Austin is a town in western Manitoba on the Trans-Canada Highway about 110 km (85 miles) west of Winnipeg. It sits at the western edge of the table-flat Portage Plains , but to the south and west is surrounded by miles of low wooded hills known as the Carberry sandhills . The biggest attraction is the annual Rodeo and Threshermen's Reunion held the last four business days of July. Austin received its name in 1881 from the Marquis of Lorne , then Governor General of Canada while he was on a western tour during construction of the CP railway.