Heritage Farm

Statement of Significance

Historic value: The site is associated with early settlers the Mortimer family who built the former residence.

Level of significance: Historic Site.

Physical Description

house has been demolished.

History

An early Hope Valley settler was John William Mortimer, whose father, James Taylor Mortimer, had arrived in 1842 as a juvenile from a British correctional facility, sent to the Swan River Colony to boost the labour force. After working on a pearling lugger at Broome, in 1880, John Mortimer married George Postans’ eldest daughter, Emma, then nineteen years of age. After their marriage, the couple lived in Fremantle, selling milk from a few cows and saving for land.
In 1884, John and Emma Mortimer acquired Cockburn Sound Location 305, comprising 40 acres of land on the southern end of Long Swamp. Once settled at Hope Valley, John and Emma began the task of clearing their land for a market garden, supporting themselves and their nineteen children (two of whom died young) by cutting jarrah ‘knees’ for shipbuilders and splitting sheoak shingles. In 1886, the Mortimers purchased an additional 100 acres of land (Lot 7/1525) on the northern and eastern boundaries of his Lot 305.
With such a large family, the Mortimer’s were undoubtedly concerned with the provision of education in the Hope Valley area and in 1894, John Mortimer donated two acres of Lot 305 as a site for a school. The school was built that same year by John Mortimer and George Postans and was attended by their children, as well as the de San Miguel children.
In 1911, Margaret O’Connell came to Hope Valley as a teacher, and by 1913 was married to James Mortimer, the third of John and Emma’s children. Soon after James and Margarets' marriage, the Mortimer House was built for them by family members, located on land near where George Postans’ Location 241 and John Mortimer’s Lot 7/1525 shared a common boundary. A subdivision of the area in 1915 shows that the land belonged to the Colonization Assurance Corporation of England, with neither George Postans or John Mortimer holding title to the land on which Mortimer’s House was situated. The title for the land, being Lots 578 and 603 (being part of Cockburn Sound Location 16), was eventually transferred to Helene Margaret Mortimer in 1921.
The house was constructed with rubble limestone and had a timber shingle roof (most likely the work of John Mortimer), with the rims of wagon wheels apparently used in the windows.
The shingle roof was most likely removed during the 1940s, when ownership of the place was transferred numerous times.
In 1958, Lot 578 was subdivided, the resultant parcel totalling 16 acres and encompassing the homestead building. The place had numerous owners in the subsequent decade, including Dr. Edwin Alexander Dewar, who kept trotting horses on the property, and the Diamond family, who began restoring the place in the 1990s. In 1997 the place was transferred to Alcoa.
With regard to the name of the place, Mortimer’s House is also referred to as ‘Moine’. As it was a large home by local standards, and its position on a rise gave it prominence, visitors to the district often asked whose house it was. James Mortimer would reply “moine”, his pronunciation of ‘mine’.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High
Authenticity: Moderate

Condition

demolished

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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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.