St Erney's Homestead

Statement of Significance

Representativeness, Aesthetic, Rarity, Social, Scientific and Historic

Physical Description

St Erney’s Homestead is located west of Wheatley Coast Road at the end
of Parsons Road, approximately 2.28 km from the highway. Set in a pine
forest clearing, the homestead is an unusual and aesthetically pleasing
composition of two elements, a pise construction Federation Bungalow
gable roof building with a later Group Settlement house of timber. At the
time of construction in 1908-09 mud bricks were commonly used, while
pise was a rarely used technique in the State. The walls are built up in
stages with a footing and first stage of pise terminating at a sand and
bitumen damp proof course. The upper walls are raised over the damp
proof course in stages to plate height. The gable walls are framed with
split jarrah shingle cladding. The roof to this section is painted
galvanized corrugated iron with rolled ridges. The house has floors and
ceilings of jarrah, with casement windows and framed ledge and braced
doors. A timber framed lean-to carport is attached to the northern wall.
A former Group Settlement timber house with an iron roof was added at
the south side in 1945, opening to the original house via an existing door.
This section is a rectangular plan, gable and hipped roof four-room
building also in the Federation Bungalow style. The surrounding
verandahs are partly filled in to provide a further two rooms. Windows
to the filled in verandah are double hung sashes. The walls are lined with
painted weatherboards.
To the west of the main house is a timber framed former single men’s
quarter, used for storage.
The homestead is surrounded by plantation pines, with a single Monkey
Puzzle Pine/Bunya Pine (Auracaria auracana) located just outside the
fenced area to the north east. In the garden are some significant plants
and trees, including some Pepper Trees, Apple, Lemon, Weeping
Willow, Kurrajong and liquid amber.

History

St Erney’s Homestead is located in the Warren District which was first
settled in the late 1850s and 1860s by pioneer families like the Muirs,
Clarkes, Mottrams, Wheatleys and Blechyndens. After the Homestead
Act was passed in 1893, allowing settlers to select a free homestead farm
to a maximum of 160 acres, there was a new wave of European settlers to
the district. In 1898 the railway reached Bridgetown .
C1908-09 Thomas Harris Parsons took up land to farm with his wife and
three sons in the Upper Warren district. They each took up a homestead
block of 160 acres. Together they also took up 1,000 acres on
Conditional purchase, selecting good country at the confluence of three
tributaries of the Warren River. Thomas Parsons then built a homestead
which was named St Erney’s after St Erney Church at Landrake,
Cornwall, where his wife, Edith, had been christened in 1850. By 1910
three rooms had been built, with substantial walls of pise construction on
a mixture of clay, sand and ironstone foundation. A verandah and the
entrance were built on the north side and skillion rooms at the south. The
veranda on the north side no longer exists, and the skillion rooms were
removed to make way for additions in 1945.
In 1910 the railway reached Manjimup, leading to further development in
the surrounding district, including the Upper Warren District.
In May 1917, following the death of Thomas Parsons, his wife, Edith
took over possession of the farm. The Parsons family continued to work
the farm with Harold Edward Parsons and his wife (formerly a Wheatley)
and family occupying the homestead. Harold’s wife established and
maintained a beautiful garden around the homestead . Edith Parsons died
in June 1837 and the family continued to work the farm and live there.
In 1945 major additions were carried out. The addition was formerly a
1930s timber framed group settler cottage, moved from a location in
Northcliffe. Harold Parsons moved to Manjimup in the 1950s, but his
son Stanley and his family continued to work the farm and live in the
house until 1979.
Records show that St Erney’s changed ownership in 1979, and in 1985
was taken over by the Conservator of Forests as part of the extension of
the Forests Department pine planting programme in the South West.
In August 1972 Stanley Parsons had requested that the place be assessed
by the National Trust. The place was recorded by the Trust in Dec 1972
and much later, in August 1985, was classified by the National Trust. St
Erney’s was entered on the Interim Register of the State Register of
Heritage Places on 24 January 1994. On 10 July 1997, the place was
included in the Shire of Manjimup Municipal Heritage Inventory.
The place is no longer used as the homestead of a farm, but is tenanted as
a house.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Very Good
Authenticity: Very Good

Condition

Fair

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.