Local Government
Cockburn
Region
Metropolitan
Near Mount Brown, Beeliar Regional Park Henderson
Site of 1829-30 Clarence settlment, not to be confused with later Clarence town which is further north near Woodman Point.
Cockburn
Metropolitan
Constructed from 1829 to 1830
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
Heritage List | Adopted | 14 Jul 2011 | |
s.79 Permit - Archaeological Excavation | YES | 19 Apr 2023 | |
State Register | Registered | 08 Dec 2022 | HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument, HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument |
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
(no listings) |
Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | ||||
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 10 Apr 2014 | Category A | |
Classified by the National Trust | Adopted | 01 Jan 2012 |
Library Id | Title | Medium | Year Of Publication |
---|---|---|---|
9424 | The enigma of Clarence: Woodman Point or Mount Brown? | Journal article | 2008 |
9812 | The land 'flow[ing]... with milk and honey': Cultural landscape changes at Peel town, Western Australia, 1829 - 1830 | Electronic | 2010 |
Historic Site
Epoch | General | Specific |
---|---|---|
Original Use | RESIDENTIAL | Other |
Present Use | PARK\RESERVE | Park\Reserve |
General | Specific |
---|---|
DEMOGRAPHIC SETTLEMENT & MOBILITY | Settlements |
PEOPLE | Early settlers |
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.
(A) Clarence Cemetery has historical significance because it was the burial ground for Thomas Peel’s unsuccessful settlement at Clarence in 1830. The fate of those buried there demonstrates how harsh conditions were in the Swan River Colony for European settles in 1830. The site may have significance as an archaeological site, because nothing remains on the ground surface to indicate where the burials were situated or how many there were. Historical importance is because of the very early establishment of the burial ground when the area was first surveyed. It is probably the first cemetery or one of the first in the colony. Social importance is that of all burial grounds for their respective communities The site has both recreational and tourist importance because of its situation on high ground overlooking the coastal scenery. The history of the site demonstrates the harsh way of life and the harsh environment in the days of early settlement. When reading of the families buried there (refer: “a Colony detailed” by Ian Berryman and “Lonely Graves of Western Australia” by Yvonne & Kevin Coate) one begins to understand the development of cultural phases of the settles in the new Swan River Colony (B) Aesthetic Value The site has little aesthetic value due to the very low relief archaeological remains and moderately dense vegetation cover. Historic Value Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site is a fossilised camp dating to 1830 that shows how Western Australia’s earliest settlers adapted to a new environment. With the possible exception of the yet unsurveyed Garden Island 1829 site, it is the best well preserved early settlement camp in Western Australia. Scientific Value Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site has high scientific value. The camp’s archaeology preserve the behaviour patterns of Western Australia’s first settlers, informing about possible maladaptation and the speed of adaptation to the unknown Western Australia physical and cultural environment. The archaeological assemblage can also show whether settlers were prepared for the rigors of settlement, and what they considered their part would be in the Swan River Colony. Social Value Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site has high social value. When occupied in 1830, the camp contained about 33% of Western Australia’s population. Many of Western Australia’s present population have links with the site and the people who lived and died there. Members of the Parker, Edwards, Spice, Tuckey, Thomas, Leeder, Heard, Devenish and Meares families contribute greatly to Western Australia to this day. Rarity Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site is exceptionally rare at regional, national and international levels. Condition Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site is in excellent condition. Authenticity Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site has a very high degree of authenticity
(A) Old Historic Plan 142 (Thomas Peel’s grant near Clarence by George Smythe 1830) shows the burial ground for Clarence. Mr Ian Elliott (Dept of Land and Administration) has plotted this site onto a more recent map, which shows the site as being off Pettit Road Naval Base. Nothing now remains on the ground surface to indicate where the Clarence Cemetery could have been. As the area mapped covers a limestone outcrop, it is difficult to imagine how the graves were dug or where they might have been situated. (B) Thomas Peel’s 1830 Site is in the Beeliar Regional Park in the suburbs of Henderson and Naval Base. The 40.5-hectare area of banksia lowland and exotic vegetation contains the structural remains and discarded items of 500 men, women and children belonging to the Peel Association under the control of Thomas Peel. The material dates to 1830. Two, 15 by 15 metre areas have been examined archaeologically at the time of writing. Designated Site 1 and Site 2, the two areas contain a large collection of material remains. Accessioning of material is yet to begin, but an abridged list of the two sites’ material remains is presented below. Site 1. Site 1’s excavations unearthed a 2 by 4 metre tent pad of local limestone cobbles mortared with lime (Figure 1). A limestone and yellow brick hearth is attached to the pad’s south west corner (Figure 2). The hearth’s brick base is in two levels separated by iron sheeting. Flat limestone at each end of the hearth’s firebox suggests that bread baking also occurred in the feature. The remains of a tent pole and three cast iron tent pegs exist on the pad’s margins, while window glass was unearthed along the pad’s eastern margin. Bottle glass, the remains of an iron ash rake and a complete saltglazed stoneware blacking bottle were found on the pad and in the hearth. Extensive excavations to the pad’s north found a large collection of material. Most of this material was very small, suggestive of artefact deposition caused by sweeping material off the pad. Site 2. Site 2 comprised three areas in a 10 by 15 metre area. Area 1 consisted of partial dry stone limestone wall foundations measuring 2 by 4.5 metres (Figure 3). Excavations exposing the foundations also unearthed a layer of limestone mason’s chips, fragments of glass and ceramics and an 1827-penny. Area 2 of Site 2 has been interpreted as a structure for sleeping and living (Figure 4). A limestone and yellow brick hearth forms most of a probable timber and canvas structure’s south wall, with copper-alloy metal and timber battens used as anchors for the no longer preserved canvas. The structure’s length is 5.5 metres, but width was indeterminable. The archaeological assemblage collected from near Site 1’s limestone pad comprises beads; buttons; brass clothing hooks and eyes; two brass weights stamped with King George III’s mark; window glass – some distorted by melting; copper rod; percussion caps; gun flints; clay smoking pipe fragments and lead shot of various diameters. The lead shot, gunflints and percussion caps were unearthed within a 1 by 1 metre area. A trench about 10 metres long and 10 metres behind the pad contained items discarded by the tent’s occupants. About 1000 artefacts were recovered, including broken black glass bottle fragments; ceramic fragments of underglaze transferware (all blue in colour); creamware and yellowware bowls; a yellowware jug, many nails; an ivory domino piece; a silver chain; a brass 1820 shilling pierced with an iron nail; fragments of pig bone; barrel hoops; clay smoking pipe fragments, and brass pins. An area 32 metres square was excavated around Site 2’s structure. The following is an incomplete list of some artefacts found: five coins (two 1827 pennies, an 1827 shilling, an 1805 Irish penny and a very worn 178? penny); 32 brass thimbles, most for children’s use; c.300 brass pins; many brass clothing hooks and eyes; many brass buttons; a pair of tailor’s scissors; two iron keys; many English flint fragments; pieces of sulphur; tin container fragments; shot; seven gunflints; many clay smoking pipe fragments and glass and ceramic fragments. The fragments of English flint and sulphur are most likely associated with fire making, while the tin container fragments are probably the remains of tinderboxes. The coins were unearthed from a 1.5 by 1 metre area. Area 3 of Site 2 was the site’s cooking area. It comprises a limestone and yellow brick oven (Figure 5) measuring 3 by 1.5 metres. The excavation of heavy deposits of ash and charcoal near the oven’s throat found many nails, fragments of copper metal and pieces of glass and ceramic (some heat affected). Two sites have been excavated to completion at the time of writing. However, above surface features like low mounds of limestone and light artefact scatters at Sites 1 and 2 are also present at five other areas, strongly suggesting that well-preserved structural remains from 1830 exist nearby. In addition, artefacts with 1820 stylistic characteristics are present in small quantities over the 40-hectare area (see Site Plan 11).
Assessment A: 1990 (Cemetery Site) Assessment B: 2008 (Peel's 1830 site) (A) The burial ground off Pettit Road is a relic of Thomas Peel’s failed settlement at Clarence. The scheme suffered from bad luck and bad management. It is believed that about thirty people are buried there, all of whom died within six months of the establishment of the Clarence settlement on 1 January 1830. Most fell victim to scurvy or dysentery. The scheme was unlucky from the start, poorly provisioned and poorly led. The Clarence townsite was abandoned by 1831. Thomas peel went on to Mandurah with some of his remaining settlers and enjoyed better success. (B) Between late 1829 and early 1830, three ships containing about 500 men, women and children arrived off Western Australia’s south west coast. As part of the Peel Association lead by Thomas Peel, the settlers found land promised them in the newly established Swan River Colony already allocated to other settlers. While Peel and colony officials made arrangements regarding the allocation of new land, Peel’s group camped in sand hills fronting Cockburn Sound. There they struggled. Some were confined by indentured servant regulations inhibiting unregulated movement, while others tried making the most of what was available. All had nowhere to go. Descriptions of the camp depict individuals and family groups camped in tents, horse’s boxes and rough timber structures. Poor water, food shortages and summer heat killed 37 people already physically stressed after a four-month voyage from England. Eventually, after new land found for settlers proved poor, the group disbanded, joining other Swan River Colony settlers at Perth, Fremantle and Guildford and the Swan Valley’s agricultural allotments. By 1832, only five people remained at the camp. The camp’s dead were buried in a rectangular area marked on an 1830 map. In 1828, Thomas Peel, cousin of the Home Secretary and later British Prime Minister Robert Peel, entered into a partnership with prominent merchant Solomon Levey to establish a large scale settlement in the proposed Swan River Colony. They planned investing a large sum in the transportation of goods, equipment, livestock and labour to the Swan River Colony in return for grants of land in proportion of one acre for every one shilling sixpence expended. A 250,000-acre grant between the Swan and Canning Rivers was asked for and approved by the Colonial Office. However, to qualify for the grant, many immigrants and considerable capital assets had to arrive in the Swan River Colony by 1 November 1829. Due to delays, the first of Peel’s three ships, the Gilmore with 166 passengers, arrived six weeks late on 15 December 1829. The colony’s Lieutenant governor, James Stirling had, however, by this time granted all of Peel’s 250,000 acres to other settlers. The limited amount of fertile land on the Swan Coastal Plain, and the steady arrival of settlers since June 1829 who wanted land, forced Stirling to enforce the forfeiting clause. Peel’s late arrival meant he and his group had no privileges in the Swan River Colony, but Stirling made concessions by allowing him to select 250,000 acres from Cockburn Sound south to an inlet (Peel Inlet) and along the banks of the rivers flowing into it (the Serpentine and Murray Rivers). With nowhere to go until the making of new land allocation arrangements, the Gilmore’s passengers camped in sand hills near Mt Brown. On 12 February 1830, the Association’s second ship, the Hooghly with 176 passengers of mostly tradesmen and their families, arrived. Shortly after (14 May 1830), the Rockingham with 152 passengers arrived and then ran aground. Descriptions of the Peel town camp conditions are few but poignant. Captain George Bayly, the Hooghly’s second officer, described soon after arriving in February 1830 that most of the Gilmore’s settlers ‘get drunk everyday and lie about in the sun, so that several have been laid up with the fever’. There were many complaints by settlers to Bayly about Peel and his Association, the lack of fresh water, but the availability of too much alcohol. Bayly also mentioned that most of the Hooghly’s recently alighted passengers had congregated in their own area of Peel town that he and other settlers called Hooghly town. Bayly also describes sections of the camp: The cottages were built in a line on each side of a broad road which had been marked out by the surveyor and their fires for cooking were made in the middle of the road. Two or three carpenters and a Ship sailmarker had built themselves comfortable residences, but none of them seemed to think they were going to stay long in the place, as they found there was not much chance of employment...[t]hen I walked up to Hooghly town…a great many women and children were ill… Bayly describes an assortment of structures at Peel town, ranging from horse and cow crates converted for human use (Thomas Peel himself occupied one), houses of unspecified material covered with tarpaulins or thatched with rushes and prefabricated timber structures brought from Britain. The Dunnage family, who arrived on the Gilmore, had a ‘very pretty cottage’, most likely the ‘house in frame’ worth £248 13 shillings fourpence recorded on Dunnage’s list of imported goods. However, most settlers lived in tents and marquees ‘made by Mr Edgington of Tooley Street [London]’. Bayly produced the only visual depiction of Peel town, showing variously sized dwellings laid out with little organization on the windward side of the limestone ridge and extending to the beach and limestone cliffs. It is unclear who did the survey Bayly mentions. Roe, in the Survey Office’s monthly report, records surveying ‘Clarence’ from 25 to 31 January, but George Smythe and Henry Sutherland all produced maps dated to that year containing information about the camp’s location and site of some of its structures. Sutherland’s concentration on the coastline meant the noting of camp items only near the beach and rocky coast (like Peel’s house and store), but Smythe’s survey proceeded further in land. His map clearly shows a wide track passing between two small hills with small dwellings flanking the track and Peel’s house at the water’s edge. He records nine dwellings of unknown building material and no tents, while the graveyard and the well near Watson’s dwelling appear a later addition. By June 1830, Peel Association members were strung along the coast at Peel town, Mangles Bay (some of the people from the Rockingham that had moved from Peel’s Scheme) and near the Murray River where a small group of men assessed land. Due to continued misfortune and accident, Thomas Peel was recuperating on HMS Sulphur moored in Gage Roads, leaving Peel town’s settlers without command or advice. People’s health by this time had deteriorated further from what Bayly described. General illnesses like ophthalmia and stomach ailments were common in the Swan River Colony at this time, but the concentration of people at the camp result in greater severity. In Peel’s absence, complaints and concerns about the camp were sent to Stirling, and the resulting investigation saw the Sulphur’s surgeon, Alexander Collie, visit the site. Collie’s report examined settlers’ health, quantity and quality of food and water and the camp’s living conditions. He found about 400 people, many suffering scurvy and dysentery. He also recorded the deaths of 29 settlers, most due to dysentery and scurvy (14 and five respectively), but fatalities also due to pneumonia, childbirth complications (that claimed mother and child) and a child having died of convulsions after drinking a large quantity of alcohol. Two stillbirths are included in the 29, but not George McKenzie’s fatal spearing by Aboriginal people. Food issued from the camp’s store was sufficient but of varying quality and unavailable for the very sick, while good water had been difficult to procure until the coming of heavy rain. Collie visited the settlers’ huts, particularly those in which death had occurred, finding them ‘with a few exceptions, tolerably water proof and well ventilated, although small’. A small hospital covered with canvas existed. Collie considered that poor food and water caused much of the sickness, but ‘irregular habits’ of some of the camp’s men contributed to their deaths. He recommended growing vegetables immediately to counter scurvy. Collie found the health of the small groups at Mangles Bay and Murray River good, with the later group growing antiscorbutic plants. By August 1830, 37 of Peel town’s members were dead. Collie’s report showed Stirling that Peel was not supplying the camp’s members adequate supplies as required by indentured contracts. Despite complaints from Peel, Stirling in August 1830 released 12 families from their indentureships, and shortly after more received permission to leave. Many moved to Fremantle, Perth, Guildford and the Swan Valley, while others remained with Peel when he moved to Peel Inlet (Mandurah). By 1832, only five people remained at Peel town.
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.
Constructed from 1829, Constructed from 1830
The site of early European settlement has remained undisturbed due to its bush location. It is highly valuable as it has not been built over, when comparable sites in Perth have been. Peel Town Archaeological Sites has the potential to reveal information on the colonisation of new places, the effects on the environment by a new group, adaptation to new physical and cultural 295 | P a g e environments, and understanding the mindset of an emigrating group. Peel Town Archaeological Sites is rare as a place associated with the first phases of colonisation.
Archaeological site near Mount Brown, within Beeliar Regional Park. Claimed to feature remains of the abandoned Clarence settlement of 1829-30, now called Peel Town to avoid confusion with the later and larger Clarence Town which is further north near Woodman Point. Artefacts include four collapsed limestone structures, five artefact scatters and numerous individual artefacts. Artefacts are of ceramics, glass, metal and clay. Includes a tent pad with tent pegs and pole. Clarence was one of the earliest European settlements in Perth, it was abandoned after two years. A new settlement of the same name was established further north from 1836.
Thomas Peel proposed that a township to be known as Clarence be established at Woodman Point. Early maps show the Clarence Town site occupying the area between Cockburn Sound and Lake Coogee. Peel brought 490 settlers with him from England on the Gilmore in order to establish his new colony. Owing to a series of disasters and mistiming the settlement was abandoned within three years, leaving approximately sixty graves behind. However, there is some dispute as to where exactly Western Australia’s earliest arrivals established Clarence Town in 1829. For many years it was believed the site was at Woodman Point, about 10km south of the port city. However, Notre Dame archaeologist Dr Shane Burke claims the archaeological evidence shows Clarence was at Mt Brown, about 8km south of Woodman Point. Dr Burke has unearthed many artefacts, from bottles and coins to limestone structures believed to be part of settlers’ homes. The site also contains a gravesite with what Dr Burke claims are the remains of settlers, mostly women and children, who succumbed to the harsh and isolated conditions. However, historians Pamela Statham Drew and Ruth Marchant James disagree with Dr Burke, and state that Clarence was at Woodman Point and the area Dr Burke excavated was a small settlement made by people moving away from the initial camp in 1830.
Peel Town Archaeological Sites is rare as a place associated with the first phases of colonisation.
INTEGRITY: Site only AUTHENTICITY: Site only
Site Only
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
---|---|---|---|
HCWA Database No. 17868 | State Heritage Office | ||
Register National Estate | |||
National Trust Australia (WA) Documentation | National Trust WA |
Owner | Category |
---|---|
City of Cockburn | Local Gov't |
Alcoa of Australia Ltd | Other Private |
Dep't for Planning & Infrastructure | State Gov't |
Conservation Commission of Western Australia | State Gov't |
Town of Kwinana | Local Gov't |
Industrial Lands Development Authority | State Gov't |
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.
Kwinana Railway Marshalling Yards Kwinana
Koojedda Signal Box, Kwinana Box 'B'
Kwinana Railway Yard Signal Cabin
Kwinana
Metropolitan
Constructed from 1959 to 1967
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
State Register | Registered | 13 Jul 2001 | HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument, HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument |
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
(no listings) |
Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | ||||
Classified by the National Trust | Classified | 11 Jun 2001 | ||
Statewide Railway Heritage Surve | Completed | 01 Mar 1994 | ||
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 13 May 1998 | A | |
Local Heritage Survey | Adopted | 01 Feb 2022 | A |
Individual Building or Group
Epoch | General | Specific |
---|---|---|
Original Use | Transport\Communications | Rail: Other |
Present Use | Transport\Communications | Rail: Other |
Style |
---|
Other Style |
Type | General | Specific |
---|---|---|
Wall | ASBESTOS | Fibrous Cement, corrugated |
Wall | TIMBER | Other Timber |
Other | METAL | Steel |
Wall | ASBESTOS | Other Asbestos |
Roof | ASBESTOS | Fibrous Cement, corrugated |
General | Specific |
---|---|
TRANSPORT & COMMUNICATIONS | Rail & light rail transport |
TRANSPORT & COMMUNICATIONS | Technology & technological change |
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.
Constructed from 1959, Constructed from 1967
Aesthetic Value: The place has landmark value by virtue of its distinct form, elevated position and prominent location adjacent to Rockingham Road. Historic Value: The place is one of the few surviving signal cabins in Western representative of the multitude of signal cabins that were once common across the Western Australian Government Railways system. The place has historic links with the development of the Kwinana Industrial Area, particularly the Marshalling Yards which were instrumental in the transportation of goods in and out of Kwinana. Scientific Value: The place has scientific value as a geological site, and is believed to have been identified by the Geological Society of Australia (WA) in 1979 as one of the most significant geological sites in the metropolitan area. Representativeness: the signal box is representativeness of the methods used in the second half of the 20th century in rail transport. level of significance: Exceptional
The Kwinana Signal Box comprises an elevated signal cabin with an enclosed stairway and two floors, located within the Kwinana marshalling yards, adjacent to the Rockingham Road overpass. It is isolated from other buildings on the site, being immediately adjacent to the tracks, although two small buildings are located at its base, housing the relays and a standby power unit. The building is elevated upon steel supports, modular with braced trusses, allowing views across the rail tracks as well as over the road bridge. Most of the building is clad with asbestos sheeting, including the skillion roof, which overhangs on each side to form wide eaves that are lined with timber battens. The building has a number of small windows, some of which have louvres. At the upper level there are windows on all sides. The stairway, located on the southwest corner of the building, is semi-enclosed and of metal construction, with a painted finish. The signal cabin comprises two rooms; the lower floor, called the interlocking room, houses the mechanical and electro-mechanical equipment; the top floor is called the operating floor of the signal cabin. In 2021, the place is extant, with evidence of deteriorating building elements, vandalism and graffiti.
The Kwinana Railway Marshalling Yard was established in response to the development of industry in the area. Construction of earthworks for the yard and siding access commenced in April 1966 to ensure that the railway was ready for haulage of iron ore from Koolyanobbing to Kwinana that was due to commence in 1967. Train movements were expected to reach a level that would require a road bridge over the railway to replace the ground level Thomas Road, as well as extensive signalling in the yard itself. A small temporary signal box was installed at the Thomas Road end of the yard, but once the roadbridge was planned it was realised that visibility would be obscured. There was a clear need for a high level signal cabin containing a large lever frame to be insitu before the completion of the Rockingham Road overpass in 1967. The replacement signal box came from the recently redundant old Eastern Railway, in particular the Koojedda servicing depot, which had a relatively new signal cabin. The cabin was built there in 1959 (for a cost of £3,920) to replace the original 1936 cabin, and was constructed by Esslemont & Co. to the same design as the new Perth ‘A’ cabin adjacent to Melbourne Road in Perth. The new cabin at Koojedda had been opened in June 1959 when earlier signals were replaced by a modern three-aspect colour light signalling system. The relocation of the cabin, which was carried out in a period of less than 6 weeks due to the urgent timeframes, was most likely undertaken by WAGR itself and was in place by April 1967. Officially the signal cabin was known as Kwinana Box ‘B’ as the title ‘A’ was already given to an enclosed ground frame located at the Wellard end of the yard.
Integrity: High Authenticity: High
Good
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
---|---|---|---|
Heritage Council of Western Australia,; "Assessment Documentation # 03112 Kwinana Signal Box", | State Heritage Office |
Owner | Category |
---|---|
Crown Land | UNKNOWN |
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.
Mead Rd Leda
Leaholm, Lealholm
Kwinana
Metropolitan
Constructed from 1850 to 1960
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
State Register | Registered | 27 Aug 1999 | HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument, HCWebsite.Listing+ListingDocument |
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
---|---|---|---|
RHP - To be assessed | Current | 19 Apr 2013 |
Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | ||||
Local Heritage Survey | Adopted | 01 Feb 2022 | A | |
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 13 May 1998 | A |
03841 East Rockingham Heritage Precinct
Poor
Name | Type | Year From | Year To |
---|---|---|---|
vuggy lacustrine limestone | Architect | - | - |
Library Id | Title | Medium | Year Of Publication |
---|---|---|---|
9464 | Heritage report on East Rockingham settlement for City of Rockingham, Town of Kwinana and Landcorp. | Heritage Study {Other} | 0 |
3587 | Lealholm, East Rockingham : assessment of significance. | Heritage Study {Other} | 1998 |
11648 | Mead Homestead, Mead Road, Leda | Heritage Study {Cons'n Plan} | 2018 |
Individual Building or Group
Epoch | General | Specific |
---|---|---|
Original Use | FARMING\PASTORAL | Cottage |
Original Use | INDUSTRIAL\MANUFACTURING | Dairy, Butter or Cheese Factory |
Present Use | FARMING\PASTORAL | Homestead |
Original Use | FARMING\PASTORAL | Homestead |
Original Use | FARMING\PASTORAL | Shed or Barn |
Style |
---|
Vernacular |
Type | General | Specific |
---|---|---|
Wall | BRICK | Common Brick |
Wall | STONE | Limestone |
Roof | METAL | Corrugated Iron |
General | Specific |
---|---|
OCCUPATIONS | Grazing, pastoralism & dairying |
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.
Constructed from 1960, Constructed from 1850
Aesthetic Value: The place has aesthetic value as a distinct cultural environment, being an intact collection of vernacular farm buildings of the 19th century within a cleared pasture setting surrounded by native bushland. The close proximity of Lake Cooloongup further enhances the setting of the place. The various landscape features, including the remnant fig trees, mulberry tree, peppermint tree, mature gum trees, the tankstands represent early plantings on the site and combine with the buildings to create pleasing environs. Historic Value: The place is associated with the Mead family, who were pioneers in this State and owned the property for over 130 years, and much of the existing fabric of the building features in the family’s history, for example the three consecutive dwellings, the various working buildings, remnant fig orchards and other specific trees all illustrate aspects of their lives. The place is historically significant as one of the earliest land grants in the area, and combines with other remaining homes such as Key Cottage, Smirk’s Cottage, Paradise Cottage and Pines Cottage to form a precinct that represents the early settlement of the East Rockingham district. Social Value: The place is among a number of significant sites in the area which provide the district with a sense of history and permanence.Mead Homestead has social significance due to interest and support for its retention from the City of Kwinana, the Mead family and members of the local community. The recent occupancy of the place by Horse Power Peel Group has brought more members of the community to the place who have actively sought to preserve and restore it. Level of significance: Exceptional
Lealholm (mead Homestead) comprises an early farming property located south of the East Rockingham Cemetery and east of the railway line, with access via Mead Road, a dirt track that extends east from Mandurah Road. The place includes the early homestead, outbuildings, working buildings and remnant orchard, all set within the setting of cleared pasture. The site also includes a raised mound believed to be the site of the first cottage, a raised pathway between the dairy and homestead, and a number of tree including peppermints, fig trees, a mulberry, and large gum known as ‘the killing tree’. The homestead is built of masonry, the older part made using the local East Rockingham limestone (vuggy lacustrine limestone) with lime mortar, the newer with red brick and a weak cement mortar. The building comprises a main house with a verandah along the rear and south side, and a semi-detached room which was formerly the kitchen. The entire homestead has a timber-framed hipped roof clad with corrugated galvanised iron. External openings in the limestone part of the building are trimmed with red brick quoining. Windows are typically timber-framed side-hung casements, while doors are timber-framed doors with patterned glass inserts. Four outbuildings occupy the yard immediately south of the homestead. A limestone toilet with an adjoining timber-framed laundry and store (clad with fibro) is situated near the former kitchen. An old timber tank stand and lean-to are located just south of the toilet and laundry. West of this are two timber-framed huts clad with fibro and corrugated iron roofs. The barn is a timber-framed structure constructed of vertical bush poles with milled hardwood rafters supporting the corrugated iron roof, which is hipped, with a gable on the south. The external walls are clad with corrugated iron (interior lined with timber boards) and the building comprises one main volume and stables opening out onto yards on the north. The dairy is in a ruinous condition, with no roof and only partial limestone walls remain extant.
The site was first purchased by Henry Mead c.1854. Henry was later joined by his brother, William Mead c.1860s. While Henry’s purchase was finalised in 1857, William himself was not granted title to the land until 1878. The property was named Lealholm after the village in Yorkshire from which the Mead brothers had come, and was used primarily to raise small animals (larger animals were grazed on the commonage on the west side of Mandurah Road until at least the 1960s) and grow vegetables, crops and fruit trees. In 1860, William planted approximately 70 fig trees near where the ruined dairy now stands and along the drive. The first house built on the property was a wattle-and – daub one-roomed dwelling (no longer extant), while the second house, was built using limestone obtained from the property and was believed to have be constructed in time for William’s wife and children to move into, c. 1860. In 1895 a third and larger house was built closer to Mandurah Road, using stone sourced from the swamp land on the other side of the road, between Office and Dixon Roads. A barn and shed were constructed at about the same time as the house, which by this time was occupied by William’s eldest daughter Hannah, and her husband (and first cousin) George Mead and eight children. After George’s death in 1917, his third son Andrew took over the farm, and along with his wife, Muriel (nee Pollard), planted the peppermint tree still standing in the backyard from seed obtained on their honeymoon in Busselton. During the inter-war years, Andrew Mead bought up a substantial amount of East Rockingham land and established a dairy herd at Lealholm, it was also during this time that much of the land was cleared using local men. Following Andrew’s death in 1946, Lealholm was run by his sons Murray and Colin, and it was not long after, in the early 1950s, that the government resumed part of the Mead property for the future suburb of Medina. Despite the deaths of both Murray\ and Colin during this decade, and the cessation of dairying operations forced by the subdivision of the land, the Mead family descendants continued to occupy the property until 1989, when it was finally sold to the government. Following the transfer of the property to the state government the place was occupied by tenants but gradually fell into disuse and then was extensively vandalised and a fire caused siginificant damage. In 2014, the property was leased to Peel Riding for Disabled (HorsePower Peel Group) and grant funds were secured from the State Government for conservation works and rebuilding. These funds have enabled the construction of buildings and groundworks for the group to establish a thriving organisation however no works have been undertaken on the former homestead.
Integrity: Moderate Authenticity: High
Good
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
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Palassis Architects; " Lealholm Assessment of Significance", | Pallasis Architects | 1989 |
Owner | Category |
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Ministry for Planning | State Gov't |
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