| Cookernup Western Australia | |
|---|---|
 The Cookernup General Store in April 2022 | |
  Cookernup | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 32°59′24″S115°53′35″E / 32.99°S 115.893°E Coordinates: 32°59′24″S115°53′35″E / 32.99°S 115.893°E |
| Population | 604 (SAL 2021) [1] |
| Established | 1860s |
| Postcode(s) | 6219 [2] |
| Location | |
| LGA(s) | Shire of Harvey |
| State electorate(s) | Murray-Wellington |
| Federal division(s) | Forrest |
Cookernup is a town in the South West of Western Australia near the South Western Highway, between Waroona and Harvey.
In 1835 Stephen Henty and Thomas Peel were the first Europeans to visit the area, being guided through the reaches of the Harvey River by local Aboriginal people.
Cookernup's name derives from an Aboriginal name meaning "the place of the swamp hen" (cooki). The first settler, Joseph Logue, came to the area in 1852 with his extended family in search of good farming land, acquiring a 9,000-hectare (22,000-acre) grant which he called Kookernup. He later settled on the north bank of a nearby brook, now called Logue Brook. [3]
The area was important in the milling and transport of local timber, with a railway reserve being constructed for timber stacking. In the early 1890s, Cookernup had a much greater population than Harvey, and had a school and telegraph office several years earlier. [4]
The population of the town was 59 (35 males and 24 females) in 1898. [5]
Cookernup is a small agricultural town with services offered from nearby Harvey, and there have been applications for subdivision in the area. However, a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) buffer zone around the Alcoa Wagerup alumina refinery was doubled by the Health Department following the approval of a $1.5 billion expansion to the refinery. In August 2008, Alcoa had bought over 40 local properties. [6] As of 2015, Alcoa's purchases made little to no impact to Cookernup, with the majority of properties being purchased in nearby Yarloop.
Cookernup has experienced steady growth in recent years, with several houses being built a year. Cookernup has a fire brigade, town hall, general store, large exercise area and playground. [7]
Nearby Logue Brook Dam, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the east and set in jarrah forests on the western boundary of the Murray State Forests, has a number of camping, accommodation and recreational facilities, and offers bushwalking, horse-riding, waterskiing, canoeing and ropes courses.
Warawarrup is a small village 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the south that is home to the Harvey Trotting Track. It was originally planned as a growth area, but the growth failed to eventuate.
The town serves as a stop on the Australind passenger train service from Perth to Bunbury.
| Preceding station |  Transwa | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarloop towards Perth | Australind | Harvey towards Bunbury | ||
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The 2016 Waroona-Yarloop bushfire started in the east in the forests of the Darling Scarp before reaching the Swan Coastal Plain and continued westwards until it reached the Indian Ocean. It started as a lightning strike that caused two fires in the Lane Poole Reserve state forest near Dwellingup, Western Australia on 5 January 2016 and then burnt close to Waroona and then through the historical town of Yarloop, destroying it, before continuing southwards towards the outskirts of the town of Harvey and westwards to Preston Beach. Around 70,000 ha of land was burnt, two people died and at least 166 buildings were destroyed in Yarloop alone with only ninety buildings surviving. In total 181 buildings and structures were lost with the total cost of fighting the fire and the cost of the damage and the loss resulting estimated at $155 million.
