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COWCHER SHEARING SHED

28/1/2019

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Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
This is a large historic shearing shed on the farm that adjoins Geeralying Reserve. It was established by Stanyford Cowcher a grazier who shepherded sheep between Pinjarra and Williams, and established a homestead farm north of Geeralying spring in 1893.

The shearing shed was built between 1900 and 1920. Initially a 4 stand shed, it was expanded to 6 then 10 stands as the Cowcher farm increased.
A stand refers to a shearing platform where the shearer stood as he pulled a sheep from a holding pen in front of him, sheared it  (initially with a blade), then pushed it out down a ramp behind him. When mechanical shearing was introduced each handpiece used by a shearer was powered by an overhead drive axle, which was driven by an engine outside. Today each handpiece is driven by an electric motor.
 
​A 10 stand shed is very large.
Apparently at the rear of the shed there were once stables with a long watering trough, which were destroyed in a storm, and the shed was partially rebuilt.
More modern shearing sheds have the shed holding pens and shearing stand raised above the ground to allow easier sheep movement and dung and urine to fall through the slatted floor. This shed is all on ground level (harder work).
Noongar shearers were common in the early/mid twentieth century, and there were many Noongar families camped in Geeralying Reserve (see this blog).
An elderly Narrogin resident recalled an incident in Narrogin Primary School, when the children were asked where they were born. Most said Vailema Maternity Hospital (in east Narrogin), until a Noongar boy piped up “Cowcher shearing shed at shearing time”
The shed is on private land and is not available to the public without consent

​For a visual exploration of the shed see this   Google Photo album 
Click individual images for information
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GEERALYING RESERVE NARROGIN

13/1/2019

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PictureGreen=reserve, pale green former reserve, yellow Cowcher home block
​Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
Geeralying Reserve is a patch of sheoak wandoo woodland that once surrounded Gearlin/Geeralying Spring. The spring was an important permanent water supply which, with Kunderning Pool to the south and Kondenning Pool at Bannister to the west was an essential water supply along travel routes for the Noongar people, then sandalwood cutters, shepherds and early settlers.
Stanyford Cowcher a grazier who shepherded sheep between Pinjarra and Williams, established a homestead farm north of the spring in 1893.
In 1897, William Lefevre Graham, selected a property on the south east side of the reserve.
In 1906 the Narrogin-Williams railway was built with a siding on the south side of the reserve. Unfortunately for the Graham family, the railway passed right through the home orchard and they decided to move house further south.

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​Other farmers established farms in the area and a one-teacher school was built on the Graham property adjoining Manaring Road in 1916. The school was ‘the canvas, sliding shutter type, airy in summer and more airy in winter’ (The Way Through p287). Contrast that with what we have now!
A hall and a tennis court were also built on the reserve but nothing remains of all three except a few plaques.
Over the years, Stanyford’s son Thomas (Tom) Spurling Cowcher, bought out adjoining farms, and part of the reserve east of Cowcher Road.

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Geeralying schol
​There was a significant Aboriginal population in the reserve until changes initiated by the 1967 referendum that gave the Commonwealth government sole powers for Aboriginal-related legislation. Wendy Mcdonald,( a Cowcher before marriage) recalls numerous families living in humpys on the reserve.
According to Stuart Graham, the Ugle family group moved to Geeralying in1922 to work as shearers and farm workers.
A small fenced area to the north/north-west of the bush is all that remains of an aboriginal cemetery. Apparently the cemetery contains numerous still-born and young babies, two ‘Feather Feet’ (these were aboriginal spirit men/witchdoctors who did not belong to any clan), and Lyla Ugle.
 
Two vacant asbestos houses on reserve land adjoining Tom Cowcher’s house were apparently built by Tom for aboriginal shearers. I think that the one that contains evidence of relatively recent occupation was the home of John and Lyla Ugle. When Lyla died, John was granted permission to have her buried in the cemetery plot opposite his house so he could see her grave when he got up each morning. He was the last occupant of the reserve to my knowledge. Other inhabitants include Neddy Isaacs and Shirley Hume.
 
For a visual exploration of the reserve and house see this   Google Photo album
 
Click individual images for information
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John Ugle's house?
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Bedroom
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LAWES/BAIN FARM DONGOLOCKING

26/12/2018

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Greetings fellow Foxies,
Recently my friend Don Thomson took me to ruins on a farm that he had bought some years ago at Dongolocking.
The old mud brick house belonged to Bob Lawes. Don recalled the time when it was intact and Mrs Lawes had an extensive garden. Only walls remain with a couple of huge prickly pears and fruit trees in the garden. The large mud bricks were beautifully made. It is so sad that they are melting away.

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north eastern part of house
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Old copper stand in laundry
East of the house is a ruined 2 stand shearing shed with a bush timber frame
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Shearing shed
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Sheep yards
The daughter and son in law moved into a newer house further up the hill. Like most farm houses of the time it has extensions built on to a fine cemented granite core. The granite house is fascinating inside
In the 1960’s the Lawes family sold out and faded from local history.
New owners were the Bain brothers (Phil, John and Ian) who had a home with their mum further south. Phil was the Dumbleyung shire clerk before farming with his brothers. According to Don, they were very good neighbours, who were very thrifty (nothing was wasted). They built a prefabricated house near the granite one that was used as a metal workshop.
The granite house is fascinating inside
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Curious features of the Bain brothers is that they were all lifelong bachelors, and all died at the age of 72.
I could find few references to them in local history books. Their estate (four blocks of land – about five million dollars was left to the Dumbleyung shire and the Dumbleyung Mens Shed. I guess there are plaques around Dumbleyung installed by grateful recipients.
 
For a visual exploration of the houses and shearing shed see this   Google Photo album
Click individual images for information
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HANSEN DAIRY NARROGIN

17/12/2018

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PictureGrantleigh Dairy milk cart
Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
I was recently shown ruins of the Hansen dairy that is close to Clayton road near Narrogin. I was told that this was the second Narrogin dairy. The original was Grantleigh Dairy operated by Edward Wiese on Quarry Road.
​I was lucky enough to talk Hans Hansen’s last surviving daughter Edith, who related a tale of a remarkable and well-loved man. There is a great book to be written on this family, but here are a few snippets.

Hans originally migrated out from Denmark to rescue his sister who was married to an abusive Norwegian drunkard, and took up a farming block near Jilakin rock with 3 other Danes. He was a member of the Narrogin 10th Light Horse, and with two of his colleagues volunteered for military service at the outbreak of the World War 1. They were rejected because “Danes like Germans too much” (untrue), but were called up after the Gallipoli disaster. (Amazing the change mass casualties can make). Hans met his future wife Isabell at the Blackboy Hill training camp at Northam.
Edith has his wartime diary, and here is his military record . He fought on the Western Front.
After the war he and now-wife Isabell, briefly farmed the Pustkuchen ‘Sylvania’ farm before buying the 400 ha ‘Lawndale’ farm from early settler John Edward Clayton. The onset of the Great Depression and the rabbit plague (Edith remembers skinning and gutting wild rabbits), forced Hans to find more income. Initially he worked on the Dryandra mallet plantations and started a dairy that became his main occupation.
Hans and Edith had 6 daughters and a son, but only the central core of their house, consisting of two fine brick built rooms remain. Other structures included parents’ bedroom, dining room, kitchen, front and back verandahs, and 2 adjoining buildings, of which one was used for cooling and separating the milk.
Isabell died of a stroke when Edith was 11, and the two eldest daughters had to stay home from school for a while to look after the rest of the children.
 ​Cows were originally milked in a  long gone shed near a line of ancient Cape Lilac trees by the creek before the existing dairy was built. You can still see remains of the feeding trough in the second building’s milking room. Cream was separated from the milk, and placed into containers in water to cool overnight before delivery. No pasteurisation in those days, but as Hans and children lived to their nineties, it was clearly good stuff.
His day started at 3am for house to house delivery in Narrogin by 6am. He was frequently found asleep while doing the accounts in the afternoon.
He eventually retired to Narrogin and died at the age of 93.  Hans and Isabell’s gravestones are in the Narrogin cemetary.
For a visual exploration of the house and dairy see this   Google Photo album
Click individual images for information

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House
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BROADLEY HOUSE QUINNS POOL TARWONGA

29/11/2018

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​Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
I found this house on a property adjoining Quinns Pool near Tarwonga.
The pool was named after Michael Quinn, one of the pioneering pastoralists in the district. Michael took up several grazing leases in the Williams east district that may have been up to 40,000 hectares. His sheep were looked after by Noongar shepherds who moved around with the sheep, and largely lived off the land. By purchasing small homestead leases at vital waterholes, pastoralists delayed the release of land for farmers to establish farms.
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​Michael Quinn was an important Williams identity, but transferred his grazing further south as farming increased in the district. He lost a well-documented dispute with George Dyson who obtained a tillage lease at Kunderning Pool that denied Quinn’s sheep access to the pool.
Quinn moved south to an 8,000 hectare grazing lease between Wolwolling and Ballagin Pools. Quinn’s pool further west would have been an important staging point for moving his sheep and horses to market.
Over time the land was surveyed into farming blocks by the state government and sold for farming.

This house is later than the original on this World War 1 soldier settlement property that was allocated to Douglas Broadley. A search of the AIF Project website revealed that he was a reinforcement in the 15th Light Horse Field Regiment who was overseas from 30/6/1917 to 26/7/1919. His brother George was a private in the 12th Field Artillery Brigade who died of wounds on 23/3/1918.
Like most soldier settlement blocks, this property would have been too small to be viable. Douglas most likely sold out to a neighbour and disappeared from local history.
The asbestos house is a health hazard today today, but was a comfortable home at the time in a nice location.
On the eastern side of the property is the wonderfully diverse and wildflower-rich Quinns Block reserve that will be described in a Foxypress.
 
For a visual exploration of the place see this Google Photo album

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JENSEN FARM WEDIN

21/11/2018

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​Greetings fellow Foxies,
                                    
This fascinating glimpse into the past near Wedin siding was part of a 600 or 700 acre new land property belonging to Jens Peter Jensen who was born into a farming/fishing family in Vaby by Steze on the island of Moen, Denmark. Unfortunately he suffered from seasickness and immigrated to Western Australia for a new life in 1905.
In 1908, he took up a farm in Dorakin, married Dorothy Roberts in 1914 and they brought up six children.
After Dorothy’s death, Peter married Elsie May Richardson in 1947. They lived in the Toolibin school house and bought new land and they bought new land at Tincurrin and Wedin. They were real workers and Peter was ‘honest to a fault’.
According to my friend Don Thomson, they sold the block in about 1970 to Dick Fox. With his wife and two children Dick lived in the shack with adjoining caravan. I was lucky to get a shot of the caravan in 2011 as it has now gone. Dick was a very thrifty person and Don related a tale of how he had to lift and cart bags of superphosphate for old Dick from the siding each year (did Don good!).
The place became vacant when Dick sold out in the 1990’s.
 
The shearing shed is a fascinating mixture with railway sleeper sides, bush timber, and galvanised iron.
There is a great machinery graveyard of plant that would give Worksafe nightmares, including an engine head that has become embedded in the trunk of an ancient York gum.
 
Reference: Page 147 Harrismith Tincurrin by Bob and Mary Taylor (2000) ISBN 0646385305
 
For a visual exploration of the place see this Google Photo album

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Wickepin Old Town Dam

14/11/2018

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Greeting Fellow Foxies,
In March 2017 Adventuregal Seon and Daddybones Doug decided to test designer wear bush gear in an expedition to the old Wickepin town dam. To get to the dam, drive about 4km south of Wickepin, turn right on to Brooks Road then right at the gravel pit that has been converted to a roaded catchment (see old dam sign). Go down an unformed track at the right (east) of the catchment that leads down to the dam.
I could find little information about the dam, but it would have been constructed early last century to supply water to steam trains, and possibly as a water supply for Wickepin. Until recently it has filled rarely.
This spot is mainly of historical interest as wildflower areas are pretty weedy, but is worth a visit for a picnic and a ramble.
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Red line with blue arrows show catchment banks
The dam was dry on our visit, but completely filled within a fortnight and I suspect will become a good yabbie spot for the locals for quite a while. 
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Empty dam
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Dam full
The catchment for the dam is quite impressive as there is a long and winding bank with carefully fashioned and placed lines of granite slabs that catch water from the granite outcrops on the adjoining ridge.
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Granite slab wall
Some people spent a lot of time doing this! The inlet to the dam is also carefully lined by rocks, apparently by World War Two Italian prisoners of war.
Some abandoned cars and cubbies attest to an interest in the reserve by local youth.
Several tracks lead further into the reserve from the dam but they don’t lead to any road
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stone-lined inlet channel
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old cubby
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Marramucking Well

14/11/2018

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Marramucking well can be found about 30km from Narrogin, 5km north of the intersection of Marramucking Road and Boundain North Road. It is worth visiting as part of a loop with Yilliminning townsite and Yilliminning Rock that is described in another Foxypress. The meaning of the name is lost but it was one of an east/south east line of important watering places for aborigines, early settlers and sandalwood cutters.
An aerial view shows the reason for the well’s location.
Rocks on either side of the well are granite that has weathered to sandy surfaced soils. In the image below you can see a raised line passing below the well that represents a ‘dolerite dyke’. This dark rock is a part of the Binneringie dyke suite that goes from Quindanning to Coolgardie and includes the southern rocky red soil ridge in Foxes Lair.
O.E. Pustkuchen, author of ‘The Way through; The Story of Narrogin’ writes of playing in sticky red clay below the Marramucking Well. This red clay, formed from dolerite acts as an underground wall that interrupts groundwater passing down the sandy slope, and forces it to the surface as seepage. The water goes down again after crossing the dyke back to granite. This is a very common cause of seepages, wells and lakes in the district that were once fresh but are now generally saline.
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Well is where dolerite dyke crosses the road. Note red clay road section
There is a concrete picnic table and the Historical Society renovated the area many years ago, but the style placed for crossing the fence has rotted away.
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The well a standpipe and the remains of a water trough can still be seen with the ubiquitous pepper tree.
Have you ever noticed that these trees occur on a great many historical sites in the wheatbelt to the goldfields?
With or without a commemorative stone they are the only trace of many schools, houses and sheds from a time when most WA inhabitants lived in the country (a pox on big cities!).
I thought that Schinus molle was called the Japanese pepper, but it is actually the Peruvian pepper, an amazingly drought tolerant tree from the Andes. So shady and soft, it is apparently listed as an aggressive weed, but I haven’t noticed them seed or sucker.
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Schinus molle Peruvian Pepper
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Old well and trough
Fruit and almond trees are also seen around old homesteads as many farmers at the turn of the century had orchards to supplement their income, with some fruit being exported to England.
Further to the north is a heap that is all that remains of a mud-bat house that had a single divided room with a narrow addition on each end.
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Rocky Springs Residence Williams

11/11/2018

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Greetings fellow Foxies
​I was recently given permission to photograph this lovely old house just west of Williams. Situated on fertile soil by the Williams River, it is on one of the earliest farms that was initially allocated to J. McDermott in 1866.
Judging by the interior and brickwork, I think that this house was built in the 1920’s as a 2 room place with an extra brick room added later. No doubt as the family enlarged or became more prosperous, an asbestos addition containing bathroom, toilet, and extra bedroom was added. Unfortunately after it became vacant, thieves stripped a lot of the interior, but enough remains to give an insight of life in those times. Like many vacant dwellings, it is surrounded by fascinating vehicles and pieces of machinery from the early days. Worksafe would have had a coronary if it was in existence then.
It is on private land and is not available to the public.
If you see someone wandering around the house, it is probably me searching for car keys that I lost in knee deep pasture in October.
 
See the images on this Google Photo album
​photos.app.goo.gl/g5P9dRfEocMjNtYR7
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Minabbie 5 Farmhouses

1/11/2018

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​Greetings fellow Foxies,
                                    
‘Minabbie’ was the name of the farm occupied by William Lefevre Graham and his descendants. William was a noted local farmer whose farming fortunes waxed and waned. His original block adjacent to Geeralying reserve contained the Geeralying School. According to his grandson Stuart, the Narrogin-Collie railway line was built through the orchard next to the house prompting William to rebuild further south.
The image below shows William’s permanent Noongar farm worker Ben and his diminutive wife (about 4 ft 6 inches tall) at the first Minabbie with William and Stanyford Cowcher in the background. At this time and earlier, Noongar workers were highly valued by settlers.
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 Extensive public activities took a toll on Williams’s farm income and he shifted homes three more times in the Geeralying area (including Rocky Crossing). His extensive farm holdings were so heavily mortgaged that they were sold after his death. His son Leo purchased a part of the farm that is the present ‘Minabbie’.
This edition shows two ruined Graham houses on the Narrogin property.
A standing clapboard and iron house built in 1927 was closer to the road, before being shifted to its present location and refurbished for Noongar shearers before becoming vacant. The first shearers were Ugles, then Eric Krakouer.
The interior is a living history of graffiti that I hope is preserved. No doubt some locals would recognise their work.
In 1945 Leo Graham had a house transported from Bullfinch and reassembled on its present site. Bullfinch is a deserted spot North West of Southern Cross that was once a thriving town associated with a gold mine. When the mine closed, Bullfinch houses were relocated to many areas in the agricultural area.
I also found the cow shed. Apparently, Leo was putting the cow in the shed when he was nearly struck by lightning. He eventually found his way back home dazed and glowing, and took several days to recover.
 
The Google Photo album shows the remains of both houses.
See the images on
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pcfeBTGKJLHiMt9F9
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1945 house ruin
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1927 house
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