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GLENORCHY COTTAGES

28/3/2021

 
Greetings fellow Foxies,
I recently visited a couple of ruined dwellings on a farm south-west of Williams that has an interesting history. Both are on private property.
​Cameron Spragg kindly provided access to the information below.
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In 1902 after mining and prospecting in the goldfields, John and Edwin isbister decided to become farmers. using a litho in the Lands & Surveys Department in Perth they selected a block of 4,200 acres of virgin bush between Williams and Narrogin . The new block was named “Glenorkney” in memory of their island home, however the registrar misspelled it as ‘Glenorchy” and so it remained.
In company with the surveyor, they left Narrogin heading west for twelve miles along a bush track (now the Williams-Narrogin road), at which point they turned south - blazing the bark on the marri and wandoo trees as they went in order to find their way on the return journey.  After three miles they arrived to see a few survey lines, some pegs and a dense forest of trees and almost impenetrable scrub.
Finalising the land purchase they returned to Kalgoorlie and railed a wagon, cart, tools, etc to Narrogin, where Jack James a cartage contractor took part in the movement to the selection - later he was to become a close family friend and carted the furniture to the first house built in 1903/4 for Edwin and his wife, Henrietta. Only the base of this house remains.
On the day of their arrival they pitched their tents and that evening they selected a large green tree around which they piled bushes and sticks and set them alight.  That night they had very little sleep because of the dingoes howling, probably disturbed or attracted by the fire.  Next morning they expected to see the tree burnt down, its trunk was blackened but otherwise it was unscarred.  Disappointed, Edwin said that he would at least get one down to mark their arrival, and taking a grubber and axe and after a half-day’s work felled the first tree.  Little did they realise the hard work that lay ahead to clear the land.
 This marked the beginning of more than 30 years of back-breaking work on land that was difficult to clear.  For some years after clearing, suckers came from green tree roots still in the ground, and as these were from large trees the new shoots grew very rapidly and had to be knocked off with an axe.  Poison was a similar problem which, after grubbing, suckered from the roots, or when grass was burnt the hard seed would germinate for up for to 20 years later.  During the first 20 years they carried out almost all improvements with their own hands, clearing, sucker bashing, poison grubbing, well sinking, fencing, and invariably they would arrive home after dark in the evening weary and often wet, to be out again the next morning shortly after sunrise.  The first sheds were built from bush timber and roofed with straw and brushwood, the horses’ mangers were fashioned from hollow wandoo logs.  After a few years they were able to run a small flock of sheep which were often harassed by dingoes.  At night the sheep were yarded and if a wild dog was known to be in the area a watch was kept.  One night John walked home and changed watch with Edwin, and during that short period a dingo entered the yard and mauled several sheep.
 Chudichs, or native cats as they were called, attacked the poultry at night and continued to return and kill until they were caught.  One night the dog treed a cat in an old sheoak so Edwin lit a fire underneath and shot it. Torches had not been invented at that time.
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 Early memories of the uncleared land on Glenorchy and of the Government reserve on the South East side of the farm (Borgey Block) were of the natural unspoiled native bushland. 
The native bushland teemed with birdlife and provided shelter and food for kangaroos, brush wallabies, tamars, numbats and possums. In the timbered country the numbats or “ant-eaters” as they were called, could be seen running about or sitting on top of hollow logs into which they would dive at the first sign of danger.
 A colony of tamar wallabies lived in tunnels under the bushes in a large thicket of dyrandra scrub on Borgey Block.  
 During the first few years there were hundreds of small marsupials known as kangaroo rats, (burrowing bettongs) which lived in warrens like rabbits.  After a few years they appeared to contract a disease and disappeared quite suddenly.
During the summer, the small creeks were dry except for a few odd pools, but in winter they ran with fresh water in which there were small fish and gilgies.  As the creeks dried up the gilgies burrowed into the sides and remained until the next winter, the fish would reappear with the following winter rains.  As there were no foxes, the black duck and teal nested on the banks in rushes or on other debris although they still had their natural predators, “native cats”, hawks and crows.
 
In a creek running through the North East of the property there was a large water hole around which were remnants of an old fence about eight feet high. In earlier days it had been used to catch brumbies when they came to water.
 
When clearing the land for cultivation and pasture, apart from leaving the rough hills uncleared, the Isbister Brothers had left beautiful bands of eucalyptus along the water courses to prevent erosion and provide shelter for livestock.  Many years later, as a result of salt encroachment, most of the trees died and those that survived lost their bloom.  The pools that watered stock in the early summer are no longer suitable for animals to drink.

 Their first implements were a single furrow plough and harrows that were made from a forked tree with spiked pieces of wood driven through holes.  For the first crops, seed and fertiliser were sown from a bag hung from the neck and scattered by hand.  As time went by they acquired horses, a three-furrow mouldboard plough, a twelve-run hoe drill, a five foot McKay harvester, a six-foot Deering binder and a chaff-cutter.
In 1916 they purchased a T-model Ford (WL.14) and in 1919 a Wolseley three-stand shearing plant, which was one of the first in the district.
Edwin organised the cropping and machinery maintenance and teamwork, while John concentrated on livestock husbandry and teamwork. 
The first cereal crop was grown on an area known as the Well Paddock, so named as it contained the well that they had dug for their first permanent water.  The crop was a complete failure, new land, unsuitable fertiliser (probably basic slag), a very wet winter, kangaroos, bettongs and birds all contributed to its destruction.  It was not until the mid1930s that the benefits of superphosphate and subterranean clover increased crop yields from 9 to 15 bushels an acre to 40 to 60 bushels an acre.
As the clearing of the property progressed, paddocks were named after the people who had cleared them, such as Fitz’s Gully, Reid Paddock, Bird Paddock and Clegg Paddock.
In those very early days life on the farm at Williams was hard - no recreation and very little money.  The soils of Glenorchy were poor, giving low yields, and with uneconomic prices for produce, it meant a struggle to survive, which provided no time for public, sporting or social activities, although Edwin was an active member of the Masonic Lodge and in earlier days John was a member of the Williams Road Board or the Narrogin Road Board. John was a lover of nature and planted several avenues of trees on Glenorchy.

Narrogin became their main shopping and business centre as Williams did not have a bank or rail service at that time.  A block of land was held in Narrogin to provide shelter and to feed and water the horses.  Annually one or two wagon loads of wheat made the 16-mile journey to the Great Southern Roller Flour Mill at Narrogin where it was exchanged for flour, bran, pollard and semolina - less a portion of the load to cover the cost of gristing.  Most of the food for the families was produced on the property as each homestead had its own fruit trees and grape vines which provided fresh fruit during the summer months and the surplus was made into preserves, jams and chutneys.  Today almost all the orchards in the district have disappeared or are neglected due to the raids on the fruit by the increased numbers of Port Lincoln and Regent parrots.  During the winter vegetables were grown, but not in summer as no piped water was available.  Due to the lack of green vegetables in summer, it was not uncommon for people to develop sores, known as Barcoo, mostly on the back of the hands.  However, in a patch of damp sand many varieties of pumpkins, water melons and rock melons were grown successfully.

About 1922, the first rabbit was found on the property - a dead one.  John Isbister remarked, “they will never live here, there are too many poisonous bushes in the uncleared country.” Ten years afterwards they were in the district in thousands and a few years later the foxes arrived.  This was a disaster for the native wildlife.  Although originally the foxes’ main food source was the rabbit, they also ate the eggs and young of ducks, ground larks, plovers, curlews, quails, bustards (the latter they would catch before they could take off in flight) and as rabbits became scarce they killed and ate joey kangaroos, young brush wallabies, tamars, numbats, possums, lizards, frogs, as well as the farmers lambs and poultry. Many of the rough hills that were left for shelter became devoid of native wildlife except the tree nesting birds.  Feral cats were rarely seen at the time.

In 1932 Edwin bought out John’s half interest in “Glenorchy” and continued to farm the whole property.  In 1934 John bought “Homewood”, the property of J.A. Roberts at Moora, and moved with his family to that centre.
Edwin continued farming on Glenorchy until his death in 1940, and his wife Henrietta then passed in 1943. Both buried in the Narrogin Cemetery.
His obituary in the Narrogin Observer is a good example of values at this time. "He was particularly welcome because of his many outstanding qualities and genial disposition. In every sense of the word he was a gentleman of the type which does so much to keep alive the best characteristics of the British race."

Daughter Jessie Smith (née Isbister) was then the sole owner of Glenorchy of which was leased out up until 1957 where her daughter , Maxine and her husband Edwin (Ted) Spragg took over the property .
Jessie passed away in Nedlands in August, 1989.
Ted & Maxine Spragg and son Ian ran Glenorchy until it was sold at Auction in November 1997.
Additional land was purchased over the journey, holdings known as the “Clegg “ paddocks - eastern side of the property and a further 1200 acres known as “ Stockers” , SW side of the property .
600 acres also purchased, known as “Moore’s “north side of Glenorchy made up the total of 5,400 acres  on a total of 36 locations . 
 Ted Spragg  was a well respected farmer, and long serving councillor at the Williams shire. He was an elected member of the Shire from 1969 to 1990 and President from 1972 to 1987.  

This link contains an account of early history of the WA branch of the Isbister family. 
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​I was shown two abandoned houses.
The first house  was the Stocker family home, which was later used by the local pony club. Like many early houses it has a higgly piggly design, probably due to additions as more children arrived in the family.
The centre of the house is a single room with rammed earth walls on a local granite foundation. The wooden board formwork for the walls can still be seen on one side. This may have been the original cottage The rest of the house is constructed of sawn beams clad with corrugated iron and jarrah slats for the ceiling. The house must have been searingly hot in summer days, but cooling down quickly in the evening, and freezing in winter. Judging by the refrigerator the house was occupied until the 1950s-1960’s. Of particular interest is a ceiling mounted gas or kerosene light. 
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A couple of vehicle shells remain further downslope; an FX Holden and half a truck. The truck is a Thames Trader. These were manufactured by the British arm of the Ford Motor Company between 1957 and 1965.

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​A block that Ted Spragg bought from George Moore has an old  house with walls of granite blocks and mud mortar. The beautiful and precise construction indicates it had been built by a professional builder in the early 1900s. The intact galvanised iron roof erected when the house was converted to a shearing shed has protected the mud mortar from weather damage.

​                 For a visual tour of these houses, click this Google photos link

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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

 
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 school
​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 Reserve from Beverley 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.
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John Ugle's house?
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Bedroom
August 2022
I had dismissed the nature value of Geeralying reserve because it has been very disturbed and weedy, but was amazed to find a patch of orchids near the parking bay. I discovered the (uncommon) blood spider orchid and cowslip, jug, snail and dark banded greenhood orchids.
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​For a visual exploration of the reserve and house see this   Google Photo album
 
Click individual images for information
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LAWES/BAIN FARM DONGOLOCKING

26/12/2018

 
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

HANSEN DAIRY NARROGIN

17/12/2018

 
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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BROADLEY HOUSE QUINNS POOL TARWONGA

29/11/2018

 
​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

 
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

Marramucking Well

14/11/2018

 
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

 
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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