Cataby is a tiny settlement located some 170 km north of Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 on the Brand Highway

Brand Highway

Brand Highway is a 362 kilometre main highway linking the northern outskirts of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, to the port city of Geraldton in Western Australia's Mid West region. Together with North West Coastal Highway, it forms part of the Western Australian coastal link to the...

. The area was apparently once called West Dandaragan , with the town of Dandaragan

Dandaragan, Western Australia

Dandaragan is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.The name of Dandaragan was first recorded in 1850 as the name of a nearby gulley and spring or watering hole known as Dandaraga spring...

 located 17 km to the east.

Cataby is perhaps best known by travellers as a rest-stop on the journey to such locations as Geraldton

Geraldton, Western Australia

Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...

 or the Pinnacles Desert

The Pinnacles Desert

The Pinnacles are limestone formations contained within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia.-Formation:The raw material for the limestone of the Pinnacles came from seashells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life...

 within the Nambung National Park

Nambung National Park

Nambung National Park is a national park in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia , 162 km northwest of Perth. It contains the Pinnacles Desert....

 near Cervantes

Cervantes, Western Australia

Cervantes is a town in Western Australia. The town is located just off Indian Ocean Drive about north north west of the state capital, Perth in the Shire of Dandaragan Local Government Area. At the 2006 census, Cervantes had a population of 503. The town was named after a ship that was wrecked...

.

The Cataby Important Bird Area

Cataby Important Bird Area

Cataby Important Bird Area is a 314 ha tract of land lying about 2 km south of the town of Cataby, adjacent to the Brand Highway, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia...

, which supports an important breeding population of the Short-billed Black Cockatoo, lies 2 km south-east of the town.

Tiwest Joint Venture

Tiwest Joint Venture

The is a joint venture between Tronox Western Australia Pty Ltd and subsidiaries of Exxaro Australia Sands Pty Ltd. The Tiwest Joint Venture is a mining and processing company was established in 1988 to extract ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon from a mineral sands deposit at Cooljarloo, 14km...

 have a titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

 mine site at Cooljarloo, near Cataby. Concentrate is transported by road train to the processing facility at Chandala, near Muchea

Muchea, Western Australia

Muchea is a suburb of the Shire of Chittering. Its postcode is 6501.The towns name comes from the Aboriginal word "Muchela" which means in Nyoongar 'water hole', referring to the abundance of water in Muchea.- History :...

.

The area has also been explored for mineral sands as well