The name of the town is derived from Wagin Lake, a usually dry salt lake south of the town. The lake's name is of Noongar origin, and was first recorded by a surveyor in 1869-72. It means "place of emus", or "site of the foot tracks from when the emu sat down". The first European explorer through the area was John Septimus Roe, the Surveyor General of Western Australia in 1835 en route to Albany from Perth. Between 1835 and 1889 a few settlers eked a simple living by cutting sandalwood and shepherding small flocks of sheep. Land was granted to pastoralists in the Wagin area from the late 1870s onwards. The town itself came into existence after the construction of the Great Southern Railway which was completed in 1889 with the town originally called Wagin Lake. The first post office and telegraph building, designed by George Temple-Poole, was completed in 1893. The building was replaced by the current building in 1912. The building was designed by Hillson Beasley and built at a cost of £2,596 and the old building was converted to living quarters. The local Agricultural Hall was built by 1896 and opened December 1 the same year. In 1898 Wagin was proclaimed a town with the wordLake dropped. A further railway connection with the Collie to Narrogin line at Bowelling was made on 10 December 1918. In early 1898 the population of the town was 175: 125 men and 50 women. Saint George's Anglican church, a stone Federation Gothic style stone building with a tower, was constructed in 1900 on land donated by Frederick Piesse. The Palace Hotel was built in 1905. The two storey Federation Filigree style building with large verandahs in located on Trudhoe Street. The original owner was Paddy. B. Durack who also owned a sizeable property east of Wagin known as Behn Ord. Significant extensions were added to the building in 1911. The Wagin Road Boards building was built in 1912 at a cost of £400. The building now houses the town library. Planning for the construction of the current town hall commenced in 1928 with tenders being called for. The estimated cost for the building was £6000. The foundation stone was lain in May of the same year by Sydney Stubbs. The building included a main hall to seat 600 people, a lesser hall to seat 250, library, council chambers, stage, kitchen and dressing rooms. and was completed early in 1929 at a cost of £6500. In 1934 the town was extensively flooded after the area experienced of rainfall in a short period of time, the heaviest for 20 years. Water over a foot deep flowed through the Town Hall and along business premises and dwellings along Tudor Street. The railway yards were flooded and the railway dam burstunder the water pressure. The Big Ram or Giant Ram, a tourist attraction, was erected in Wetlands Park in 1985. The sculptor was Andrew Hickson who constructed the ram from fibreglass over a steel frame. The ram stands tall, long and wide and weighs. Thousands of tourists visit the park each year to view the ram. The sculpture is the second largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Present day
Wagin is one of the largest towns in the Southern Wheatbelt region, and annually hosts the Woolorama, one of Western Australia's largest Agricultural Shows. The event held in March regularly attracts over 30,000 visitors.
