Last chance to view this display - closes March
8th
Dont miss out on the
MHHS Shire Fire Brigades history display at the Mundaring Arts Centre.
This
support's the ‘All Fired Up’ art exhibition and
auction (7pm, Friday, March 6th) - to raise funds to write the history of
Mundaring’s Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades.
The display includes:
- A brief history since the first Colonial Bush Fire
Act of 1847
- How fighting bushfires pre-trained
Australian soldiers for WWI
- The disastrous fires of 1961 that wiped out
Dwellingup
- The destructive Parkerville fire of early 2008
- Rare 1948 film footage of the embryonic Darlington
Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade fighting a fire in
Leithdale Rd can be viewed.
- Fire fighting equipment used by Hills volunteers of
the 1950s is exhibited.
Objects include a siren that mobilised volunteers, a
hand pump used to draw water from creeks and dams,
buckets and a yoke used to take water forward to fill
knapsack spray units, fire fighting rakes and three
versions (metal, rubber and plastic) of the knapsack
sprays worn by the frontline fire fighters.
- A full sized mannequin of a Hills volunteer in the
clothing and equipment of the 1950s completes the
display and directs visitors to the artworks for
sale.
"Establishment of Orchards in the Hills"
Join us on Saturday, March 21st at 3pm for
our first meeting of the year. To be held at the Glen
Forrest Stationmasters House, cnr Railway Pde and
Burkinshaw Rd, Glen Forrest - All welcome.
A talk will be given on the "Establishment of
Orchards in the Hills" by John Viska. John, a
resident of North Perth has been a lecturer in
horticulture for over 20 years and is the founding
Chairman (1988) of the WA branch of the Australian
Garden History Society. He held this position for 12
years and is still a member. In 2007 he completed a
guide to conserving and interpreting gardens in WA
which is published by the Garden History Society. In
2008 he was the recipient of the 'Contribution to
Heritage in WA by an Individual', award from the
Heritage Council.
Donations to MHHS
- Colour footage of bushfires in Darlington in 1948
(8mins) -from Sally Herzfeld. The film has now been converted to DVD.
- Cheese box and ends from Wells store, school
book 1923, radio licence reminder cards (Mundaring
1951) – from Andrew Wells.
- 16 photos mostly per Rev Watts, Mundaring
1940/50s– from M. Tie
Other news
- Our curator, Paul Bridges has researched and
documented the 3 boomerangs purchased at the
Mahogany Inn auction in 2003. Information so far has confirmed that
these are locally provenanced.
- On radio! - Paul Bridges spoke on
Radio 6PR on Sunday, February 22nd on Steve
Gordon's "The way we were" evening show. His
topic was the Harry Weeks exhibition.
This exhibition will remain open until ANZAC Day, at the
Mundaring District Museum.
Mundaring Weir Forestry Settlement (or Portagabra)
by Fiona Bush
As many of you may know, the Water Corporation
want to build a water treatment plant on the DEC
site. This may be more familiar to readers as the
CALM or Forests Dept headquarters opposite Fred
Jacoby Park
see map ». The
development will mean the demolition of the buildings
which currently occupy this site. The place, commonly
referred to as Portagabra, has been listed on the
Shire of Mundaring's Municipal Inventory and is
currently being assessed by the National Trust of
Australia (WA) for possible inclusion on their List
of Classified Places.
In 2005 the place was assessed by the Heritage
Council of Western Australia and the documentation
led to the conclusion that the place did not have
sufficient merit to be included on the State's
Register of Heritage Places. During the December
meeting of the MHHS Executive Committee I agreed to
write an assessment for the National Trust and found
that the information presented in the 2005 Heritage
Council document did not in fact relate the full
story of the site.
For a two page précis of the information
presented recently to the National Trust,
click here »
A 1930's Pine Nursery on the site
|
