The region was originally occupied by the Bibbulmun Australian Aborigines who knew the area as Wandergarup, which in their native tongue meant �plenty of water�.
The first settlers in the area, in 1862, were Edward Reveley Brockman, who established Warren House homestead and station on the banks of the Warren River, and his uncle Pemberton Walcott, after whom the town would be named, who established a farm and flour mill at Karri Dale, on the northern outskirts of the later town site.
In 1913, the newly-established, government-owned State Saw Mills began construction on twin sawmills, No 2 and No 3, at the location, then known as Big Brook, for the purpose of helping supply half a million railway sleepers for the Trans-Australian Railway. The mill site was in a valley to ensure the mills had a regular supply of water and because it was easier to roll logs down hill to the mills. Big Brook became a thriving private mill town, with a hall, store, staff accommodation, mill workers� cottages, and single men�s huts, and two boarding houses. A more distinctive name was soon sought. The name Walcott, after Pemberton Walcott, was first suggested but was rejected by the Post Office due to conflict with Port Walcott. William Locke Brockman, local farmer and son of early settler Edward Reveley Brockman, suggested Pemberton. The mill town was well established but by 1921 there was community agitation for a government townsite to be declared. Community pressure eventually resulted in lots being surveyed in 1925 and the Pemberton townsite was gazetted in October 1925.
During the 1920s the area was a focus of the Group Settlement Scheme and following the Second World War, the War Service Land Settlement Scheme, but with only moderate success
