Hello fellow Foxies,Aldinga is a historic farm that is located in the intersection of the Cuballing, Pingelly, and Wickepin shires. Due to the location, information about the farm and its owners is fragmented.
The property was named by John and Margaret McBurney who travelled across from Aldinga South Australia in 1902. They leased land from a Mr (John?) Snow that may have been Aldinga. Assuming that this property is the present Aldinga farm, they established a house and for a while, a little retail store on the farm and supplied canned food, tobacco and tools of trade to sandalwood cutters, teamsters, roo hunters, surveying teams and Noongars.
In 1905 the Aldinga school was established on a reserve over the road. In 1928 the named was changed to Stratherne school that operated until 1936. Today all that remains is a plaque and a mound with a few jonquilsThe original house has been flattened and a fine new one built that is now also empty. Keith McBurney told me that the present car port covers the old Stratherne telephone exchange that even had a cellar.
The house and shed area has a crumbling splendour with a particularly fine granite stone shed.
For a photo tour of this site see Google Photo images on https://photos.app.goo.gl/qev2q4RMKLiBRgbP6
The property was named by John and Margaret McBurney who travelled across from Aldinga South Australia in 1902. They leased land from a Mr (John?) Snow that may have been Aldinga. Assuming that this property is the present Aldinga farm, they established a house and for a while, a little retail store on the farm and supplied canned food, tobacco and tools of trade to sandalwood cutters, teamsters, roo hunters, surveying teams and Noongars.
In 1905 the Aldinga school was established on a reserve over the road. In 1928 the named was changed to Stratherne school that operated until 1936. Today all that remains is a plaque and a mound with a few jonquilsThe original house has been flattened and a fine new one built that is now also empty. Keith McBurney told me that the present car port covers the old Stratherne telephone exchange that even had a cellar.
The house and shed area has a crumbling splendour with a particularly fine granite stone shed.
For a photo tour of this site see Google Photo images on https://photos.app.goo.gl/qev2q4RMKLiBRgbP6
 School site |  Shed/barn |
John’s son Amos built a separate fine house further east at the base of Woodebulling Hill. An exceptionally good spring in the hill provided an abundant water supply that is evident by the numerous water tanks around the house.
The hill is impressive with some interesting geology for people like me. The granite is fractured and intruded by veins and a huge east-west dolerite dyke that has weathered to a line of fertile red brown loam soil that has been cleared to make a “long” paddock. Springs frequently occur from water flowing through fractured granite being brought to the surface by impervious dolerite. The house was relatively intact until relatively recently, but termites and the wind have reduced it to a shell. Nearby is another picturesque ruin of a shed complex, that indicates that this is was once the site of an earlier farm.
John Forest walked through this area. The survey team would place a survey peg at the camp site at the end of each day. Amos found one and it is being held today by Bill Butler.
For a photo tour of this site see Google Photo images on https://photos.app.goo.gl/kupPuzDZvEWBGVLN6
The hill is impressive with some interesting geology for people like me. The granite is fractured and intruded by veins and a huge east-west dolerite dyke that has weathered to a line of fertile red brown loam soil that has been cleared to make a “long” paddock. Springs frequently occur from water flowing through fractured granite being brought to the surface by impervious dolerite. The house was relatively intact until relatively recently, but termites and the wind have reduced it to a shell. Nearby is another picturesque ruin of a shed complex, that indicates that this is was once the site of an earlier farm.
John Forest walked through this area. The survey team would place a survey peg at the camp site at the end of each day. Amos found one and it is being held today by Bill Butler.
For a photo tour of this site see Google Photo images on https://photos.app.goo.gl/kupPuzDZvEWBGVLN6