Gnomesville

Located just east out of Dardanup, Gnomesville is a unique tourist destination that’s hard to miss as you’re travelling through the Ferguson Valley.

Gnomesville is a large collection of garden gnomes that have mysteriously been placed at at the roundabout that joins Wellington Mill Road and Ferguson Road in the Ferguson Valley. Nobody seems to know exactly how the quaint little hamlet of gnomes began and nobody is really sure who’s responsible for their existence.
One version goes that the roundabout was built when a group of year seven Dardanup Primary School students mentioned they thought the intersection was a traffic hazard during a mock council meeting. The council proper got wind of it, and soon the roundabout was under construction for real. Legend has it that a local Wellington Mills resident placed a single gnome at the site of the roundabout’s construction in good-humoured protest against what had become a controversial project in the town.
More gnomes soon came to join the silent protestor and soon the roundabout site had become a large gnome community complete with a sports ground that included two teams of football-playing gnomes, who switched to cricket with the change of season.

Gnomesville grew so quickly that the local Shire of Dardanup was forced to move the makeshift clay community from the middle of the roundabout to the nearby bush-land and verge as the gnomes were proving too much of a distraction for drivers approaching the roundabout.   Strolling through the hamlet it’s impossible not to be impressed by the scale of the endeavour. Gnomesville is presently home to more than 1000 residents, which are scattered everywhere – in the bush, alongside the road and hidden up and around the various pathways that run through the immediate area. But this is more than just a scattered collection of garden gnomes – it’s a community in the true sense of the word with gnome parties, sporting activities, and even a Gnomesville local rock band called The Rolling Gnomes.
Clever puns are a feature of Gnomesville with many of the local residents sporting hilarious names and titles including Metro-gnome, Gastro-gnome, Gnome Alone, the Professor of Ergognomics, a Gnomely child, The Stately Old Gnome, a Gnoman Empire soldier and Sir Ignominious. Proving that Gnomesville is a liberal community, there is even a gnomosexual. This bizarre selection of characters is further complemented by a number of gnome structures like the Gnome Birth Centre, Funeral Gnome and even a Gnome for Wayward Youths.
Gnomesville has become a tourist destination in its own right and is now featured on tourist maps and is a regular stopping point for busloads of travellers, many of who bring their own gnomes to add to the ever-growing collection. There are gnomes from London, New York, Sydney, Broome and a variety of other places from around the world living happily in Gnomesville.
It is also somewhat of media hotspot having been featured on a number of television and radio shows including #Rove Live, #Postcards WA, #Today Tonight and the ABC’s #Stateline.
The Shire of Dardanup and the local Wellington Mills Community maintain the hamlet of the gnomes and are more than happy for visitors to “plant” a gnome and add to the collection. However a word of warning, bad luck is reputed to follow those who steal from the gnomes or hurt them in any way.  For those looking to linger a while in Gnomesville, there are picnic tables and public toilets available providing the perfect opportunity for a leisurely lunch with the gnomes.