Mundaring and Hills Historical Society inc.

Mundaring and Hills Historical Society inc. Community group dedicated to recording, preserving and exhibiting the history of the Shire of Mundaring. Look out for us at community events around Perth.

Contact Details:
Ph: 08 9295 0540
Email: [email protected]

Mundaring and Hills Historical Society Inc (MHHS) was founded in 1989 by a small group of people who had the foresight to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of the Shire of Mundaring. The Society has two principal functions:
- to collect and research artefacts and information relating to the local history of the Shire of

Mundaring, and
- to operate Mundaring District Museum. The Society is supported by the Shire of Mundaring, Mundaring Community Bank, and LotteryWest. Our offices and Research Room are located in the Mundaring Stationmaster's House, and the Museum shares the Old School on Great Eastern Hwy, Mundaring with the Mundaring Visitor Centre. Incursions and excursions for school and community groups can be arranged by appointment. Contact us as above. We welcome research enquiries and appointments to use our Research Room can be
organised by phoning or emailing our office. DONATIONS WELCOME

Now our children have finished their school for the year and families are thinking of summer holidays our thoughts go to...
09/12/2024

Now our children have finished their school for the year and families are thinking of summer holidays our thoughts go to our favourite sports be it swimming in the pool or at the beach or playing and watching cricket and tennis.

Here in Mundaring, we have many sporting clubs the oldest being Glen Forrest Cricket Club, then known as Smiths Mill. The club took part in the local competition known as the Swan District Cricket Association. Other clubs included Midland Junction, Middle Swan and Bellevue.

The team was renamed when in 1915 the local residents decided to change the name of Smiths Mill to Glen Forrest in honour of Sir John Forrest the first Premier of Western Australia.
In 2022 Glen Forrest fielded their first ever women’s team in the Perth Scorchers Women League.

Here is a photograph of Mundaring Weir Cricket Team of which we don’t have a date so if you have any information on this team, we would greatly appreciate your knowledge.

Here are 2 early photographs of the Mundaring Cricket Club the first is in the period 1900-1015

The second photo is c1931-32. The 24 members are sitting outside the Mundaring Hotel.

Next time we will post some other early sporting clubs photographs. As always, any information or photographs you share with us is always greatly received.

As this is the last ‘post’ may we wish our readers a “Merry Christmas” and remind you that our office will be closed from 13th December until 13th January 2025.

For those of you who may wish to attend Trish Beaman’s funeral, this will take place this Friday 13th December at Seasons Funeral in Canning Vale at 2 o’clock.

FACEBOOK 4TH DECEMBER TRISH BEAMANIt is with great sadness we have to inform our friends and supporters that our most s...
04/12/2024

FACEBOOK 4TH DECEMBER TRISH BEAMAN
It is with great sadness we have to inform our friends and supporters that our most special Office Manager and Secretary Trish Beaman passed away suddenly on Wednesday morning.

As you can imagine we are all in shock as Trish was her normal cheerful self when she left the office on Monday afternoon.

We will be closing the office as a mark of respect and if anyone wishes to contact either the Curator Tracy Willet or anyone else on the Executive Committee the telephone numbers are as follows
Tracy (Curator) : 0411 516 776
Jeff (President) : 0428 941 566
Rob B : 0416 295 407
Tricia R : 0419 673 661

The website is still operational but at present the email system is inoperative, so use [email protected] for curator emails.

THE SEASON OF BIRAK Traditionally Birak is known as the” first summer” and time for controlled fire burning. With easter...
02/12/2024

THE SEASON OF BIRAK
Traditionally Birak is known as the” first summer” and time for controlled fire burning. With easterly winds most mornings and sea breezes in the afternoon, communities were known to burn in mosaic patterns. This would flush out game for food and burn out weeds. Birak is also known as the “Season of the Young” and symbolizing heat, the sun and Karla/fire. Birak is a time of celebration when Noongar people would gather together as they moved towards the coast where the ocean provided plenty of fresh food.
At this time of the year the beautiful orange-yellow flowers of the Moodjar (Nuytsia floribunda) tree, a very spiritually significant tree for the Noongar people, are in full bloom.
These trees along with the Jacaranda can be seen around the hills just now and most of us will be thinking of the coming Christmas celebrations and our holiday trips perhaps also to the coast.
Most people will have begun decorating their homes and front gardens with Christmas lights.

St Andrews Day - 30th NovemberAs this year is swiftly coming to an end, we notice it is St Andrews Day on the 30th Novem...
25/11/2024

St Andrews Day - 30th November
As this year is swiftly coming to an end, we notice it is St Andrews Day on the 30th November.
The first church in the Mundaring area was called St Andrews. It was the first Anglican Church building in the hills and was built on land donated by W.H.McGlew.
On Wednesday 4th November 1903 Bishop Riley came up to Glen Forrest, then known as Smiths Mill on the afternoon train to officiate at the laying of the foundation stone.
It was said a crowd of 200 people met Bishop Riley and marched with him to the site. The church was consecrated on the 25th February 1904 with a congregation of 70 people filling the church.
After celebrating the 90th and 100th anniversaries and placed on the Shire’s Municipal Inventory in1997 numbers attending the church began to drop and services were ceased, and the building was then considered “surplus to the requirements in the Bellevue/Darlington parish”
Various community groups tried to get support for services to be resumed with no success and the church was deconsecrated on 17 August 2006.
The building was sold and has been cleverly integrated into a new architect designed home which was completed in 2015.

CHANGES TO LOCAL ICON - JOHN FORREST NATIONAL PARKYou may have noticed in the our local paper a report of work being und...
20/11/2024

CHANGES TO LOCAL ICON - JOHN FORREST NATIONAL PARK
You may have noticed in the our local paper a report of work being undertaken to improve the facilities at John Forrest National Park. This park was first declared an A Class Reserve in 1900 and known as Greenmount National Park, and the name was again changed to Forrest National Park in 1928 and finally in 1947 to John Forrest National Park. It was the first national park in Western Australia.
As time went on there were 1000 men living in army huts. The rules were no gambling and no liquor and their camp to be kept clean and tidy. Where possible each man was given 12 hours work a week and paid 5 shillings in cash. They were taken by truck each day to and from the park. Another camp was started in 1931 in Hovea where the men were employed to cut down dead trees to cut up for firewood and taken by train to the city and suburbs to needy families.
1n 1930s weekend trains were provided for picnickers.
In 1947 tearooms and two more dams were built and in 1978 a tavern and restaurant were opened.
We all look forward to the new Park Hub and redeveloped gardens and Margaret Forrest Centre to be built as you can see on the website

www.dbca.wa.gov.au/johnforrestimprovementproject.

15/11/2024

FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH
Don't miss this exciting talk!

A talk about the incident at Chippers Leap in Greenmount in 1832. 11 ½ year old Rueben Beacham was helping John Chipper to take bullock cart from Guildford to York for a Mr Laurant. Tragedy struck and John Chipper was the only survivor. Unfortunately, Rueben did not survive. Guest Speaker, Merv Beacham will talk about this and other parts of the family history.
The Royal Western Australian Historical Society erected a plaque at the site on Great Eastern Hwy in 1932. However after researching the incident Rueben's family have made some corrections and erected a new sign which is now placed on the Old York Road.

Remembrance DayRemembrance Day is observed in Commonwealth countries on 11 November to commemorate the signing of the Ar...
11/11/2024

Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day is observed in Commonwealth countries on 11 November to commemorate the signing of the Armistice in 1918 to cease hostilities and end WW1. As Australia was part British Commonwealth and supporting England in both WW1 and WW2 there is an Australian
War Memorial in the centre of London which bears the names of all the towns where service men and women from both wars were born. There are 23,844 names etched into the granite wall as well as the names of 47 battle grounds.
This memorial was installed in 2003 and dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on the 85 anniversary of Armistice Day.
The Australian War Memorial in London’s website is amwlondon.gov.au where you can search for the town names.

BILGOMAN POOLBilgoman Aquatic Centre in Darlington closes through the winter months and last week, after some refurbishm...
04/11/2024

BILGOMAN POOL
Bilgoman Aquatic Centre in Darlington closes through the winter months and last week, after some refurbishments, it was open to the public again on Saturday 2nd November. A photo taken in 1968 below shows the new pool with no shelters, tall light poles for evening use, and the Pool Manager’s house on the hill where he lived on site with his family (note the washing on the clothes line).
Before the pool was built the only place for local children to learn to swim was John Forrest National Park pool where the water was a bit muddy, shared with the resident white swans, and at the shallow end of the pool the soft mud squelched up through your toes as you walked in.
Many visitors came by train for day trips but for local children, without motor transport, it was a long trek home up the hill after cooling off on a hot day.

All Saints DayAs we are seeing a lot of Halloween images around our streets just reminder of the origins of this custom....
28/10/2024

All Saints Day
As we are seeing a lot of Halloween images around our streets just reminder of the origins of this custom.
All Saints’ Day, in the Christian church, is a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven. It is celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Eastern churches. In Roman Catholicism, the feast is usually a holy day of obligation. It is part of the three-day triduum dedicated to remembering the dead, beginning with Halloween (October 31) and followed by All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2).
Halloween of course is noted for its pagan and religious roots and secular traditions. In much of Europe and most of North America, observance of Halloween is largely nonreligious, celebrated with parties, spooky costumes, jack-o’-lanterns, pumpkin carvings and the giving of candy.
So thinking about symbols we associate with death we thought we would focus on our early burials. Our Churches in the shire do not have graveyards. However, we do have two cemeteries. Prior to opening, locals would have been buried either at Guildford Cemetery (late 1800s) or Karrakatta (1899 )

FORREST DARLINGS CWA BRANCHOn Saturday 19th October the CWA group Forrest Darlings met at Darlington Hall to celebrate t...
21/10/2024

FORREST DARLINGS CWA BRANCH
On Saturday 19th October the CWA group Forrest Darlings met at Darlington Hall to celebrate their 5 year anniversary and of course the 100 year anniversary of the launch of Country Woman’s Association of Western Australia.
The Shire of Mundaring supported this event where 50 women gathered to celebrate this special occasion. Amongst the guests were Paige McNeil Shire President and Shire Councillors, Trish Cook and Prapti Meta.
We congratulate this wonderful group and look forward to catching up at the forthcoming Darlington Arts Festival.

The establishment of CWA of WA occurred after WA members from the National Council of Women heard about the 1922 formation of a CWA of New South Wales and Queensland. A provisional committee spent 12 months spreading awareness and encouraging women to form the same association in the western state of Australia.
Within 12 months of the first branch opening, the inaugural state conference was held in the Queens Hall, Perth in 1925 with sixty women. The first Executive were elected; and the aims, motto, constitution, badge and colours were laid. Lady Campion, wife of the Governor of WA, was bestowed as the patron.
The aim of the Association was then, and still remains, to improve the well-being of all people, especially those in country areas, by promoting courtesy, cooperation, community effort, ethical standards, and the wise use of resources.

Carer's WeekThis week 13-19 October 2024 is Carer’s week focusing mainly on the many people who provide care for a famil...
14/10/2024

Carer's Week
This week 13-19 October 2024 is Carer’s week focusing mainly on the many people who provide care for a family member or friend usually in their home. This brings to mind the days before nursing homes for the aged and visiting nurses coming to homes to assist family carers were available. In the 1950s and 60s older nurses would acquire a large home and take in elderly people who needed care, and people just discharged from hospital but needed some ongoing nursing care for a few weeks. The care providers lived on the premises, maybe employing local ladies to do cooking and cleaning while they looked after the nursing requirements.
In Mundaring there were at least 3 of these establishments. Craigie House, built in 1916 which was run as a Guest House by Ted and Francis Jacoby and was purchased by nursing Sisters Desda Brown and Ethel Carter. They changed the name to Craigie House, it is now the Mundaring Adult Creative & Learning Centre.
Faversham House in Jacoby Street was used as a short stay hospital operated by sisters Ethel, Norma and Eileen Monger between 1948 and 1968.
Kalmar House, a large granite home in Stoneville Road built by Hugo Ekstam was operated as a C Class Nursing Home by his wife Muriel from c. 1955 to 1968.

SAWYERS VALLEY PRIMARY SCHOOLIn October 1998 a townsite was declared at Sawyers Valley but prior to that the second stag...
07/10/2024

SAWYERS VALLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL
In October 1998 a townsite was declared at Sawyers Valley but prior to that the second stage of the Eastern Railway was completed and Edmund Lacey established a new sawmill on the northern side of the line.
The first school in Sawyers Valley was in a house lent by Edmund Lacey in 1884 it had 28 students .By 1893 the school had become very dilapidated and was closed and the children had to go to Lion Mill (Mt. Helena).
It wasn’t until 1896 when a survey was carried out by the government, and it was seen that the settlement was growing and needed a new school and teacher’s residence which was eventually opened in 1898 with 48 students.
There have been many additions and changes to the site and at various times the buildings were infested with both goats and white ants!! In 1944 a bush fire went through the valley and the school came close to being destroyed. The school was connected to the electrical grid in 1955 and later in 1960 septic tanks were installed.
The early school buildings are the earliest government school structure to survive in the Shire of Mundaring. The original teacher’s quarters is listed by The National Trust and is now used to provide students an experience of what it was like to be schooled in the Victorian era with activities such as cooking washing and woodwork.

ST CUTHBERTS CHURCH DARLINGTONWESTERN AUSTRALIA This beautiful church will be celebrating it's 100th anniversary next ye...
30/09/2024

ST CUTHBERTS CHURCH DARLINGTON
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
This beautiful church will be celebrating it's 100th anniversary next year but it's foundation stone was laid on the 13th September 1924, so a small clebration has been held. In Western Australia, we are thinking that 100 years is quite old. In comparison it's namesake St Cuthberts Church in Darlington, Lindisfarne, United Kingdon is celebrating its 900th anniversay. On 13th September 1924 Archbishop Riley laid the foundation stone on land donated by Amelia Stone ten years previously. The building was completed and consecrated on March 1st 1925.
The foundation stone can be seen from the Darlington Road side of the church. In the cavity of the stone is a glass jar with a description of the event. Money was collected at the time towards the building costs which was eventually said to be nine hundred pounds.
The church is dedicated to St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. He was Bishop of Lindisfarne UK. As a result of Viking raids in the area his remains were moved to Durham Cathedral. It was said the carriage carrying his remains rested at Darlington in County Durham hence the church there is also named St Cuthberts. The name St. Cuthbert’s is said to have been recommended by a resident and parishioner at the time AO Neville who lived in Darlington and like many residents used the train to travel to work in Perth.
Neville was a public servant most well known for being the Chief Protector of Aborigines from 1915 until 1936 when he became Commissioner for Native Affairs. He held this post until 1940 when he retired. He died in April 1954 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.
The parishioners have published a beautiful hard cover book. It tells the story about the journey of the church in the Darlington community. It includes photographs of the stained glass windows which together with the stone construction help to make the church so beautiful.
For more information check out St Cuthbert’s Anglican Church website.

17/09/2024

Great Eastern Highway – What’s in a Name?
The name Great Eastern Highway (GEH) was gazetted in 1938. It commences at the Eastern end of the Causeway in Perth to the southwestern side of Kalgoorlie via Midland Junction and Merredin. Although it is now known as Great Eastern Highway for the whole of the journey, it has also been known as Ascot Road, Guildford Road, York Road, Guildford – Northam Road, Toodyay- Northam Road, Mitchell Avenue, Throssell Road, Sermon Road, Dreyer Road, Goldfields Road, Kalgoorlie Road, Woodward Street, and Coolgardie Road.

Great Eastern Highway – What’s in a Name?The name Great Eastern Highway (GEH) was gazetted in 1938. It commences at the ...
16/09/2024

Great Eastern Highway – What’s in a Name?
The name Great Eastern Highway (GEH) was gazetted in 1938. It commences at the Eastern end of the Causeway in Perth to the southwestern side of Kalgoorlie via Midland Junction and Merredin. Although it is now known as Great Eastern Highway for the whole of the journey, it has also been known as Ascot Road, Guildford Road, York Road, Guildford – Northam Road, Toodyay- Northam Road, Mitchell Avenue, Throssell Road, Sermon Road, Dreyer Road, Goldfields Road, Kalgoorlie Road, Woodward Street, and Coolgardie Road.

Mundaring Toy LibraryThe Mundaring Toy Library is one of the longest running Toy Libraries in WA. It was established in ...
16/09/2024

Mundaring Toy Library
The Mundaring Toy Library is one of the longest running Toy Libraries in WA. It was established in 1974 and has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Mundaring Toy Library is a not for profit, volunteer run organisation stocking toys suitable for ages 0 to 8 years and operates at the corner of Craig Street and Mundaring Weir Road.
The building was first used as a base for the local Infant Health Service which had been operating since 1947 by Sister Jean Adderley who used her own car to visit halls in various towns. In 1948 funds were raised to purchase a 1948 Ford Prefect for Sister Adderley to use. This service continued until in 1957 when the Infant Health Centre was opened in Mundaring for mothers to bring their babies to her for weighing and advice. The clinic sisters continued to visit each district on an appointed day each month for those families who did not have transport.
Richard Stanley Sampson was Chairman of the Darling Range Road Board for 18 years and a former Minister for Public Health

Tudor Park Road RuinsAfter a request from a member of the public MHHS members went and had a look at the ruins at this ...
13/09/2024

Tudor Park Road Ruins

After a request from a member of the public MHHS members went and had a look at the ruins at this site. After going down several rabbit holes, we realised that these ruins were not as historic as we would have liked. When we looked closely we could see that amongst the coffee rock structure, there were beer bottles of a more recent vintage. So not a historic find of momentous importance, but a structure that we saw had been burnt out after looking at Landgate aerial photos between 2008 and 2010.
Oh well back to the drawing board in our quest to find history in our wonderful Shire.

ALL ABOUT SPEED!In September 1907 the Greenmount Road Board (now Mundaring Shire) set the speed limit for cyclists and p...
09/09/2024

ALL ABOUT SPEED!

In September 1907 the Greenmount Road Board (now Mundaring Shire) set the speed limit for cyclists and people riding horses up York Road ( now Great Eastern Highway) and other roads in the
Shire at 8 miles an hour.
Quite a change from the speeds that some cars will be travelling next weekend throughout areas of the hills whilst the Targa Rally is happening!
This event stretches across Bullsbrook, Ellenbrook, Mundaring, Kalamunda, and through to Toodyay.
Locally McDowell Loop and Parkerville Surrounds, Mundaring Weir Road and the Zig Zag Scenic Drive with be affected with restricted access.
We have included some great photographs of interesting cars and other vehicles taken from our collection .

Address

3060 Jacoby Street
Mundaring, WA
6073

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 4pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 1:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 4pm

Telephone

(08) 9295 0540

Website

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