The town was originally a railway siding along the Great Southern Railway line, built by the Western Australian Land Company, and opened in 1889. Later the same year the company designed the town and made land available. In 1896 the state government purchased the railway and the land and gazetted the townsite in 1898. Its name is Aboriginal in origin and is the name of the Pingeculling Rocks found to the north of the town. The name was first recorded in 1873, and the original settlers referred to the area as "Pingegulley" for years before the town was gazetted.