Golden Valley

Author

Shire of Donnybrook-Balingup

Place Number

00707

Location

Old Padbury Rd Balingup

Location Details

Nelson Location 165. Lot 11.

Local Government

Donnybrook-Balingup

Region

South West

Construction Date

Constructed from 1880, Constructed from 1904

Demolition Year

N/A

Statutory Heritage Listings

Type Status Date Documents
State Register Registered 14 Dec 2001 HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument, HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument

Heritage Council Decisions and Deliberations

Type Status Date Documents
(no listings)

Other Heritage Listings and Surveys

Type Status Date Grading/Management
Category
Classified by the National Trust Classified 03 Dec 1979
Register of the National Estate Permanent 22 Jun 1993
Municipal Inventory Adopted 27 Nov 2013 Category 1

Statement of Significance

Golden Valley is a good example of a Victorian Georgian homestead house which is sited in a picturesque location and is a landmark on the Old Padbury Road. The place is associated with Charles Fox Roberts and his son William and illustrates early building techniques in the colony, as well as the lifestyle of the early European settlers. It illustrates the development of the Balingup area and is associated with a number of prominent locals.

Physical Description

Located on Old Padbury Road, 2km south of Balingup townsite, Golden Valley comprises a homestead (c. 1880s) and workers' accommodation (1880s). The homestead house is a single storey rendered mud brick house with a moderately pitched gabled corrugated iron roof in the Victorian Georgian style. There is a verandah at the front and rear. The front facade is symmetrical with two doors and two pairs of Georgian windows. A large organ room was added to the north side in the early 1900s with a similar roof pitch but in 1991 there was a reconstruction of the roof and the pitch was substantially lowered, although the tall red brick corbelled chimney remains. Internal accommodation consists of four bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining room and organ room, outside toilet, bathroom and laundry. Most of the joinery is jarrah. The central core of the building was pit sawn, butt joined boards. The workers' accommodation is a two roomed dwelling which is timber-framed with exterior walls of corrugated iron, and interior walls of pressed metal and lathe and plaster, with a corrugated iron roof. It is set in former farmland and an arboretum. The front hedge has been removed and a new hedge planted with seeds taken from original hedge.

History

In 1885, Charles Fox Roberts (b. 1844) obtained Nelson Location 165. National Trust of Australia (W.A.) assessment notes a two room corrugated iron building (extant, 2012) was believed to have been the first house on the property, worked by his son, William Charles Fox Roberts (b. 1865), who married Mary L. Longbottom (b. 1864) in 1895. The present homestead, in the Victorian Georgian style, constructed of soft burnt bricks in mud mortar, with mostly jarrah joinery, and a corrugated iron roof, was built as their family home. The central core of the building was pit sawn jarrah, with butt jointed boards. There were verandahs at the front and rear. In the early 1900s, at the north-west side a large room was added with one end built up to accommodate a pipe organ, and the room became known as the organ room. It has not been ascertained if it was added under Roberts’ ownership or after the place was sold to Mountray Frederick Richardson in 1904, or Francis Craig, who owned it from 1906. (During World War I, his son, Colin, married the daughter of General Birdwood, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Imperial Forces, and after the war they returned to Golden Valley. When General Birdwood visited he agreed to plant the first tree and open the Memorial Park hence known as Birdwood Park.) In 1920, Edmund Peter Blakeney purchased Golden Valley, which he owned, occupied and worked until 1945, when he sold it to David Bruce Goyder, who resided there with his family. In 1946, it was transferred to Jean Barbara Goyder and David John Barr Goyder, who continued living there. In 1963, John Tomlinson purchased Golden Valley. In 1977, the Forests Department (now Department of Environment and Conservation) acquired it for its pine planting program. In 1981, some conservation work was done on the homestead. A committee was formed under Balingup Progress Association to raise money for the work, manage the project, and to develop an arboretum as a joint project with CALM on an area of 60 h.a. to be set aside for the Golden Valley Tree Park that would comprise two sections at the west and east sides of Padbury Rd. In 1984, new Certificates of Title issued for Lots 10 and 11 replaced those for Nelson Locations 102 and 165, with the homestead at Lot 11 (9.9128 h.a.). In 1991, conservation and other works were implemented, directed by architect John Pidgeon, with input from the National Trust, which later recorded removal and unsympathetic replacement of the organ room. For most of the subsequent period the homestead has been occupied for residential purposes.

Integrity/Authenticity

Mostly high although the modification to the roof of the organ room in 1991 is an intrusive element.

Condition

Good

References

Ref ID No Ref Name Ref Source Ref Date
Frost, A. C. Baylya-Balinga A History of Balingup, W. A. Donnybrook-Balingup Shire Council 1979
Assessment Document RHP 2001
National Trust of Australia (W. A.) Assessment 1979

Other Reference Numbers

Ref Number Description
34 Municipal Inventory

State Heritage Office library entries

Library Id Title Medium Year Of Publication
11991 Golden Valley Tree Park : Homestead Heritage Study {Cons'n Plan} 2023
2137 The Blackwood : a valley in transition. Book 1981
11989 Worker’s Accommodation, Golden Valley Tree Park, Heritage Study {Other} 2023
11990 Golden Valley Tree Park : Workers accommodation Heritage Study {Cons'n Plan} 2022

Place Type

Individual Building or Group

Uses

Epoch General Specific
Original Use FARMING\PASTORAL Cottage
Present Use VACANT\UNUSED Vacant\Unused
Original Use FARMING\PASTORAL Homestead
Original Use RESIDENTIAL Single storey residence

Architectural Styles

Style
Victorian Georgian

Construction Materials

Type General Specific
Wall RENDER Cement Dressed
Wall EARTH Adobe {Mud Brick}
Wall RENDER Other Render
Roof METAL Corrugated Iron

Historic Themes

General Specific
DEMOGRAPHIC SETTLEMENT & MOBILITY Workers {incl. Aboriginal, convict}
OCCUPATIONS Timber industry
PEOPLE Early settlers

Creation Date

30 May 1989

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Approved

Last Update

20 Nov 2020

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.