Dardanup Park Homestead

Values

· The place is closely associated with Thomas Little who development the farm and built the homestead on the property.
· The place is associated with Henry Venn who was the commissioner for Railway and the Director of Public Works for a period.
· The place is an excellent example of a large Victorian Homestead.
· The place has associations with the settlement of the Dardanup area and the early pioneers of Western Australia.
· The place is associated through the donation of land to the development of the local irish catholic religious community as well as the establishment of immigrants from Ireland to regional Western Australia.

Physical Description

ŸDouble storey Ÿ
Verandahs surrounds Ÿ
Handmade brick wall Ÿ
Metal corrugated iron roofing Ÿ
Five bedrooms, banquet dining room, lounge room, kitchen, cellar, drawing room, and sunroom.

History

There are no confirmed origins of the town's name. Explanations vary from "a place of swamp reed" to "burial ground by the water". The present name Dardanup is derived from the name 'Dudginup' which was used by the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The first settlers arrived in the 1840s, mostly Irish immigrants who received land grants from the government with the prospects of farming the land. However, prior to this in the late 1830s, Charles Robert Prinsep, the Advocate General for the East India Company at Calcutta, purchased land through his appointed estate manager Mr Thomas Little to establish a horse breeding and sleeper cutting enterprise for export to India. Mr Thomas Little also bought land for Charles Robert Prinsep in Dardanup known as ‘Paradise’, ‘Henty Block’ and “Prinsep Park’. Charles Prinsep (Snr) had a large consignment of horses which was wrecked in 1870 at the end of a journey to India which placed him in financial difficulties. This misfortune and personal financial ruin of Prinsep led Little to purchase and establish Dardanup Park in 1842 as a farming venture of his own. In 1851 he built a most substantial two-storey house on his property which is located 1km to the West of Dardanup. Little was a staunch Roman Catholic and played the leading role in establishing an Irish Catholic community in the area. Thomas Little (Snr) was born in Ireland in 1800 and arrived from India with his wife Eliza and only child Thomas Willian Little. He was the manager of Charles Prinsep’s (snr) estate. He moved to his own property in Dardanup in 1854 . He settled several Irish families on 100acres blocks. He also gave 50 acres for a church to be built by 1857 and a school..’ Later became the home of the Venn family. Henry Venn became the commissioner of Railways and the Director of Public Works in 1896.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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