Balgownie

Statement of Significance

Balgownie has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
The place is associated with Seton Gibb and his family who were one of the first British settler families to take up land in the King River area, becoming one of the oldest remaining families and long-time owners of Balgownie.
The place is representative of the many farms established in the Albany region in the late 19th and early 20th century that took advantage of the demand for fresh produce in the burgeoning Goldfields region with Albany connected to the State’s railway network as well as exporting high quality produce to the overseas market including England and Europe when Albany was still a major port.
The place is a good example of the ingenuity of the owner Seton Gibb and the use of local resources and building material made on site to construct the residence.
The place is important for its connection to the social and recreational life of the people of Albany and from out of town, in which properties such as this were opened up for weekend visitors and day-trippers, providing a thriving local hospitality industry to meet the demand both from the town and the outlying districts.

Physical Description

Some of the notable features of this place include:
• Set on a large farm property very close to the banks of the King River
• Rectangular design with verandah around all sides
• Handmade cement/lime hollow brick construction
• Roof hipped corrugated iron
• Cement floor verandah under a broken backed roof with cement pipe posts set on brick plinths
• Walls painted and rendered over brick or stone
• Plaster/Cement window and door architraves, gently projecting with ornate scallop finish on the top
• Many doors open out onto verandah
• A mixture of side hung and double hung sash windows
• Two plain brick chimneys
• Outbuildings – one weathered timber and one corrugated iron shearing shed

History

Balgownie was established by the Gibb family in 1893. Seton Gibb was originally from Scotland. He took an apprenticeship in painting and decorating and after completing this he went to New Zealand to work in the 1870s, then came to Australia (Sydney) before returning to England in 1878. In 1881, he married Mary Ann Middler, also from Scotland. They would go on to have a large family Seton (Jnr), Robert, Stanley. William, Flora, Isabell, Annie, Gnownie Heather.

By 1890, Gibb had set off again, this time with his young family, and travelled first to Queensland then Sydney until finally Western Australia where he landed in Albany in 1891. Although his original intention was to travel onwards to Fremantle, he was so impressed with Albany that he stayed. Initially Gibb worked his trade in painting and decorating before deciding to take up farming. In 1893, he selected two locations land at King River where he established his property Balgownie, comprising 125 acres, including a one-kilometre frontage to the King River. The name came from “Balgownie Bridge”, a medieval bridge in Aberdeen, Scotland. Gibb established an orchard at Balgownie especially for apple growing.
The first homestead residence built by the Gibbs was constructed of wattle and daub and located on the most easterly point of the property on the bank of the river. It was added to over time with sawn timber and corrugated iron becoming quite a substantial residence with a large verahdah.
Sadly, their youngest daughter Gnownie Heather died aged only 11 in 1919.
By the 1920s, the original residence became inadequate and its fragile original construction was deteriorating especially owing to regular impact from flooding. It was replaced in 1925 by a new homestead residence situated further upstream on a high point of the riverbank to reduce the impact from flooding. The new residence, (measuring 45m²) was also built by Gibb using hollow cement bricks he handmade on the property using a lime and cement mix. The cement was shipped in wooden barrels from the Eastern states. The windows and doors featured ornate rendered surrounds.

The remains of the old wattle and daub house were completely washed away in a major flood in 1927. The flooding was caused by a nearby dam bursting - that had been constructed for the new Albany Highway (then Perth Road). However much of this early road infrastructure reflected a poor understanding at the time of the river and creek systems and the impacts of this are still felt in the area today.
After this flood event, the verandah was added to the new residence in stages. The verandah had a cement floor and featured porticos. For the posts, Gibb drew on his son’s ingenuity. Bill Gibb had created a revolutionary agricultural pipe-making machine for producing cement drainage pipes (these pipes were used to drain Centennial Oval in Albany). The posts on the verandah were made from cement drainage pipes - which were coined “Gibbs pipes” – rendered and sitting on robust masonry pillars. Gibb and his family had developed a reputation for considerable ingenuity ‘…of which his fine house, built of materials made on the property, was a good example’. (Albany Advertiser, 23 April 1931).

The Gibbs would also build up one of the finest farms and orchards in the district at Balgownie, growing all kinds of fruit, potatoes and other vegetables, supplying the local and Goldfields markets and exporting fruit to England and Germany. Gibbs later added a dairy, built with poured concrete and rendered red bricks. As well as it being a working farm, the Gibbs would also host visitors from Albany to Balgownie, taking them on tours around the property and providing afternoon tea. There was also a tennis court on the property (to the north-east of the residence).
Seton Gibb snr died 17th April 1931 aged 75. At the time of his death, Gibb was recognised as the oldest surviving settler and one of the very early pioneers of the King River district. Balgownie had become highly regarded locally for its ‘…happy atmosphere and the warm hospitality with which visitors were greeted’. (Albany Advertiser 7 November 1946)
On 26th October 1946, Mary Ann died aged 83. Many of their surviving children remained in the King River/Albany with Balgownie remaining in the Gibb family until c1963.
The next owners were the Bradbury family. The Mills and Hassell shearing shed was believed to have been added by Bradbury in the 1970s. In 1987, the property was purchased by the Davey family.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: High/Moderate

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.