Greenough Flats History 1857 to 1867

Constructing Community:

Intensive settlement and freehold sales on the Flats.

Patterns of settlement on the Greenough Flats were driven by the political need to reconcile contesting land uses, with pastoral interests eventually subsumed by the wave of freehold sales and tillage leasing. Hamersley and Co. and other pastoralists were strong players in the market for land on the Front Flats, there were very real opportunities for aspiring landowners to move in. In fact, the speed with which land was bought, the success of early crops, and the emergence of a farming community which needed more land was a real threat to pastoral ascendancy in the region.

1857 The stretched 'spine' of Greenough settlement was determined by the survey of Frank Gregory, who laid out roads and lots along the river banks, as represented by an 1857 map sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. in London, for approval.
1857 Hamersley and Co. bought a series of freehold blocks on the Front Flats before the land sale later this year, exercising pre-emptive rights of purchase. The company focused on three areas - the Bootenal Spring, central Flats and Old Walkaway, probably because they offered access to water. Of these lots, location no. 22 became the site of the Old Walkaway Cottage, location no. 23 the site of Anderson and Harrison Cottages and location no. 66 the site of the Hampton Hotel William Criddle also bought two blocks before the November auction, on one facing Gregory's Road (location no. 60) he built his cottage.
1857 Governor Kennedy closed the Port Gregory Convict Depot. and transferred prisoners and Pensioner Guards to Champion Bay.
1857 Pensioner Guards were offered land in a series of allotments, G 1 G33, near the Bootenal Spring facing Gregory's Road, at North Greenough, though not before alternate sites on the South Flats were suggested. Of these lots, location G3 1, settled by John McNeece, became the site of McNeece's Cottage; location G 14, settled by James Adlam, the site of Corringle Farmhouse; and location G5, settled by James Carson, the site of a Farmhouse ruin and cottage (see map 4). These lots were granted under special provisions for Pensioners but by 1882 all had been converted to freehold titles.
1857 Walter Padbury, a colonial merchant and property owner who had leases on the Irwin from 1852, became a key investor at Greenough. Padbury held several tillage leases on the west side of Company's Road, at the southern end of the Flats, where he planned to build cottages and settle tenant farmers. Padbury called for tenders to supply construction materials, especially timber (including 23, 000 sheoak shingles, 9, 000 ft of weatherboarding and 24, 000 well bricks) for the Flats, indicating the paucity of building materials on the lightly timbered coastal plain. The Padbury leases were later converted to freehold titles, location Nos. 174,443-445, where The Rectory Ruin, Rock's House Ruin and Backshall's House Ruin were later established.
1857 Fredericke W. Waldeck, a Wesleyan who became a prominent figure in Greenough, was granted a tillage lease of 102 acres on the corner of Hamersley and Company's Roads, at the cost of 10 pounds 4 shillings. He took a similar lease on 100 acres on the opposite corner, later converting both these blocks to freehold titles, locations Nos. 76 and 77, which became the sites of Mount Pleasant Farmhouse, where Waldeck developed a fine garden, Gray's Store and the first schoolroom, later the Lodge.
1857 In November, a sale of Greenough blocks, at the upset price of one pound an acre, attracted strong bids from Padbury, George Shenton, Lockier Burges and others.
1857 Burges complained of a dearth of labour in the district and claimed it had hampered agricultural and pastoral development.
1858 Alex Dewar granted a 200 acre tillage lease on Gregory's Road opposite location no. 22 at the southern end of the Flats, which was later converted to freehold title location no. 726, later to become the site of the Greenough Farmer's Club Hall.
1858 With expanding settlement came a concomitant rise in settler/Aborigine conflicts, particularly as higher stock numbers led to increased competition for water resources.
1858 Joseph Green granted title to locations N's. 83, 84 and 85 - sites of Barn Cottage, Stone Barn and former Wesley Church
1858 Lockier Burges granted title to location no. 160, site of Ahearn Cottage on McCartney Road.
1858 G. D. Armstrong granted title to location N's. 156, 158, which became the site of Hackett's Cottage.
1858 James Rudd granted tillage lease for 100 acres, lease no. 1060. The property was on the road between Champion Bay and the Greenough Flats, 6.5 miles from the Champion Bay jetty, and could be the location of the quarry known as Rudd's Gully.
1858 There were 204 ticket-of-leave holders in private service in Champion Bay (which included Greenough at this stage), the second highest tally of any district in the colony. A convict party was sent to the Greenough Road, with the help of two teams supplied by settlers for their transport. They set to work making roads, which were generous - usually about 66 feet wide for driving sheep flocks.
 1858 Central Greenough land was held as freehold property, so tillage leases were granted on the south Flats, between Gregory's and Company Roads. Applicants for these leases included Joseph Ridley, Robert Bell, George Shenton, and Edward Whitfield.
1858 Jimmy Eakins and J. Shoe were granted a tillage lease of 100 acres on Gregory's Road, which later became freehold locations Nos. 288-291. Location no. 288 (later no. 1036) became the site of a Farmhouse Ruin.
1858 Padbury funded Edward Whitfield and partner Robert Sutherland in establishing the first steam-driven mill on the Flats, at Whitfield's 110-acre tillage lease no.1100 granted in this year on Gregory's Road. Whitfield later acquired freehold title to 25 acres of this land upon which the mill, later known as Clinch's Mill, and the substantial house Cliff Grange were built, though the latter was probably erected in Clinch's time. The rest of the original tillage lease became location no. 848, subsequently the site of key Central Greenough buildings, including St. Catherine's Hall, the Road Board Office, St Catherine's Church, Old Gaol and Post Office, Central Greenough State School and the Old Store).
 1859 Thomas Duncan operated a small horse drawn mill for grinding locally grown grain, probably on one of four blocks, N's. 91, 92, 93 and 94. Lot no. 94 became the site of Raphoe Farmhouse
1859 Thomas Walsh was granted freehold title to location no. 293 - 25 acres on Gregory's Road. This property became the site of the Greenough Hotel.
1859 Plans for a bridge over the Greenough at the Hamersley Road crossing were drawn but a stone causeway was built instead. The bridge was eventually built in the 1860s and came to be known as Maley's Bridge.
1859 Five escaped convicts put into Port Grey on January 31 but took to sea when they were discovered by settlers.
1850 's Timber for construction was scarce on the Flats, but the Bootenal 1860s thicket was cut for local use.
1860 A Catholic priest, Father McCabe, was stationed at Central Greenough and raised subscriptions for a church, the original St. Peter's, near Padbury's (Clinch's) flour mill.
1860 The first Anglican minister stationed at Greenough (from 1858), the Revd. George Sadier, was granted freehold title to 165 acres, lot no. 90. Coincidentally this became the site of Bishop Cottage Ruin. There was no Anglican Church on the Flats, but Sadler used old convict tents as a temporary church and school.
1860 Settlers wanted a government school at Greenough, but were hampered by the diffuse nature of settlement. Acting Resident Magistrate Charles Symmons, wrote. . . 'Owing to the scattered population of the Flats, which embrace a distance of some 12 miles, I am induced to believe, that 2 schools will be absolutely necessary'.
1860 However, some settlers, driven by a strong Wesleyan community which valued literacy, erected a building for educational purposes. In 1861 this school was completed near Gray's Store, on land donated by Waldeck, and by 1862 it had 34 pupils, then 43 in 1863. After it closed as a school in 1863, it was used as a meeting hall and literary institute, and is now known as the Lodge Ruin.
1860 There were three mills.- one steam-driven and two horse-driven on the Flats by now. But John Stephen Maley arrived in this year and built a store, blacksmiths and later the district's second steam mill on 50 acres of land owned by George Shenton, lot no. 142, near the Pensioner Village to the north. Built by Edward Willis, Maley's Mill traded as the Victoria Flour Mill and the first silk dressing machinery to be used in the colony was installed in 1872. By 1863 Maley had built a stone cottage on the same block, known as Home Cottage.
1860 The Victoria District (3, 279 acres) lagged behind York (6, 216), Toodyay (4, 754), Swan (3, 702) in tens of total acreage under cultivation. But the land was considered highly productive; its wheat yield of 20 bushels to the acre surpassed only by the Plantagenet (25 bushels to the acre).
1860 Cliff Grange is built by Walter Padbury.
1860 Under pressure for more land to satisfy demand in Greenough, Governor Kennedy resumed 20,000 acres on the Back Flats, which comprised the core of pastoral leases Nos. 61 and 62, held by Hamersley and Co. since 1852. He opened the land for selection, sale and tillage lease. A wave of applications followed, but powerful interests still won out - Hamersley and Co. were granted large holdings under tillage leases. For example, they held lease Nos. 2064 to 2080, totalling 3522 acres by October.
1860 There were 935 people in the Victoria District - 679 men and 256 women - this year. This figure included convicts, and reveals a marked increase over the 1854 statistics, driven in large part by the expansion of settlement on the Greenough.
1861 Edward Whitfield was granted freehold title to lot.no. 159 - 35 acres on the west side of Gregory Road. Surveyed by Charles Evans, this property later became the site of the former Priest's House, St Peter's School, St Peter's Church and former Dominican Convent).
1861/2 Henry Gray traded from his store at the Front Flats, on the west bank of the Greenough River. Settlement on this side of the river, strung out toward the south, acquired an identity marked by the Wesleyan influence of Waldeck and Gray. The Rev. Samuel Hardey preached in Waldeck's and then Gray's house. He wrote. . . 'To this locality Methodism has transplanted many of its sons and daughters and they are exerting themselves to meet the circumstances of their religious destitution'. Gray's Store was later used as a dwelling, then sat empty for 40 years in the next century.
1861 Revd. George Sadler resigned his chaplaincy at Greenough after residents complained of his performance to Bishop Hale.
1862 Early consolidation of settlement led to visits from leading members of the colony. Bishop Hale visited and conducted a service in a building used as an early court house, while Governor Hampton and his son George attended a choral concert held at the school.
1862 Agricultural techniques were relatively primitive, with little use of sophisticated ploughs. Reaping machines were used, but much harvesting was done by hand and the grain threshed with a flail.
1862 Purchases of freehold title and applications for tillage leases continued, specially on the Back Flats, as a new wave of settlement occurred following initial agricultural success.
1862 Francis Watson Pearson granted freehold title to 60 acres, lot no. 78, after leaving his job at the Geraldine mine on the Murchison.
1862 The Front Flats were flooded by heavy rains and half the barley crop ruined in a hailstorm. Two men, H. Dunderdale and H. Young, were killed trying to cross the flooded Greenough River. The flooding prompted settlers to ask for permission to dig ditches along roadways to help drain floodwaters.
1862 Resumed land on the Front and Back Flats not taken up by purchase or tillage lease was reserved as commonage for residents to pasture cattle, subject to further offers of selection.
1862 The Victorian Agricultural and District Society was established.
1863 Fire ripped through 300 acres in the Pensioner Village near Criddle's Cottage and spread to the Bootenal thicket.
1863 Settlers petitioned the Governor for more public works in Greenough, citing the lack of a reliable road to Champion Bay.
1863 Police stationed permanently at Central Greenough for the first time.
1864 Francis Watson Pearson was granted a public house licence and officially opened the Hampton Arms Hotel, the first on the Flats, on the west bank at South Greenough. The hotel became a focal point for settlers, especially those on ocean-side properties often cut off by floods. Inns like the Hampton held balls and dances, and hosted sporting fixtures, such as cricket, football and ploughing matches. By the 1880s, horse racing was held at a racecourse south of the hotel on Company's Road.
1864 John Mills donated land for a Gothic style Wesleyan chapel (Wesley Church), opposite Gray's Store and the building was completed in 1870.
1864 Convict labour commenced building Maley's Bridge over the Greenough, at Hamersley Road, but by the end of 1865 the bridge was still unfinished because settlers were unwilling to cart timber. It was completed the following year.
1865 The Victoria District, driven largely by agricultural development at Greenough, became the most extensive grain producing region in the colony, with a total of 10, 203 acres under cultivation. The next most cultivated region, Toodyay, had 7, 283 acres cropped.
1865 The Central Greenough State School was built by William Triga on location no. 848 facing Gregory's Road, as the river was a barrier to use of the existing school building near Gray's Store. By the end of the year, the new school had 20 pupils.
1865 Father A. Lecaille replaced the original Roman Catholic priest, Father McCabe. McCabe had overseen construction of a stone church to roof level and Lecaille ensured the completion of this building, the original St. Peter's. Lecaille, a Belgian, added a leanto at the side to serve as his quarters. A bell was erected at this church, then moved to the second St. Peter's on Stony Hill, Central Greenough. . . 'The bell played a big part in the lives of the people. The six o'clock Angelus was my call to get up each morning'. It was, therefore, an important aural marker of community.
1865 There was a scarcity of cash money, gold and silver coin, at Greenough and settlers used a highly developed barter economy, with promissory notes drawn on local storekeepers such as Gray and Maley. The system enhanced links between storekeepers and neighbourhood farmers - the stores became places not simply of sale, but of payment also.
1866 Maitland Brown, son of early pastoralist Thomas Brown, was appointed first Resident Magistrate at Greenough. Previously, the district was served by the Champion Bay magistrate; the appointment of Brown suggested a recognition of Greenough's relative importance. At the same time, visitor Henry Taunton described Greenough . . . 'For miles, as far as the eye could reach, extended one vast sea of growing wheat bounded only by the coast range of broken hills to the eastward.
1866 Greenough court proceedings took place in Donahues' Barn.
1866 Convict parties worked on roads in the Greenough area and 108 probationers were on public works in the Victoria District.
1866 Padbury's steam mill on Gregory's Road and 195 acres of land, 100 acres under crop - offered for sale. The buildings included a large stone house with roof of sawn mahogany and shingles, a detached kitchen and stables of stone, and the mill of stone and sawn mahogany. The mill had three floors and could store 25, 000 bushels of grain. However, there was no buyer and Thomas Clinch took over its management in 1868/9 buying it from Padbury over ten years. Clinch renovated the stone mill, cleared and fenced land and built extra rooms on his house.
1867 Families in South Greenough asked for a school as their children were 4-12 miles from the Central Greenough State School. The Board of Education appointed a teacher and asked settlers to provide a room for a temporary school. This year the Central Greenough School had 18 pupils and the South Greenough School 26.
1867 There were calls for more police to be stationed at Greenough indicating a sustained growth in population. Only three men were at Greenough at this time, with an officer in charge.
1867 The Victoria Agricultural and District Society published a report in the Inquirer referring to the excellent results in farming and mining.

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