Yongergnow Australian Malleefowl Centre was the brain child of the Ongerup Community Development and the Malleefowl Preservation Group (MPG Inc.). The MPG was founded in 1992 and operated until 2015. It came as a result of the rarity of Malleefowl in the Gnowangerup Shire, of which the Malleefowl is the fauna emblem.
The MPG’s primary focus was doing surveys and on ground conservation work, but felt that education and awareness raising for Malleefowl and the mallee was an aspect of Malleefowl conservation which would best be done from a conservation and eco-tourism centre in Ongerup: Yongergnow Australian Malleefowl Centre, or Yongergnow in short.
Building Yongergnow would not have been possible without considerable financial and in kind support from federal, state and local government, Lotterywest and the Ongerup community. The Department of Regional Development, the Great Southern Development Commission, the Gnowangerup Shire, Lotterywest and various other funding bodies contributed the majority of the required funding (approximately $1.3 million).
Yongergnow was developed and built over a seven year period from 2000, opening its gates to the public on 15th February 2007. In 2008, the Ongerup District Telecentre (rebranded into Yongergnow-Ongerup Community Resource Centre in 2010) co-located with Yongergnow.