Mt Barker WA: history, architecture, wine

Federation-style Plantagenet Hotel

built 1912-4

Mt Barker is 360 ks south of Perth, Western Australia, in the shire of Plantagenet. Fr­amed by the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges, Mt Barker is the ideal base to expl­ore the surround­ing mountain country, wildflowers, great coast, na­tional and re­g­ion­al parks, and wineries.

                                  

Chapel at St Werburgh’s.

built 1873

In 1836 George Egerton-Warburton, a lieutenant in 51st Reg­im­ent, arrived in Albany WA. He sold his commission later, return­ing to Albany where he married and settled. In 1872 he received £550 from his eldest brother, Squ­ire of Arley Cheshire to build a Chapel at St Werburgh’s. The Chapel was dedic­at­­­ed to St Wer­bur­gh, a C7th Engl­ish Abbess who was a daughter of Wul­f­ere King of Merc­ia and 3rd Abbess of Ely. Artisans completed the building in 1873 and Bishop Hale consecrated the Chapel in 1874. The walls were made of clay plug and the roof of shingles. An Albany carpenter did the wood­work, using local she­oak and jarrah, whereas the iron­work was made in the family forge. Some of the materials need renovation. 

Wine tasting

Mt Barker is a starting place for travellers exploring the Great Southern Wine Region. This became an important region, producing ov­er a third of the state’s wine. In 1859 George Egerton-Warburton first pl­an­t­­ed vines and soon bott­led the first vintage. In the inter-war era, the Mt Barker region successfully made table wines in the light European style. In the growing-season, the Mt Barker region has warm sunny days, cool nights, excellent fruit-ripening and acidity-ret­ain­ing conditions. These conditions cr­eate wonderful intense wines, and I loved the tasting in the wineries!!

Mt Barker hosts yearly fest­ivals and events, incl Grapes and Gallops, Graze Mt Barker and Taste Great Southern Festival.

Police Station Museum

Police stables

changed to a lockup

There are some fascinating historic build­ings eg the historic Police Station Museum Complex built by convict labour in 1868, are part­ of this rich heritage. The Old Police Station was used un­t­il 1908 when a new station was built next door. The police hor­se stables were div­id­ed off as a lockup and a Court House of­f­ice was added in 1919.

Surrounded by lovely lawns and gard­ens, the Plantagenet Hist­or­ical So­ciety opened the cottage as a Mus­eum in 1968, furnishing it with lo­cally donated objects. In 1971 the Pion­eer Room was built to dis­p­lay more artefacts, in 1985 and 1987 the cottage and stables were re­stored, and in 1994 the Napier Creek one-teacher schoolroom was mo­v­ed to the Museum. In 1997 the second Po­l­ice Station and Court Room were acquired. And an apple picking shed has been assemb­led in honour of the apple industry's historical contribution.

Police duties included having a change of horses ready for the mail coach which operated from Albany to Perth. They also patrolled as far as Esperance (400+ ks) on horseback, also doing the census and rep­orting on weather.

At the Old Police Museum, the main and out-buildings nest in beautiful landscaped gardens, with structures covered in colour­fully flowered creep­ers, giving an old fashioned village look. Any­one visiting the Museum comp­lex with an inter­est in his­t­or­ical heritage sh­ould allocate a few hours. There’s a wide ran­ge of hist­or­ic­al arte­facts and images spread around.

The Plantagenet Hotel was a two st­orey pub built by the Sounness fam­ily in 1912-4 with Feder­at­ion style ch­ar­acter. The veranda posts and balcony’s ap­p­le motifs depicted their link to large apple orch­ards in the area in the early part of the century. It took ov­er the licence from the origin­al Park Hotel when it was delicensed in WW1.

In 1996 the hotel was smartened up so it would continue to be a soc­ial gathering place for the local comm­unity and visitors. The large open fire in the lounge area is a beautiful feature on cool Mt Bar­ker ev­enings and the wide veranda is for en­joy­ing pre dinner drinks. Yet another of the many historical land­mark jewels of the area!

Art Gallery

The Gallery & Arts Centre is where artists can create, exhibit or sell their paintings, quilts, jewellery or pottery. The Gallery runs the Art Trail and the Plantag­en­et Art Prize, and runs a yearly fund-raising exhibition. And they hold solo exhibitions at Mitchell House in the little pink building that once was a post office. Here cours­es are run in Drawing, Painting, Pottery, Hat Mak­ing, Weaving, Felting and Craft.

Mt Barker Railway Station

built 1883

The rail line southwards from Mt Barker Junction to Mt Barker was const­ructed by Messrs Walker & Swann who had previously built an Ad­el­aide line. The sub­stantial stone station buildings were built from Aldgate freestone in 1883, including a Stationmaster's quarters at the southern end. Ceremoniously opened by the Gov­­er­nor in 1883, Mt Barker passenger facilities were still in place into the 1970s. At the northern end were timber refreshment rooms which were used up until 1963, with white linen laid out un­d­er the poplar trees. The Dis­trict Council of Mt Barker restored the historic Railway Station building to coincide with the transfer of SteamRanger from Adelaide in 1996 and they re-planted the turn-of-the-century gardens.

Mt Barker Rolling Stock Depot took the south of the station first used as a goods yard, and incorporated the original bluestone goodsshed. New Depot has been operating since May 1996, while the heritage goods shed was retained as a storage area for Track Maintenance. My young sons loved it.

ES&A Bank building, erected in 1928 

Later converted to a bookshop

Photo credits: Photographs of Perth and the South West of Western Australia 

Langton Vineyard in Mount Barker

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