The townsite is on the traditional land of the Kalaako people, who are also referred to as the Malba or Malpa, a name given to them by the Wudjari people to the south in reference to their customs, meaning they were circumcised and subincised.[3][4]
Originally selected as a siding on the Norseman to Esperance railway in 1926, Dowak was gazetted as a townsite in 1928. Dowak is a Noongar word for the waddy, a hardwood club or hunting stick.[5][6] An official 1928 map of the townsite shows the town to include the area within the current boundaries and the neighboring nature reserve. The town itself was located west of the railway line and consisted of the north-south running Fitzgerald and Peak Streets and the east-west running North, View and South Streets, with 32 blocks off land allocated along them.[7]
The Dowak Nature Reserve, gazetted on 24 April 1980 with a size of 0.81 square kilometres (0.31 sq mi), is located in the Mallee bioregion. It is located to the west of the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway while the townsite is to the east, opposite the nature reserve.[2][8]
