Wheatbelt (Western Australia)

The Wheatbelt is a region of Western Australia, both an official state government development region and a longstanding vernacular name for the farmland cleared for agriculture during colonization, centered roughly at 32 degrees south, 118 degrees east and partially encircling Perth. It extends north toward the Mid West region and east to the Goldfields-Esperance region, bordered on the south by the South West and Great Southern regions and on the west by the Indian Ocean, the Perth metropolitan area, and the Peel region, covering about 154,862 square kilometers including its islands. The region produces nearly two thirds of Western Australia wheat and half of its wool, along with most of the state lamb, mutton, oranges, honey, and cut flowers, with wetter, milder land near the coast and an arid eastern fringe used mainly for pastoral sheep farming; it has about 75,000 residents across 42 local government areas, roughly three percent of the state population.