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Park size: 4106 Ha
Alfred Hillman surveyed the area in in January 1835 and he named the stream he found there, Marshall River. This name was not the one
eventually adopted and J W Gregory's survey in April 1844 lists the water course as Woongan River.
The name has an Aboriginal origin and is supposed to mean 'embracing'.
This was one of the early farming districts in W.A. and Thomas Saw was the first settler to take up land here in 1865. Other early settlers
included the Cockshott, Hilbert, Sermon, Marsh, Billingham, Whiteley, Cassell, Dutton, Smith, Aitkin, Mills, Baggs, Grafham, Henderson and
Wheeler families.
In 1892 when a railway siding was established, the name was formalised as Wongong and this remained until 1949.
To confuse matters, land was offered for sale in the townsite of 'Wungong' in 1909. It took until 1949 for this change to be made to the
siding. Use of the siding was discontinued in 1969.
Wongong hall was opened in 1913. It remained in use until the early 1960s when it was dismantled and relocated to Roleystone.
One of the main watercourses in the area, Churchman's Brook was named after Capt. Charles Blissett Churchman. The difficulties of farming
the land took their toll on Churchman who died in 1833 at the age of 43. He left no will and it took a long time for any decision to be made
about what would happen to the land he had occupied.
The land gradually returned to its natural state but ongoing management of the park faces some challenges due to early clearing and farming
especially with regard to the presence of many weed species.
The park lies directly east of Byford and is made up of several individual blocks of land. The largest section lies in Wungong Valley.
Marri and jarrah trees dominate the canopy and beneath them is dense tangled undergrowth. This is ideal habitat for many native animals.
The Churchman's Brook section of the park is very different with paper bark trees and flooded gums. This area has been subject to more
farming and is therefore more open than Wungong Valley. It is in the Churchman's section that a large rock face has become a popular
destination for rock climbers. A cave on this rock face is said to be one of the hide outs of the bush ranger
Moondyne Joe.
Wungong Dam was constructed between 1975 and 1979 and this led to the removal of a number of small holdings in the water catchment area.
Earlier pipehead dams in the area dated from 1925.
The new dam has a capacity of 60 million kilolitres and the dam wall is 205 metres high.
Places to visit in the area include, Fletcher Park, Wongong Brook, Wongong Gorge, Bungendore Park, and Wungong Regional Park.
A popular walking trail in the northern section of the park starts from Stocker Road. The walk covers 10 kilometres and takes about 4 hours to complete.
It is rated as medium to hard difficulty.
NPW Website for more information
Best time to visit:
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Jan
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Feb
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Mar
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Apr
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May
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Jun
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Jul
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Aug
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