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Greetings fellow Foxies,
When I came to Narrogin in 1986, I noticed an interesting abandoned cottage on the Williams-Kulin Road on the curve opposite the road to Macco Feeds with one sheet of the galvanised iron roof missing. I wish I had visited it then, as most of the roof has now gone and weather has attacked the whole structure.
The building is the old Anglican parsonage, and the only building in the abandoned Bannister (Williams) township, that was surveyed in by Augustus Charles Gregory in 1844 as one of two townships selected on the Williams River. It is also the site of the original police barracks to protect the first settler J.R. Phillips. Another townsite called Williamsburgh 30km to the west near Boraning Bridge had been established in 1836 with a military base (10 soldiers?) to protect new settlers.
Bannister is situated below a defensible high point (Kondinning Katta: an outcrop of the Binneringie Dyke that passes through Foxes Lair) at a strategic track crossing. From here one track follows 14 Mile Brook north-west to Mourambine, and another along the Williams River to Kunderning pool and on to Wolwolling Pool.
At this time the existing Williams town site did not exist. That occurred after 1855 when the Albany Highway was constructed by convicts supervised by Lieutenant Crossman
The site was the first religious base in Williams and the home of a notable preacher and church builder Joseph (Holey Joe) Withers, who packed his bags and rode across from Bunbury in 1880.
Down from the parsonage closer to the road, is a plaque that states that it was used by the Reverend Gillett from Mourambine, who replaced Withers in 1889. In 1890 Gillett was replaced by Rev William Marshall who took up residence in Arthur River as it was more central to the far flung parish. The house became a farm homestead before being abandoned.
The house ad been modified and extended, but the original mud-cemented granite stone walls show where erosion has stripped away overlying wallpaper and lime render. It is on private land and not available for viewing without permission.
The plaque also mentions two graves that are at the parking area downslope at the well on the river.
A sad story is associated with the graves. Settler Henry Grainger and his wife had three children on a nearby property. The youngest girl died when her clothes caught fire, and her mother became seriously ill and died two years later. Consider the plight of women in those days. Voluminous petticoats were a real fire risk; cripes they must have been hot stuck in hot little shacks cooking meals and wearing layers of tight fitting clothes. The pong must have been eye watering (men too).
The Google photos album below contains
When I came to Narrogin in 1986, I noticed an interesting abandoned cottage on the Williams-Kulin Road on the curve opposite the road to Macco Feeds with one sheet of the galvanised iron roof missing. I wish I had visited it then, as most of the roof has now gone and weather has attacked the whole structure.
The building is the old Anglican parsonage, and the only building in the abandoned Bannister (Williams) township, that was surveyed in by Augustus Charles Gregory in 1844 as one of two townships selected on the Williams River. It is also the site of the original police barracks to protect the first settler J.R. Phillips. Another townsite called Williamsburgh 30km to the west near Boraning Bridge had been established in 1836 with a military base (10 soldiers?) to protect new settlers.
Bannister is situated below a defensible high point (Kondinning Katta: an outcrop of the Binneringie Dyke that passes through Foxes Lair) at a strategic track crossing. From here one track follows 14 Mile Brook north-west to Mourambine, and another along the Williams River to Kunderning pool and on to Wolwolling Pool.
At this time the existing Williams town site did not exist. That occurred after 1855 when the Albany Highway was constructed by convicts supervised by Lieutenant Crossman
The site was the first religious base in Williams and the home of a notable preacher and church builder Joseph (Holey Joe) Withers, who packed his bags and rode across from Bunbury in 1880.
Down from the parsonage closer to the road, is a plaque that states that it was used by the Reverend Gillett from Mourambine, who replaced Withers in 1889. In 1890 Gillett was replaced by Rev William Marshall who took up residence in Arthur River as it was more central to the far flung parish. The house became a farm homestead before being abandoned.
The house ad been modified and extended, but the original mud-cemented granite stone walls show where erosion has stripped away overlying wallpaper and lime render. It is on private land and not available for viewing without permission.
The plaque also mentions two graves that are at the parking area downslope at the well on the river.
A sad story is associated with the graves. Settler Henry Grainger and his wife had three children on a nearby property. The youngest girl died when her clothes caught fire, and her mother became seriously ill and died two years later. Consider the plight of women in those days. Voluminous petticoats were a real fire risk; cripes they must have been hot stuck in hot little shacks cooking meals and wearing layers of tight fitting clothes. The pong must have been eye watering (men too).
The Google photos album below contains
- two lithographs showing the town site. The earliest (about 1870) shows that adjoining land was in large blocks, mainly grazing leases. By the time of the second (1894) lithograph, locations had been surveyed for Anglican and Catholic churches, but none were built. Note that most large grazing leases had been replaced by numerous small freehold farm and homestead blocks that followed better soils along the rivers.
- Williams shire heritage listing records with much more information.
- Images of the house and surroundings