Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Boyanup WA

Boyanup

Boyanup is a town located on the South Western Highway in the South West agricultural region, 195 km south of Perth and 18 km south east of Bunbury, Western Australia.

Boyanup is an Noongar Aboriginal name, said to mean “a place of quartz” as “Boya” means “rock” or “stone”. The name was first recorded by an explorer in 1852, and a road survey in 1869 shows the town name as “Boyinup”. In 1888 a railway was built between Boyanup and Bunbury, and the townsite was gazetted in 1894.

The little rural town of Boyanup on the banks of the Preston River lies about 21km south-east of Bunbury, a large port and the major commercial centre for WA’s south-west.

The very nice Bull & Bush Tavern is a majestic sight in Boyanup.

It was near historic Boyanup Billabong that the first parcel of land was allocated in Boyanup on May 13, 1845 and the wetlands around the billabong still support numerous varieties of waterfowl.

Nearby Bunbury, about 190km south of Perth, is superbly located on a peninsula at the southern end of the extensive Leschenhault Estuary, where the Preston and Collie rivers meet.

Boyanup is close to the aquatic delights in and around Bunbury, which include fabulous beaches, sailing and boating, and some of the best and most varied fishing options in the state. The crabbing and prawning in the estuary and rivers round here are well worth the journey.