The district was created on 9 August 1899, named in honour of the first Surveyor General of Western Australia, John Septimus Roe, and was defined in the Government Gazette:[1]
Bounded on the North by the South boundary of the Yilgarn Goldfield, being a West line from a point situate 90 miles South from survey mark H. 26 on Koorarawalyee Granit Rock; on the West by a prolongation South of the West boundary of said Goldfield (said boundary being a North and South line through a point situate 10 miles West of the Cairn on Yorkrakine Granite Rock); on the South by an East line from a point situate East from the North-East corner of Kojonup Location 268, and on the East by a North line through Mount Madden to the latitude of Mount Ridley (33°17'38"S), an East line towards Mount Ridley, and a North line towards aforesaid survey mark H. 26 and Koorarawalyee Granite Rock.
