Wundowie is one of the youngest towns in Western Australia located 70 kilometres or one hour’s drive northeast of Perth.
A timber mill was built here during World War I and thus, a small timber village was established. In 1942, a feasibility study was carried out by the Western Australian Government to see if an iron and steel industry can be established in the area. It was decided to establish a wood distillation and charcoal-iron plant for the production of pig iron and the plant started operations in 1948.
The town Wundowie was established in 1947. The location is ideal because of the availability of all the basic elements required in the production of the factory – water from the Mundaring pipeline, good railway access, timber and iron ore were easily obtainable from the area. Later, it was found that the local iron ore was unsuitable and iron from Koolyanobbing had to be brought in. The plant produced high grade pig iron; acetic acid and methanol from dry distillation of local wood. By 1950s, Wundowie was the major producer for pig iron in Western Australia but in late 1950s, it was overtaken by the development in Kwinana.
There are two small nature reserves in the vicinity of Wundowie. The Beelaring Spring Nature Reserve is located 19 kilometres away. It encompasses an area of 36 hectares. The other nature reserve, the Gooharing Spring Nature Reserve is even nearer only 8 kilometres away and covers an area of 53 hectares. Both these reserves have freshwater springs which discharges fresh water almost the whole year round and the terrain is covered by Jarrah and Marri forests and is suitable for bushwalking.
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