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The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley is the local government responsible for the towns of Kununurra and Wyndham.
The Shire covers 121,000 sq kms and is one of the four local governments in the Kimberley Region. We have one of the oldest (Wyndham) and one of the newest (Kununurra) towns in Western Australia. Add to that the largest producing diamond mine in the world, some of the most culturally rich landscapes on earth along with farmers who can sow and harvest a crop without a single drop of rain falling.
Kununurra is the north-eastern gateway to the Kimberley region, which encompasses about 420,000 kms of timeless landscapes and diverse land uses.
Kununurra was formed in the early 1960's to service the construction of the Ord Irrigation Scheme. The town has seen the transformation of ancient river plains into one of the most diverse and productive agricultural areas in Australia. Harnessing the mighty Ord River opened up the area to horticulture, aquaculture, eco-tourism and agri-tourism.
From its beginnings as a service town for workers, Kununurra has grown to a population of about 6,000 people out of a total shire population in the vicinity of 7,300.
Wyndham is the second largest town in the Shire and is the most northern town in Western Australia. The population of Wyndham stands at around 800 today, but was once a bustling town, with the arrival of news of gold discoveries at Halls Creek. The Wyndham Port was first established at the base of the Bastion in the 1880's. The development of Wyndham Port (named after Lady Broome's son, Wyndham) was a boon to pastoralists in the East Kimberley, and today the Wyndham Port provides for live cattle export by ship to Malaysia, as well as shipment of sugar to Indonesia.
Wyndham, like Kununurra, is surrounded by cliff and gorge country and has five rivers flowing into the Cambridge Gulf. The Cambridge Gulf is a massive waterway providing access to recreational mariners and commercial fishing operators with entry points into five rivers, being the Pentecost, Forrest, King, Durack and Ord Rivers as well as numerous creeks.
Life in the East Kimberley offers a diversity of landscape, activities and culture for the enjoyment of all.
