Our Region

The Great Southern encompasses eleven local government areas with a range of communities from large towns to rural villages, serviced by infrastructure for transport, telecommunications and utilities. We cover 39,007 square kilometres on the south coast of Western Australia, bordering 250km of the Southern Ocean and extending 200km inland.

Land types range from mallee scrub in the north-east to karri forests in the south-west of the region. Two ancient ranges of hills, the Stirling Range and the Porongurup Range, rise in the central Great Southern flanking the Kalgan River valley. The Stirling Range includes Bluff Knoll, at 1095m the highest peak in the southern half of Western Australia.

The Great Southern has been home to a significant population of Noongar people for tens of thousands of years, with the Great Southern borders now encompassing the ancestorial lands of the Menang, Kaneang and Goreng Noongar peoples, and parts of the Wudjari and Wilman land. The Great Southern falls within the Wagyl Kaip and Southern Noongar portion of the Southern Native Title settlements.