In 1913 the government decided to construct a
railway line from Wyalkatchem to
Mount Marshall (southeast of
Bencubbin), and the Central Cowcowing Progress Association requested that land be set aside for a townsite at the proposed siding in this area. In 1914 the Jirimbi and Mulji Progress Association again requested a townsite here, and also in 1914 the proposed siding here was named Koorda at the suggestion of J Hope, the Chief Draftsman in the Lands Department. Hope took the name from a list of words obtained from a
Noongar in the
Margaret River area, the meaning being given as a "married person". Problems regarding resumption of land for the townsite and the exact siting of the siding meant that the townsite was not gazetted until 1917. In 1932 the
Wheat Pool of Western Australia announced that the town would have two
grain elevators, each fitted with an engine, installed at the railway siding. ==Politics==