Woodanilling is a small town in the Great Southern

Great Southern region of Western Australia

The Great Southern region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a section of the larger South Coast of Western Australia and neighbouring agricultural regions....

 region of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, 254 km south of Perth

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 Great Southern Highway

Great Southern Highway

Great Southern Highway is a highway in the Southern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, starting from Great Eastern Highway at The Lakes, 50 km from Perth, and ending at Albany Highway near Cranbrook. It is the primary thoroughfare for this part of Western Australia and runs parallel with the...

, 24 km from Katanning

Katanning, Western Australia

Katanning is a town located 277 km south east of Perth, Western Australia on the Great Southern Highway. At the 2006 census, Katanning had a population of 3,808.-History:...

 and 30 km from Wagin

Wagin, Western Australia

Wagin is a town and shire in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately 225 km south-east of Perth on the Great Southern Highway between Narrogin and Katanning. It is also on State Route 107. The main industries are wheat and sheep farming.-History:The name of the town is...

.

The town is in a sheep and grain producing area and was named after a spring in the Boyerine Creek, 1 km south of town.

The area was first explored by Europeans in 1830-31 in expeditions by Captain Thomas Bannister. The construction of the Albany Highway

Albany Highway

Albany Highway is a generally northwest-southeast highway in the south of Western Australia which links the state's capital Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany. The highway is approximately in length, is designated State Route 30 and separates Western Australia's Great Southern region from...

 in the early 1850s and the Great Southern Railway

Great Southern Railway (Western Australia)

The Great Southern Railway was the name of a railway company that operated from Beverley to Albany in Western Australia between 1886 and 1896. In 1896 the Western Australian Government Railways took over this company and the railway route also kept the name.- Construction :The first sods for the...

 in 1889 brought settlers to the area and helped to establish the town, which was gazetted in 1892.
The townsite is located on an old railway siding that was initially known as Round Pool; in 1895 this was renamed to Yarabin and finally changed to Woodanilling in 1896.

By 1906 the Woodanilling Road Board was formed and the population of the shire swelled to 800 during its most prosperous period from 1905 to 1920.

The name Woodanilling is Aboriginal

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

in origin and means either "lots of minnows" or "place where the bronzewing pigeon nests".