Roelands, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Roelands


caption =
lga = Shire of Harvey
est = 1890s
postcode = 6226
pop = 622
dist1 = 165 | location1 = Perth
dist2 = 26 | location2 = Harvey
dist3 = 23 | location3 = Bunbury
fedgov = Forrest
stategov = Murray-Wellington
state = wacoord|-33.287|115.826|type:city(200)_region:AU-WA_scale:50000|format=dms|display=title

Roelands is a town located in the South West region of Western Australia along the South Western Highway, between Brunswick Junction and Bunbury.

History

The name Roelands relates to a property of the same name granted to the Swan River Colony's first Surveyor General in 1830, John Septimus Roe as part of the convert|5000|acre|km2 to which he was entitled for bringing considerable capital to the colony. Roe spoke highly of the area and its potential value for agriculture. The first pastoralists and shepherds arrived in the area in the 1880s seeking improved pasture for their stock.

In 1893, a railway station was built here to service the railway line from Pinjarra to Picton Junction, and was initially called Collie Siding after the nearby Collie River. However, after the gazettal of nearby Collie in December 1897, and much public argument in the region, Collie Siding was renamed to Roelands. The first big quantity of coal from Collie was carted by road to the Collie Siding and then railed to Perth. The demand on the area from the timber and coal business led to the construction of the Colliefields Hotel.

A school was established in 1909, and in 1916 a private subdivision was undertaken surrounding the schoolsite. In 1963 the subdivision was gazetted a townsite at the request of the Shire of Harvey. [LandInfo WA|c|R|2007-04-17] [cite web|url=http://www.harvey.wa.gov.au/roelands|title=Local Towns - Roelands|accessdate=2006-10-05|author=Shire of Harvey]

From 1940s-1970s, the Roelands Mission housed Aboriginal children who had been removed from their families. An estimated 500 children stayed here during the life of the mission, some of whom spent 16 years of their life there. The land was purchased for $1.92m in August 2004 by the Indigenous Land Corporation. [cite web|url=http://www.ilc.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/LandMattersIssue19.pdf|title=Land Matters issue 19 (summer 2005)|author=Indigenous Land Corporation]

Present day

Roelands is a small township nestled at the foothills of the Darling Range, and is the meeting point of the South Western Highway (Highway 20) between Bunbury and Perth via Pinjarra, and the Coalfields Road (Route 107) to Collie, Darkan and Arthur River.

References

Further reading

* Talbot, Judy. 1998 "Historic Roelands School". (closing after 95 years) "South western times" 12 November 1998, p.24.

External links

* [http://www.harvey.wa.gov.au/_content/images/Maps/Map%2012%20Roelands.jpgMap of Roelands] (Shire of Harvey)