12th July 2014
Greenough was founded in the mid 19th century as an agricultural community. The settlers were delighted to find a wide flat area on the river with excellent fertile soil situated between the ocean sand dunes and limestone cliffs. They gave no regard to the original inhabitants who had been living in a settled community in the area for thousands of years.
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| Greenough village houses |
For a while there was great success with wheat and other crops and the population soon grew to over 1,000. However, the settlers failed to notice the area was in fact a flood plain, so soon suffered devastating floods. This combined with over cultivation of the land and diseases in the crops led to disaster and many people left.
The community struggled on but was eventually abandoned. The stories of the hard work and entrepreneurial skill of the settlers was once again very interesting.
Many of the buildings up until the late 1860's were constructed using convict labour. WA continued to take convicts from England long after NSW had stopped and was trying to distance itself from the convict heritage. WA wanted cheap labour to develop the infrastructure of the state.
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| St Peter's Catholic church 1908 |
The National Trust took over most of the buildings in the 1970's and many have been restored as an example of a farming community.
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| Gray's store and residence 1861 |
The Greenough river is currently completely dry but the soil in the area has been rehabilitated and irrigated so the area is again productive.
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| Maley's bridge over the Greenough river 1864 |
The prevailing wind in the region is from the south west which causes the river red gums endemic to the area to bend in the direction the wind blows. There are many examples on the plain but the most spectacular is known to be over 750 years old. Where the trunk has touched the ground new roots have grown which is why it has lived so long.
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| This tree is over 750 years old |
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