Pemberton was established in 1862, following an expedition a year earlier and is named after one of the members of the expedition. The town was built in the centre of hardwood forests, mainly Karri, which was felled and used to make railway sleepers, including apparently for the London Underground. The surrounding area remains heavily forested, as clearing the forests has been tightly regulated for a number of decades. The areas that have been cleared are mostly used for farming, including wineries and a lucrative avocado industry and tourism.
The town has a population of around 600. We stayed for five nights about 10km from Pemberton in a cabin, next to a lake, on a vineyard owned by a Perth (Australia) engineer, originally from Scotland. We were given a tour of the winemaking facility by the winemaker, tasting the wine directly from the barrel. With limited restaurants, generally only opening a few nights a week, we relied on the cabin’s barbie. We were there for Sarah’s birthday and Australia Day, celebrated respectively with marron (600g, similar to a crayfish, purchased live from the producer) and steak from the local “meat mart” in Manjimup. Our marron had been farmed in fresh water dams, but they can also be caught in local lakes but only between 8th January and 5th February, with a long list of applicable regulations.
Shilli-Fully Travels 