The day has been pretty much as expected, quietly moving back into routine and coping with jet lag, not mine, but my husband’s. The pickup last night went without hitch however it was midnight before we arrived back at camp.
This
afternoon we took advantage of the sunshine and a desire to do something of
note for the day by driving across to Guildford, the one here in Perth, not the
one in England which has come up in conversation through the years.
The
entire town of Guildford is classified by the National Trust, one of two towns
in Metropolitan Perth to earn such classification. “Earn” suggests such a
positive result, however I suspect heritage status is an absolute nightmare for
property entrepreneurs. One of the hotels in the township stands heavily scaffolded
on a corner bearing rather derogatory banners about still missing a roof. No
doubt the bureaucrats have been making life difficult for those attempting a
rejuvenated interior.
Guildford
is located on the Swan River, upstream from the Perth centre and was once upon
a time an inland port. This was put paid to when the railway was built in the
early 1880s, and even worse because the line was built right through the centre
of the town, not at all popular with the residents of the day.
The area
here and up river was settled way back in 1829, particularly attractive with
its permanent water supply. Much of the infrastructure and building was
undertaken in the township after the arrival of convict labour after 1850, and
accelerated before the end of the free labour source in the late 1860s.
Interestingly
the Swan Valley vineyards we travelled through as we drove down into Perth over
a week ago were first established about 180 years ago when a botonist named
Thomas Waters planted rootstock from South Africa, thus making the region the
oldest in Western Australia. Later around 1915 and again after World War II,
settlors from the old Dalmatia came with their homeland knowledge of the
industry and transformed the valley into the vineyards they are today.
We wandered along the Town Walk, starting with the heritage precinct
which was set aside in 1829 for civic and government buildings. The first
government buildings were built in 1841 and include two prison cells, a
constable’s room and a set of stocks. We wandered past the Mechanic’s
Institute, the Post Office, chapels and churches, the Town Hall, Pubs, the Commissariat
Store, past many shops selling second hand goods, and quaint cafes.
We stood outside Brockman House and read how the long-time resident had
once, with her aboriginal servant, saved shipwrecked souls off the SS Georgette in 1876 at the tender age
of sixteen, so impressing a young man who lived far to the south, that he
hurried to meet this heroine and was to subsequently marry her. They lived
happily ever after in this quaint cottage and what a story they had to tell
their grandchildren!
We passed the Guildford Primary School just after the last bell and
watched the cavalcades of cars arrive to collect the little darlings, all clad
in red and blue. This school is historically significant, being the oldest
school in Western Australia and still retaining part of its 1868 structure. It
is also the oldest continuous operating state school in the state and the third
oldest in Australia.
It was a most pleasant outing and was beyond our expectations. Perhaps
historic Guildford is omitted from the tour schedules of most Perth visitors?
Such a shame.
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