CRANBROOK CEMETERY

Location                                       

Shire                                 Cranbrook                     

Co-ordinates               -34.28579, 117.56253           

Located

Approximately 1km north east of the town of Cranbrook, 41 km north of Mount Barker and just off Albany Highway.   

Cemetery

Reserve Number                     

Number of Graves    13

First Burial                     1933   

Last Burial                     1995   

Statistics

 History

Name

The town was named after the English town of Cranbrook in Kent.  It is believed to have been named by Mr J A Wright, who was manager of the Western Australian Land Company which built the railway on which Cranbrook is located.                        

Discovery

Cranbrook was one of the original railway stations on the privately owned Great Southern Railway which opened in 1889 joining Perth to Albany. A main purpose of the railway was to open up agricultural land.

Early History

The Noongar peoples know the area as Twonkup or Dwangup; it was a traditional meeting place of the Menang peoples from the south, the Goreng from the south east and the Kaneang from the south west. It was also an important law ground and burial ground with over forty burial mounds found around the area.

Cranbrook station was originally a site for the re-watering of the train but was gazetted a townsite in 1899, by which time the railway was in Government hands.

The Cranbrook Road District was gazetted on 14 May 1926 out of parts of the Plantagenet and Tambellup road districts.^[2]

On 1 July 1961, it became a Shire following changes to the Local Government Act, which reformed all remaining road boards into shires. The Shire now contains the three town sites of Cranbrook, Frankland River and Tenterden.

Cranbrook is now predominantly farmland, with grain and sheep production being the main components.

Points of Interest                    

The Frankland district just beyond the Western edge of the shire is renown for high quality red and white wine, with several wineries open for tasting and purchase.

Cranbrook is also considered the gateway to the Stirling Range National Park, east of the town. Stirling Range National Park is home to the only major mountain range in the southern area of WA, rising to more than 1000m above sea level. There are many hiking trails, lookouts and picnic areas, and in spring and early summer there is an abundance of wildflowers and bird life to experience.