Dardanup Park—Donnybrook—Bridgetown—The Grange—Dallgarrup—A
Prodigious Prize—Greenbushes—Tinfield—The Great Forest.
The Hon. H. W. Venn has a splendid estate called Dardanup Park, 10
miles from Bunbury. The dwelling-house is built in old English style
and surrounded by a garden, where all kinds of beautiful flowers grow
in profusion. There is an enormous shed, capable of holding large
quantities of hay. The dairy cows, standing knee-deep in pasture, are
specially sleek and fat; the milk and cream that I tasted at Dardanup
seemed exceptionally sweet. I went for a six-mile drive to the Ferguson
river, passing many pretty farms, nearly all on Mr. Venn’s land. One
goes for miles down a narrow road like an English lane, except that the
hedges are formed of the beautiful Australian wattle in place of English
hawthorn. The grand Australian trees, red gum and jarrah (some of immense
size), the pretty banksia, the delicate paper-tree, the coral creeper,
which, as its name implies, is of the colour of pink coral, and in some
instances, had embraced the banksia-trees and mingled lovingly with their
broad green leaves, all combined to make a pretty picture. A little Roman
Catholic church and, farther on, a Protestant one, gave token that the
spiritual welfare of the people at Dardanup is well looked after. It is
singular how many native names end with “up.” On to the road to Bunbury
there is a station called Wagerup. An old settler in the district was
not satisfied with that name, and wrote to Mr. Venn, the member for
the district, to say that he was an old settler of 30 or 40 years, and
thought he ought to have a say in the naming of the railway station.
Being a loyal Englishman, he wished it to be called Queen Victoria
Station. I am sorry to say his request has not yet been acceded to.
Another loyal subject at another railway station, where there are about
two other dwellings, has recently built a bush public-house, and outside
is printed, in large letters, “The Palace Hotel.”
Mr. Venn is very much liked by all the farming community. I overheard a
controversy on politics at the dinner-table between several farmers, and
they were unanimous in their opinion that Mr. Venn was the man for them,
and for the country.
Beyond lies Donnybrook, not the great Irish fair of that name, but a
fertile spot of Western Australia. A mile before arriving there we
stopped at Baxter & Prince’s siding, 2½ miles from which are their
well-known sawmills, in which are employed a large number of workmen.
There are some fine farms at Donnybrook, and the estate of the Hon.
J. W. Hackett, with its orchards and gardens, is half a mile from the
station. In these gardens all kinds of fruits, especially raspberries and
strawberries, grow in luxuriance.
On account of the marvellous fertility of the ground there are a great
many applications from people wishing to establish themselves on the
land here, and take up small plots for fruit growing. Two miles out of
Donnybrook is a goldfield, which may some day turn out to be immensely
rich. Gold was first discovered in the surface soil by some men searching
for the alluvial deposit. Further investigations with the miner’s
faithful prospecting-dish eventually led to the discovery of quartz
veins. There are several shafts sunk now to a great depth, all of which
have yielded a profit. Perhaps a new Coolgardie will one day spring into
existence here.
Mr. Maryanski, the well-known mining expert, is largely interested, has
purchased property here, and has now gone to Europe for the purpose of
floating companies.
To drive up the Preston Valley from Donnybrook in the lovely weather was
pleasant. The roads were certainly not all that could be desired, but the
forest scenery compensated for a little jolting, and the more one travels
in the West the more is one convinced of the resources of the colony. The
soil is a rich chocolate loam, and grass and water plentiful all the year
round. Hay is principally cultivated here, as a great quantity of chaff
is required for the horses at the mills in the district.
On my return to Donnybrook, rather tired with my day’s excursion, I
retired early, and after a refreshing night’s rest started for Bridgetown
in the morning. The line has only recently been completed, and was
formally opened on December 2, 1898. It must have been pretty hard work
to make this railway, for the various cuttings are in some parts so deep
that 40 or 50 kegs of powder per day were often used in blasting the
hard rock. There are 178 cuttings and 204 embankments on the line of
only 42 miles, so no wonder it cost the Government a considerable sum
of money. Donnybrook is 208 feet above the sea-level, but Needes Hill,
7 miles farther on, is 770 feet above. After that the road drops down
again to 400 feet, then it rises again to an altitude of 1000 feet, and
at this point comes within 10 miles of the now well-known Greenbushes
Tinfield (of which more anon). A further depression of this elevation
brings it to Hester’s Brook, and then a further rise ascends to Dalgarup
Station, landing at an elevation of more than 1000 feet, whence the line
drops again to Bridgetown, only 510 feet high in the clouds. I quickly
made my way to Warner’s Hotel, and after an excellent dinner proceeded
to investigate Bridgetown and the Blackwood river. The orchards around
this district appeared to be very fine. Sir James Lee Steere, the member
for the district, gives a handsome silver cup every year as a trophy at
the annual show for the best-kept orchard. This has been now won three
years in succession by the Messrs. Allnutt, the Grange. Their orchard
covers an area of 30 acres. Mr. Allnutt, the father of the present owner,
planted this fine orchard 30 years ago. One can imagine what a wilderness
the place must have been then, and what perseverance has been practised
to achieve such a successful issue. The latest development is a steam
sawmill on the property for the purpose of cutting up timber and making
boxes for packing the fruit in. Every kind of fruit one can think of
is here. As well as fruit, magnificent potatoes are grown, and often
yield 15 tons to the acre. Now that the railway touches the place, the
inhabitants say that this will be the chief agricultural centre of the
south-west district. The people seemed so genial that it was really a
pleasure to converse with them.
A very beautiful drive through richly wooded hills, the tender green
grass of which was dotted here and there by clusters of trees and covered
by the perfumed golden wattle and by many spring wild flowers—appearing
between an occasional field of newly growing wheat—brought me to
Dallgarrup, the homestead of Mr. Godfrey Hester, who has over 7000
acres of land altogether. I found this gentleman engaged in skinning
and dressing a sheep; he had taken on a Chinese cook, and all the other
hands, objecting to the introduction of Chinese labour, had left in a
body. Consequently Mr. Hester had to turn to and do the work himself.
About a mile farther on is Blackwood Park, Mr. Gerald Hester’s homestead,
with an orchard of 23 acres, 6 of which bear most lovely apples. There
are 2000 acres, and many cattle and sheep. The house is an old-fashioned
one, having been built 50 years ago for Mr. Hester’s father, who was
the oldest settler on the Blackwood river, and came out 52 years ago
He was the first Stipendiary Magistrate in the district. The house is
in a charming spot, and many handsome willows grow about the running
brook close by. The largest grape-vine I have ever seen is here. Mr.
Hester told me it was planted 40 years ago by his mother. The height of
this marvellous vine is 7 feet to the first branch. There are 6 enormous
branches measuring 8 inches round and averaging 100 feet long. The body
of the vine is 50 inches round. A very large trellis, which from time
to time has been added to, now takes up 39 feet of ground in length by
54 feet in width. The kind of arbour thus formed maybe imagined. 2064
bunches of magnificent black Hamburg grapes, weighing over a ton, came
off this vine last year, which I am sure breaks the record of production
of one vine in any of the colonies.
The drive from Bridgetown to Greenbushes Tinfield through forest country
is most enjoyable. This tinfield has of late been richly developed. Until
recently it was not thought much of, gold-mining having deadened all
other kinds of mining in the colony. Now, however, things have taken a
turn, and quite a large settlement has sprung up, and over 2000 men are
on the field. A good town has been formed where three months before was a
dense forest, and solitude reigned supreme. Jarrah growing on the spot,
and two timber-mills being close by, nearly all the houses are built of
the handsome dark wood, are thus much more pleasing than the usual tents
and camps of mining places, and stand out well against the tall green
forest trees. People have built very nice houses, evidently having an eye
to solid comfort, and thinking the field a permanent one.
The town of Greenbushes is one long street or avenue. On either side
tower the enormous forest trees. The ring of the axe and the crash of
some of these falling giants, together with the immense fires burning
day and night for the purpose of getting out the tremendous stumps
of the trees; the energy of the people, and the numbers of visitors
constantly arriving to see the field, make Greenbushes a lively place.
The town seems to have sprung up by magic; there are 30 stores of all
descriptions, 3 hotels, the Court House Hotel being a very comfortable
one, post and telegraph offices, warden’s court, and other public
buildings.
Miles and miles of the country contain rich tin. The tinfields are on
the highest point of the Darling Range, 1100 feet above sea-level. The
gullies and watercourses are very picturesque being in the heart of the
green forest. I drove down to Spring Gully, where the men were all at
work in their claims, and the various workings were most interesting.
Dumpling Gully is the name of another part of the field.
There have been some rich finds. The Cornwall Mine, on the highest point,
has been proved to carry 13½ per cent. of lode tin. Another lode tin mine
is the Yarana, which has given good results. The lode in this mine is
similar to that found in Cornwall, England, being associated with quartz,
schist and kaolin. Tin ore is most peculiar-looking stuff. Some lumps
of it that are called “nuggets of wood tin,” weigh 30 lb. each; another
kind is like fine sand, and another like gunpowder, and the colours range
from white to red, yellow, ruby, black, grey and brown. Some of the men
have sold their claims to the syndicates for £4000 and £5000, and gone
on their way rejoicing. I was surprised to find plenty of horses and
cabs at Greenbushes; these are, no doubt, accounted for by the distance
of the town—three miles—from the railway station, which I passed going
to Bridgetown. The cabbies were doing a roaring trade, and the whole
community seemed very well satisfied with things in general. Gold has
also been found at a depth of 33 feet, the reef being nearly 8 inches
wide, and comprised of quartz; the formation enclosing it contains free
tin worth about 3 ounces to the dish.