Abraham W. Moulton was the first permanently appointed policeman. The townsite was surveyed in April 1868 by Thomas Carey, who proposed the name Bridgetown for two reasons – "as it is at a bridge and the Bridgetown was the first ship to put in at Bunbury for the wool from these districts", and was approved and gazetted on 9 June 1868.



The Bridgetown Town Hall was constructed on the site of the former Mechanic's Institute (constructed in 1877). In 1926 a meeting was held in the hall to discuss the erection of a new hall and in 1927, the new town hall was completed in January 1936, with the Mechanics Institute then being emolished/deconstructed to make way for the second stage of the build.




Bridgetown - Wag Walters Emporium & Ford House Bed & Breakfast is set on 5 acres of beautiful gardens and parkland on the edge of the Blackwood River in Bridgetown.