Residence: Meller

Statement of Significance

Residence: Meller is a significant early property in Cockburn, with high architectural significance as a substantial, and well-resolved residence.
Residence: Meller is associated with well-known Cockburn pioneer, Joe Meller.

Physical Description

Originally set in a rural area, this house, made of sundried bricks, is now surrounded by modern suburban houses. There is a verandah, part of which has been enclosed by weatherboard, along three sides. There are three chimneys. The hipped roof is made from corrugated iron.

History

Land in the area of Lake Walliabup began to be settled from the late 1880s for market gardening, dairying and orchards. The lake was known by the locals as Bibra's Lake. The settlement of the district responded to the buoyant economic times brought about by the gold boom and the rapid increase in population that accompanied it, which greatly increased the demand for fresh food produce. In December 1894, Fremantle hotelkeeper Samuel Barker Shanks paid £50 for the Crown Grant of Cockburn Sound Location 439 of 100 acres. Two months later, on 13 February 1895, Joseph Meller
raised a mortgage on the land of £100 with the Bank of Australasia and on 20 February the title to Location 439 was transferred to his name. Meller had arrived in Western Australia with his wife, Eliza, on the Glen Morvan on 20 September 1885. That year, the birth of their first child, May, is recorded.
Subsequently, Ernest was born in 1888, Arthur in 1890 and Olive in 1894. From 1886 to 1889 Joseph Meller is listed as a shopkeeper in Fremantle, while also holding land at Bibra Lake from April 1887 on conditional purchase. Conditional purchase required the buyer to complete improvements, such as clearing and fencing and building a dwelling, within a stipulated time frame, usually five years, in order to acquire the title to the land at a reduced price. Meller paid £2-10-0 a year for his lease while fulfilling the conditions for purchase, which in the case of Location 439 included having to reside on the land within six months and to fence one tenth of the boundaries.5 Meller's 100 acres contained good swamp land, which was perfect for market gardening. Many of the swamps and lakes in and around Perth had been used for market gardening, initially by European settlers and later by the Chinese. Why the grant was first acquired by Samuel Shanks is open to speculation. In December 1894, Meller had been working the land for seven and a half years, half as long again as needed for the conditional purchase. He may have been under pressure to finalise the purchase before someone else offered to buy the property from the Government, in which case he would have lost both land and family home, at that time a weatherboard and iron building. He and Shanks apparently came to an arrangement
which allowed Meller to obtain a mortgage on the land and thus obtain the funds to purchase the title from him. There was the opportunity of better returns for the market garden with the rapidly increasing population that had flocked to Western Australia because of the gold finds, a matter which would have influenced the bank when it came to providing a mortgage.
In 1897, Joseph Meller paid out his mortgage to the Bank of Australasia, raising another for £75 with the Agricultural Bank. In 1899, he sold 10 acres of Location 439 from an L-shaped projection in the south-west corner and appears to have put the funds toward discharging his current mortgage at that time. By 1900, Joseph Meller had 12 acres of market garden and three acres of vineyard. The first house on the property that the family occupied was a weatherboard and iron roofed dwelling. When Joseph established his market garden his eldest child was three years old and three
others were born during the period he was still leasing the land. He had no family labour force to assist. Any labour had to be provided by himself and Eliza - when she had time from bearing and raising children - or hired. When it came time to purchase the property a mortgage was needed. There was no money to spare for a new home until much later, most likely in the late 1890s or early 1900s, given the features of the nicely finished building with its jarrah floorboards, sash windows and cast iron fireplaces. The Homestead that Joseph Meller built at that time was constructed with mud bricks made on the property. In 1903, Meller raised a new £150 mortgage with the Agricultural Bank. Perhaps this provided the finance for the Homestead, but by this time, produce prices were falling with the decline in gold production and times were becoming difficult. A caveat was put on the property and was not lifted until November 1905 when Joseph obtained a £400 mortgage from William Dalgety Moore and paid out the Bank mortgage.9 This large mortgage coincided with Joseph's switch to dairy farming, along with a number of other settlers in the district.10 In 1919, Joseph Meller had a dairy herd of 38.11 In that year, he sold another 15 acres of land on the west side of the property, leaving a landholding of 75 acres.12 Eliza Meller died in 1913, age 62, and a decade later, on 1 September 1923, Joseph himself died. Title to the property was transferred to son Ernest. Ernest Meller ran 50 cows on the Bibra Lake property, delivering 80 gallons of milk a day to Fremantle retailers. Maize crops were grown in the swamp for summer feed, and in the winter the herd was grazed on a block in Forrest Road, Jandakot.13 With the advent of the motor vehicle came the ability to cart fresh milk to Perth and Fremantle from a greater distance away, and dairy farming moved further south to better soils. From 1925, dairy farmers began to leave the Bibra Lake district. Ernest Meller is not listed as a dairyman after 1927, although that cannot be taken as definitive as occupations had gradually ceased to be.

In 1887 Joe Meller's father selected land east of Bibra Lake. Joe was renowned for his long walks to get food and supplies. He carried very heavy bags of flour and other groceries on his walk home to Bibra Lake. He contributed to church life by blowing the bellows of the organ at Sunday services. The farm land was used for market gardens, dairy cattle and later for horse agistment. Ernie Meller, son of Joe, followed in his father's footsteps by carrying on the dairy herd on their farm. He supported the summer feed for the cows by growing maize on the banks of Bibra Lake.

Integrity/Authenticity

INTEGRITY: High
AUTHENTICITY: Most original exterior fabric is intact

Condition

Very 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.