Collie

Collie is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, 213km south of the state capital, Perth, and 59km inland from the regional city and port of Bunbury. It is near the junction of the Collie and Harris Rivers, in the middle of dense jarrah forest and the only coalfields in Western Australia. At the 2011 census, Collie had a population of 6,998.Collie is mainly known as a coal-producing centre, but also offers industrial, agricultural and aquaculture tourism industries. Muja Power station is located east of the town, and to its west is the Wellington Dam, a popular location for fishing, swimming and boating.The town is named after the river on which it is situated. James Stirling named the Collie River, which in turn is named after Dr Alexander Collie. He and William Preston were the first Europeans to explore the area in 1829.Coal was discovered in the area by a shepherd named George Marsh in the early 1880s. The coal fields were developed in the late 1890s and the townsite surveyed and gazetted in 1897.