Narrogin

Town in Western Australia, 192 km/119 mi southeast of Perth; population (1996) 4,500. Narrogin lies in the heart of Western Australia's richest agricultural district and products include cereal crops and wool, and there are agricultural services as well as light manufacturing, sawmilling, and furniture production.

Narrogin has several historic buildings, including the Old Courthouse (1894), Cornwall Hotel (1905), the ANZ Bank (1905), the Town Hall (1908), Post Office (1911), and St Matthew's Convent (1929).

The area was first settled in the 1870s, although it developed rapidly after the completion of a railway between Perth and Albany in 1889. The town was officially declared in 1895, and by 1900 it was the most important town in the region, supporting a rapidly expanding grain and wool industry. Narrogin also became an important railway town and a junction for a network of lines constructed into nearby agricultural districts. Employment also increased as the town became the regional base for many government services.