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Margaret River History

Margaret River, town and the river were named after Margaret Wyche, a cousin of the founder of Busselton, John Bussell.  The area was settled as early as the 1850’s, becoming a centre for timber cutting from the 1870’s.  By 1910, the settlement had a hostel which also doubled as a post office.
The town of Margaret River really became established after World War I with the establishment of The Group Settlement Scheme.  This was an attempt to attract migrants to Western Australia and open up the good rural land and establish a dairy industry, which attracted settlers to the town and between 1921 to 1930, over 100 settlers moved into the district. 

The group settlement scheme met with many difficulties including lack of reliable transport and its participants endured many hardships and isolation. Whilst the group settlement scheme could be described as a visionary project it failed because of inadequate planning and the poor selection of farmers who lacked training, capital and established infrastructure, inadequate assessment of the local environment and farm sizes and clearing difficulties contributed to abandonment or amalgamation of many farms.

Surfers began to move from Perth down to the Margaret River Region in the early 1960’s,  with the near shore reefs off the coast of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge producing big surf much of the year.
Following the migration of surfers, other people who were seeking an alternative lifestyle also became attracted to the area with its green landscapes and regrowth forests. The original intention of these new arrivals was “just to be”, to plant trees and live a subsistence lifestyle, an existence made easier by cheap rents in the area in the 70’s.  These Utopian seeking families soon established a permanent presence in the community and transformed the landscape through alternative and creative industries such as value adding to the existing dairy industry, establishing art and craft galleries and introducing alternative building method including rammed earth and mud brick. 

The 1960’s saw the beginnings of  the current commercial industry that, more than anything has put Margaret River on the world map.  Its climate of lower summer temperatures, higher rainfall, minimum frost and hail risk and much lower ripening period cloudiness make it ideal for vitculture. The first vineyard, Vasse Felix was established by Dr Tom Cullen in 1967 with a further 46 vineyards being established during the following 25 years as the demand for table wines in Australia steadily increased. By the mid 1990’s Margaret River wines held 20% of the premium Australian wine market despite producing only 0.56% of Australian Wine.

Margaret River is now one of the most sought after tourist destinations for its wineries, surf, galleries, gourmet foods and restaurants.

Historical Attractions

Margaret River Heritage Trail  (PDF 364Kb)– History and detailed information