Runnymede & Florries Cottage Group, Binningup

Values

The place has aesthetic value for its simple form and being situated in a rural setting.
The place has associations with the Australian settlement instigated by the WA Land Company in the 1840s.
The place has associations with the Cundell, Piggot and Reading families.
The place has the potential to reveal constructions methods of wattle and daub buildings.
Due to the fragile nature of the construction, the place is an increasingly rare example of a wattle and daub residence located in an isolated rural setting.

Physical Description

The place comprises two ruinous cottages approximately 200 metres apart situated in a farming property.
The two cottages are of wattle and daub construction. One has a gabled roof clad with CGI, and the other a hipped roof clad with CGI. There are stone hearths and chimneys.
The ceiling of the gabled cottage is lined with hessian.

History

In 1840, the West Australian Company purchased land from Colonel Latour and Governor Stirling in what was to become the Australind area. With Marshall Clifton appointed as Chief Commissioner of the Company, the scheme was to allow the purchase of land based on the colonisation principles of the Wakefield system. Clifton and his family and others arrived in the Swan River Colony in 1841 and settled at the new town of Australind, named ‘Austral – Ind’ referring to the fact that it was south of India and in the hopes of attracting Indian Colonist to the new area. The Australind settlement failed with many absentee owners and the hardships of colonial life. Marshall Clifton was one of a number who stayed on at the town and continue to try and make a home and living in the Colony.
The place was part of Lot 41 of the Australind settlement, which was purchased by David Cundell in 1869/1870. Cundell had been a ticket of leave man employed by Benjamin Piggott of the nearby Springhill. He is said to have been responsible for the construction the one of the cottages in c. 1870. Cundell died in 1872 and his wife, Margaret, moved to Bunbury leaving the property vacant.
In 1872 Pigott’s nephew William Reading purchased Lot 41 and constructed that second cottage. Family history has it that the northern-most cottage (the second cottage) was erected for Florence Radding, William’s daughter.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity- Moderate
Authenticity- High

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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