KATANNING

town, southwestern Western Australia. Laid out in 1898, it probably derives its name from the Aboriginal term kartannin (meeting place). A market and service centre for the grain and sheep (merino stud and wool) raised on the surrounding Wheat Belt (q.v.), it has flour mills, oatmeal mills, and a large meat-packing industry. Its yards for selling livestock are Western Australia's largest outside metropolitan Perth. Katanning lies on the Great Southern Highway and a rail line to Perth (155 mi northwest). Pop. (1981) 4,413.