Land was reserved in the area for a town hall as early as 1915 but it was not until the extension of the railway line from Mount Mashall to Lake Brown was planned to pass close by and that a station would be established in 1921 that the local primary producers association began to campaign for a town to be gazetted. The area was also known locally as Polkinghome's Corner but was gazetted in 1923 as Welbunging. The spelling was later changed to its current spelling in 1944.[2] The name of the town is Aboriginal in origin and was first recorded in 1889 by early surveyors after the name of a nearby hill.