Metricup, Western Australia

Metricup is a locality in the South West region of Western Australia near the town of Cowaramup on the Bussell Highway. It is in the Margaret River wine region and its local government area is the City of Busselton. At the 2021 census, it had a population of 263.

Metricup Western Australia
The Margaret River Chocolate Company in Metricup
Metricup
Coordinates	33°46′S 115°8′E
Population	263 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)	6280
Area	57.2 km2 (22.1 sq mi)
Time zone	AWST (UTC+8)
Location	252 km (157 mi) from Perth 32 km (20 mi) from Busselton 18 km (11 mi) from Margaret River 6 km (4 mi) from Cowaramup
LGA(s)	City of Busselton
State electorate(s)	Vasse
Federal division(s)	Forrest

History

Established as the social centre for Group 60 of the Group Settlement Scheme in the 1920s, Metricup was known as Boyndlie Park until 1928, when it was renamed to its present name after the railway siding on the Flinders Bay Branch Railway; no variant of the name appears in any South West Aboriginal word-lists and it is believed that the name was invented by the Western Australian Government Railways department.^[2][3][4] A school operated in the area from 1924 to 1953 and the St. John the Baptist Anglican Church, which is still operating, opened in 1935.^[3][5][6]

Present day

Tourist accommodation, Wine-making, cattle-farming, and gourmet food production are the main industries of the area.^[7][8] Metricup contains the Margaret River Chocolate Company, established in 1999 as the first chocolate factory in the Margaret River region,^[9][10] and the Margaret River Dairy Company, which under an earlier incarnation was the first Western Australian company to commercially produce Brie cheese in 1986.^[11][12] St Mary's Anglican Girls' School, which is based in the Perth suburb of Karrinyup, has an outdoor education centre in Metricup.^[13]

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Metricup (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
2. Landgate Geonoma database, entry for Metricup
3. "St. John the Baptist Anglican Church & Group 60 Memorial". Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
4. "Boynlie Park [i.e. Boyndlie Park]. Group 60. Alteration of name to Metricup". State Records Office of Western Australia. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
5. "WA Schools Gazetteer" (PDF). Geoproject Solutions. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
6. "Anglican Community of Metricup". Anglican Diocese of Bunbury. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
7. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Metricup". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
8. "Other towns". Your Margaret River Region. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
9. Taylor, Roxanne (21 April 2019). "Margaret River's chocolatiers put new spin on old favourites from parsnip to sushi flavours". ABC South West WA. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
10. "Margaret River". The Margaret River Chocolate Company. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
11. "Local history". Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
12. Tannock, Kellie (30 July 2014). "Margaret River Dairy Company rises out of the ashes". Augusta-Margaret River Mail. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
13. "Outdoor Education". St Mary's Anglican Girls' School. Retrieved 23 August 2019.