Wongan Hills derives its name from a nearby range of hills, first recorded by Surveyor General J S Roe in 1836. Wongan is an Aboriginal name, the name being variously recorded as "wangan-katta", "wankan" and "woongan". The meaning of the name may be derived from "Kwongan", an Aboriginal word meaning sand plain, although one source describes wongan as meaning "wispering", and wongan katta would then mean "wispering hills" (katta is a word for hill).
