Katanning - Culture and History

There is considerable disagreement as to just exactly what 'Katanning' means. Some sources argue that it is derived from the local Aboriginal word 'kartanup' meaning a 'clear pool of sweet water' while others suggest that it comes from 'kartannin' meaning 'meeting place'. A third suggestion combines these two interpretations suggesting that a 'clear pool of sweet water' would be an ideal 'meeting place'. Just to confuse matters there has been some people who insist that the town was named after an Aboriginal woman called Kate Ann or Kate Anning.

The first Europeans to explore the Katanning area were Governor James Stirling and Surveyor General John Septimus Roe who travelled through the area in 1835 en route from Perth to Albany. They both commented on the richness of the soil and the quality of the grasses and so by the early 1840s Elijah Quartermaine was grazing sheep in the area. He moved his sheep across from Beverley and then herded them back in the spring for shearing. By 1852 Quartermaine had a holding of 17 284 acres and by the 1870s he was the largest landholder in the district.

It was around this time that the sandalwood cutters moved into the area but they did not settle. It was not until the arrival of the Great Southern Railway from Perth to Albany in 1889 that the township really came into existence.

The founding father of Katanning was Frederick Henry Piesse, an entrepreneurial merchant who, seeing the potential that the Great Southern Railway would bring to the area, designed a mobile store to follow the railway's construction. It is wonderfully appropriate that the railway, which was being constructed from both Perth and Albany, met only 5.5 km from the present site of Katanning. The point where the two railways met is marked by a cairn west of town on the road which runs from Carew Street.

The beginnings of Katanning can be described specifically because in May 1888 Piesse had three wagonloads of goods unloaded near Elijah Quartermaine's house and a heap of sandalwood was dumped beside the railway. This was the beginning of F & C Piesse's store which eventually became the town of Katanning. A statue of Piesse which was erected in 1916 stands beside the railway line in Austral Terrace.