Breton Bay Squatter Shacks

Values

• The place is a representative example of Crown land used to construct private and informal holiday shacks, associated with the Australian tradition of recreational squatting in coastal areas and reserves.
• The place is a representative example of twentieth century recreation sites used for camping and fishing.
• The place is associated with the practice of providing or creating facilities for affordable sea-side holidays in Western Australia.

Physical Description

Breton Bay is located along the coast between Seabird and Ledge Point in the Shire of Gingin. Breton Bay beach is located on Unallocated Crown Land and is accessed from Indian Drive via unsealed roads through privately owned portions of farmland.
Breton Bay Squatter Shacks comprises four discontiguous coastal sites located along Breton Bay. Although each site includes unauthorised structures established on what is now State Government land, they are not understood to be associated with one another.

History

The Yued region comprises an area of approximately 29, 254 square kilometres, including the towns of Leeman, Jurien Bay, Cervantes, Two Rocks, Gingin, Coorow and Moora. Nyoongar people speak of having lived on country since creation times, and lived virtually undisturbed until George Fletcher Moore, Advocate General, explored the region in 1836. Moore used Nyoongar names when renaming some features of the landscape. Subsequent establishment of agricultural and pastoral stations took advantage of Aboriginal people’s knowledge and relationship with the environment, their labour and caused their displacement from their traditional lands. The local Yued, or Yuet people united to lodge a Native Title claim in 1997. The Supreme Court supported the Nyoongar claim to Native Title in 2006.

The Shire of Gingin encompasses approximately 3,211 square kilometres and takes in the towns of Ledge Point, Seabird, Gingin, Lancelin and Moora. The Breton Bay Squatters Shacks are located between the towns of Ledge Point and Seabird. Breton Bay is visited by locals and four-wheel drive enthusiasts for the purposes of fishing, swimming and camping. The Shire of Gingin does not allow camping on any private or government land without owner consent, including beach or reserve areas. The April 2011 document ‘Shack Sites in Western Australia’, prepared for the Standing Committee on Environment and Public Affairs, indicates that in the 1980s and 1990s the Shire of Gingin, along with Shires of Dandaragan, Coorow, Carnamah and Irwin, committed to the removal of squatters’ shacks from their local government areas within six years to allow public access to the sites for day and camping use. It appears that the shacks and structures located in Breton Bay were not included in this policy, possibly due to the inaccessibility of the beach other than by private road.

Some of the shacks in Site 1 were reportedly constructed between the 1930s to the 1950s, possibly in association with the Greenwood Land Farm Management company. No other information is readily available regarding the shacks, which are still in use. The earliest aerial imagery for the area is from 1999 and the existing structures at Sites 1 to 3 appear to be present at that time.
The Municipal Heritage Inventory Review 2017 notes that the Governor set aside land for the Roman Catholic community in 1891 in Gingin. St Catherine’s Church was constructed in 1931 at Gingin and a priest from New Norcia gave services until 1952. The Roman Catholic Church also owns a portion of land located in the vicinity of Breton Bay. The two railway carriages located at Site 4 were reportedly deposited on the site by the Roman Catholic church for the purpose of establishing a holiday camp for the children living at the Benedictine Monastery at New Norcia. Orphanages for Aboriginal children, not all of them orphans, were established at New Norcia from the early nineteenth century but it is likely that this period of holiday camps began in the 1950s, when a number of church and community groups operated budget campsites for group events, especially for teens.

St Mary’s Orphanage for Aboriginal boys and St Joseph’s Orphanage for Aboriginal girls at Benedictine Monastery, New Norcia closed in the 1970s. The two railway structures are in very poor condition and have not been used for some time. The earliest adequate aerial imagery over Site 4 in which the existing structures are present was taken in 2000.

It is understood the shacks that remain in a liveable condition are periodically occupied for recreational purposes.

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.