The Inside Story: ABOUT KATANNING :-)

Katanning; a small, rural, sheep and wheat area. A 3 hours drive from Perth. Total Population: 4,482 people. Our weather is a bit strange; it’s either flamin’ hot or flamin' cold! Katanning is a bit small, although we do have the largest saleyard in the Southern Hemisphere and the “All Ages Playground” with big slides and also a miniature train ride! We have Woolworths. We have country target, a few select clothing stores, we use to have a cinema, and we have an abattoir. It is a place where sheep......GET KILLED! And we also have THREE pubs?! But we have more banks; we have in total 6 banks. Katanning really is a tourist destination; there are plenty of tourist attractions such as;

Katanning Roller Flour Mill Museum

The museum was built by the Piesse family in late 1800’s, and was operating until 1977. Visiting the museum is a must as it still has all the machines in now as it did went it shutdown. The visitor centre is also located here.

the roller flour museum in 1901

roller flour museum today

Kobeelya

Kobeelya was built in 1902 by Frederick piesse for his family. At first it has seven bedrooms, a billiard room, and a ballroom. Outside, it had stables, tennis courts, a croquet ground and a coach house. In 1922 Kobeelya was turned into a private girl’s school. Kobeelya was the only girl’s boarding school where girls were able to keep their horses. In 1938 a chapel was built with money raised by Parents and Friends and students of Kobeelya. This chapel is still used to this day for weddings and special services. The Baptist Church bought Kobeelya in 1986 and is now used as a conference centre and a retreat which can accommodate up to 76 people.

kobeelya in 1905

kobeelya as present

All ages playground and miniature railway

This is where the large slides and mini train ride come in. The slides are described as ‘adult sized play equipment to bring out the child in us all’ which is very true! For the slightly younger kids though, there is a basic playground as well. It is a great place to come for a train ride (which only runs on the second and fourth Sunday of every month, thanks to a group of train enthusiasts) and to have a BBQ and picnic

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Katanning Saleyards

There are weekly sales at the yards each Wednesday. If you visit on Wednesdays ther e is plenty to see; thousands of sheep dozens of barking dogs and some very serious buyers. For a greater view there is a viewing platform which ads to the experience. More than one million sheep pass through the saleyards each year making it one of the largest saleyards in Australia. Impressive huh!

The Katanning Mosque

In Katanning, we now have many different cultures living in Katanning. One of the largest, The Islamic Community, began arriving in 1974 from Christmas Islands. By 1980, the population had grown so large, that they needed a bigger place to accomadate everyone for worshipping, so the Islamic community built their own Mosque, which is very beautiful.

and The Old Winery Ruins

Before shutting down, it was used to process grapes that were harvested from the Piesse family (as you may have already guessed, the ‘Piesse’ family was one of the first families in Katanning). When the winery stopped producing wine, all the tools were sold to the monks in New Norcia