town, southwest Western Australia, lying at the base of 1,890-foot (576-metre) Mount Barker, which was sighted in 1829 and named after Captain Collett Barker, the last military commandant at Albany on the coast, 35 miles (56 km) south. The town, proclaimed in 1899, is the administrative headquarters of Plantagenet shire. Situated on the Great Southern Railway and Albany Highway to Perth (210 miles northwest), it is a processing centre for a region of beef, sheep, apple, and vegetable farming and manufactures concrete pipe. Mount Barker is a base for excursions to the scenic Porongorup and Stirling ranges and so takes advantage of the growing tourist trade in the Great Southern region. It also has become a wine-growing region of note and has reversed a trend in many rural towns by increasing its population. Pop. (2001) urban centre, 1,721.