Under Construction

1880 By this year the southern Back Flats school had closed, yet the other five schools in the Greenough District had a healthy total of 111 pupils, 73 of whom were on the Front Flats. Miss Duncan was listed as the teacher at Greenough Central State School. In addition there were three provisional schools supported by the Government at Rudd's Gully, the South Flats and Greenough South.

1880 The run of mediocre years for agriculturists began to take its toll and was reflected in a drop in acreage under cultivation. A total of 12,125 acres were under crop, but this was exceeded by York, with 14, 903 1/4 acres and nearly matched by Toodyay with 12, 103 3/4 acres. Significantly, 1, 292 acres were left fallow at Greenough.

1880 Commercial travellers visited the Flats, selling, a range of wares, in particular farming implements.

1880 Isabella Duncan built Rose Cottage at the north end of the farm, west of Company Road.

1880 's Messengers from the Post Office at Central Greenough carried mail to Bookara in the south and Cream's, a property at North Bootenal.

1880 's There was a range of societies on the Flats - the Young Men's Society met fortnightly in 1888, while the Farmer's Club ran agricultural show days.

1881 Population of the area continued to increase, with a total of 1,768 people in Greenough & lrwin this year. As the community consolidated, the disparity in numbers of males and females began to fade. Yet occupations of the residents were almost exclusively within agricultural and pastoral industries.

1881 Land around the Bootenal not yet taken up was reserved for use by Pensioners living in the district, under the management of the Greenough Commonage Board.

1881 A ploughing competition held on the Front Flats, organised by James Wilton, drew spectators from all over the district.

1883 Maley's Golden Sheaf Hotel was built at North Greenough, and traded till 1904 Maley had been granted a gallon licence in 1869 but had to wait till 1884 for a publican's licence.

1885 The contract for construction of the Geraldton to Walkaway Railway was let to Edward Keane for 34, 000 pounds. The line was routed through the Back Flats to Walkaway and opened on June 21, 1887. In 1894 the Midland Railway Company line reached Walkaway. Railway services revolutionised communications and cartage, and while Greenough's isolation was lessened, local sellers and businesses now had to compete with centrally located operations.

1885 The total area under crop was declining, by this year 1 1, 329 1/2 acres were under cultivation, and the district had been eclipsed by Toodyay and York.

1885 Four schools were operating on the Flats at this time, with a healthy total of 139 children. There were three Catholic churches St Peter's at Central Greenough with room for 250, one at Upper Greenough with room for 100 and one at Central Upper Greenough with room for 100. The Methodists had a chapel with room for 150, while the Church of England used St James Church, which held 60, and three schoolrooms for services.,

1886 Thomas Criddle, son of William Criddle, established the Back Flats Hotel.

1887 Wind was a key factor in farmer's lives at Greenough. One described waiting for the right wind before burning off . This afternoon was very windy and as I looked to the south a few minutes ago I saw a great cloud of dust like dense smoke. I supposed (sic) it is some fellows coming down this way'.

1888 Four people lost their lives in a catastrophic flood on the Front Flats. The Greenough River burst its banks after heavy rains inland and inundated the Front Flats and a large section of the Back Flats. Governor Broome somewhat dubiously suggested the flood could be a boon. . . 'I cannot but think and hope that the enormous body of water which has inundated the Greenough District, and much of which will probably remain for some time standing on the lower levels of the country, will, in the end, by enriching and fertilising the soil for a considerable period to come, bring, in many cases, a substantial compensation for the immediate losses occasioned by the flood'. Notwithstanding this optimism, the Government organised the collection of donations and the relief fund provided 3, 057 pounds in aid by July of 1889.

1888 – 1890 With the Geraldton to Walkaway railway line opened, excursion trains gave the flats new life as a tourist destination. Via a footy match.

1888 More than 100 people and pigs, sheep and cattle were surrounded by floodwater at Maley's Mill. At the Golden Sheaf Hotel, water flowed through the buildings, almost to the top of the bar counter.

1888 Mr and Mrs Cole were drowned trying to cross from their house to the Duncan farm. Coles's Cottage was close to the river, about a quarter of a mile south of Mrs Duncan's home, Rose Cottage.

1888 People caught by the flood moved to camps on the sandhills for a time. The original St Peter's suffered considerable damage in the flood but was used till the 1890s.

1888 - 1890 's Ned Hackett built the four-roomed Hackett's Cottage on Stony Hill opposite the Police Station after the 1888 flood. He had originally lived with Jimmy Eakins (probably at Reakes Cottage). Hackett later added a cobbler's shop, carpenter's shop, undertaker's premises and general store with a gallon licence. Pat Stafford, a Pensioner Guard, had a saddlery on the corner of Hackett's block.

1888 - 1890 's With the Geraldton to Walkaway line opened, excursion trains gave the Flats new life as a tourist destination. A cricket match between Geraldton and Greenough at the Golden Sheaf Hotel drew spectators from Geraldton. Similarly, a Geraldton football team travelled by train to Greenough . . . 'From the railway landing at Criddle's after a ten minutes walk the visitors reached the football field which they surveyed with some interest and on which was to be played in a few hours the first match against a rival club in this district'.

1890 The decline in cropping continued with just 8, 940 acres under cultivation. Four schools were open, one on the Back Flats and three on the Front, with a combined enrolment of 129 children.

1890 's Farming techniques on the Greenough were still relatively unsophisticated 'The first ploughs 1 can remember being used on the farm were three furrow mouldboard ploughs ... the driver had to walk by the plough, driving the horses ... The ground was measured out in lands, and as one land was finished another land was measured out next to it. When they had finished across the paddock in this manner, they ploughed a headland at, each end. The seed was sown through a drill or cultivator'.

1890 's A teacher's dwelling was built onto existing accommodation at the Police Station in Central Greenough, and a stone wall erected round the buildings. Two blacksmiths were operating, one at Old Walkaway and the other at Clinch's Mill.
1890 's Constance Norids, of Geraldton, recalled making day trips to the Greenough River Mouth . . . 'Here was a broad expanse of sand bar, with here and there a clump of huge African boxthorns'. Locals were fishing from the beaches at Port Grey and at the McCartney Road Beach where.. . 'A track had been made across the sandhills and iron and timber shed had been erected. The men had constructed a fire place and had even sunk a well'.

1890 's Aborigines had camps in wattle thickets on the Flats, and the limestone hill behind Clinch's Mill was a meeting place . 'where every now and then they had big corroborees'.

1890 's There was a store half a mile south of the Hampton Hotel, a further indication of this area's emergence as a distinct sub-centre.

1890 A market garden at 'Hit or Miss', probably Maley's property, grew figs, grapes, vegetables and other fruit. Most families had their own garden patches at home.

1892 A timber and iron building sent out from England was erected on Company Road, on the west side of Rock's House. It was blessed as the first St Catherine's Anglican Church and used for 20 years.

1894 Perth and Geraldton linked by rail when the Midland Railway Company line reached Walkaway, where railway staff were stationed.

1894 The Western Australian Directory listed 244 householders and businesses in Greenough, including Thomas Clinch JP, farmer and miller; James Adlam, farmer; Henry, Joseph and Thomas Criddle, descendants of William Criddle; Thomas Duncan, farmer, George Hamersley, farmer; Thomas Harrison, farmer and grazier; John S. Maley, miller, fanner and proprietor of Golden Sheaf Hotel; and Wainwright and Co., merchants.

1895 There was a slight resurgence in cultivation with a total of 9, 200 acres cropped. Some farms were mixed, incorporating sheep ,grazing and or small dairies housed in ti-tree sheds. In winter, several farmers grazed their sheep on the coastal dunes.

1898 A Convent was built opposite the Central Greenough State School when the Dominican sisters arrived in Greenough. The sisters had girl boarders and a day school. The last Back Flats government school had closed by this time but the three Front Flats schools were still operating.
 
1898 Saint Catherine's Hall was built.

1822 - 1856 | 1857 - 1867 | 1868 - 1877 | 1880 - 1899 | 1900 - 1963 | 1966 - 1993