In the 1870's Sandalwood cutters cut tracks between waterholes to the finest stands of sweet smelling sandalwood in the Kulin district. They hauled the dried stacks to Fremantle where they were shipped to the East and South-East Asian market.

The lure of gold saw the cutters down their tools and head further inland to seek their fortune. Stands of sandalwood can still be found in the reserves around Kulin.

The first pastoralists took out grazing leases from 1905. Kulin Rock Soak, north of Kulin, provided fresh water year round and attracted the first settlement to the area. The belt of salt pans around Jilakin lakes, east of Kulin, also held great grazing potential, and once the grazing leases expired, the early farming settlers took up land around the lake and Jilakin Rock in the 1910's. Kulin has since become one of the most productive districts in the WA Wheatbelt.