- NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
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The Shire of Morawa has an economy based principally on agriculture, mining and resources, government and community services, and local businesses supporting these industries and the wider community.
Agriculture remains a major economic activity and land use, with broadacre cropping and livestock production across much of the Shire. Farming supports grain handling, transport, agricultural services and other businesses within Morawa and the surrounding district.
Mining and resource development have also played an important role in Morawa’s economy and history. Iron ore mining around the Koolanooka Hills has contributed to the development of the district, and mining and resource-related activity continues to influence employment, infrastructure and investment opportunities.
Morawa provides government, education, health, retail, accommodation and other services for the surrounding district. Tourism makes a smaller contribution through wildflowers, heritage, agricultural landscapes and natural attractions, while the Shire continues to pursue opportunities to diversify the local economy and support small business.
The Shire of Morawa lies on the western part of the ancient Yilgarn Craton. The underlying geology is dominated by Archaean rocks, including extensive granitoid rocks, together with greenstone belts and prominent banded iron formations. The Koolanooka Hills and other ironstone ranges form distinctive elevated features within the otherwise gently undulating landscape.
Landforms and soils vary across the Shire and include undulating plains, alluvial plains, sandplains, dissected country, low hills and breakaways. Soils include sandy and clayey sands, loams and heavier clay soils, with laterite and gravel occurring in parts of the landscape. Salt lakes and saline drainage systems are also prominent features of low-lying areas.
The Shire lies within the Merredin (AVW01) subregion of the Avon Wheatbelt IBRA bioregion. Native vegetation includes proteaceous scrub-heaths on lateritic uplands and sandplains, together with York gum (Eucalyptus loxophleba), jam (Acacia acuminata) and other eucalypt and Acacia woodlands and shrublands.
The Shire contains several threatened ecological communities associated with its distinctive uplands and banded iron formations. These include the Plant assemblages of the Billeranga System, Plant assemblages of the Koolanooka System and Plant assemblages of the Moonagin System. These communities contain distinctive combinations of mallee, woodland and shrubland vegetation associated with particular soils, geology and landforms.
The Koolanooka System occurs on the Koolanooka and Perenjori hills and their footslopes. These hills are composed of ancient metamorphic rocks, including banded iron formations, and support a distinctive sequence of plant communities associated with their iron-rich soils, rocky slopes, summits and footslopes.
Parts of the Shire also support the nationally listed Eucalypt Woodlands of the Western Australian Wheatbelt ecological community, which is listed as Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. These woodlands are characterised by a predominantly eucalypt tree canopy over a variable understorey and occur across parts of the Western Australian Wheatbelt.
Agriculture is the dominant land use across much of the Shire of Morawa, with broadacre cropping and livestock production occupying extensive areas of the rural landscape. Agricultural activities are supported by grain-handling facilities, transport infrastructure and services based primarily in Morawa.
Mining and resource-related activities are also important land uses. Mineral resources and mining tenements occur across parts of the Shire, including around the Koolanooka Hills, and land-use planning seeks to manage interactions between mining, agriculture, conservation values and settlements.
Urban, commercial, industrial and community land uses are concentrated primarily within the Morawa townsite, with smaller settlements and infrastructure occurring elsewhere across the Shire. Crown land, reserves and areas of remnant native vegetation form an important part of the wider landscape.
Extensive historical clearing for agriculture has increased the importance of remaining native vegetation, rocky hills and outcrops, roadside vegetation, reserves and other ecological linkages. Protecting these areas while maintaining productive agriculture and allowing appropriately managed resource development is an important land-management consideration for the Shire.
The Shire of Morawa is a small inland community centred on the Morawa townsite, with residents also living on farms, rural properties and smaller settlements throughout the district. Morawa provides agricultural, government, education, health, retail and community services for the surrounding area.
At the 2021 Census, the Shire of Morawa had 660 residents. The median age was 42 years, and 72 people — 10.9% of the population — identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
Agriculture, mining and government and community services influence local employment and community life. The Shire’s relatively small and dispersed population makes local services, community organisations, sporting facilities and volunteering important to the community.
Water resources in the Shire of Morawa are strongly influenced by its inland climate, seasonal rainfall and extensive salt-lake and drainage systems. There are no permanent major rivers, and surface water generally moves through poorly defined drainage lines and ephemeral waterways towards salt lakes and low-lying areas. Much of the Shire is associated with the Yarra Yarra drainage system, an extensive network of ephemeral salt lakes and palaeodrainage channels. Water may collect in lakes, depressions and drainage lines following significant rainfall, while many surface waters within the cleared agricultural landscape are saline. Groundwater and reliable water supplies are important for communities, agriculture and emergency needs. Morawa’s public drinking-water supply is associated with the Arrowsmith Water Reserve, while strategic non-potable water supplies are maintained across the Shire for purposes including emergency stock water and firefighting. Dryland salinity, waterlogging, saline groundwater and altered drainage following extensive land clearing are important water-management issues. Efficient water use, harvesting and reuse of water, appropriate stormwater management and protection of water supplies are therefore important priorities for the Shire.
