Old Block Road

Parent Place or Precinct

17951 Wanneroo Road Group

Statement of Significance

• The site has historic value for its association with the methods of road building and transport in the 19th century.
• The site has significance for its association with the period of convict labour in Western Australia.
• The site has historic value for its association with the early period of settlement in Wanneroo when this former road was one of the few methods of access to the region.

Physical Description

No evidence of the old timber blocks remains extant with only interpretative signage commemorating the earlier form of road.
The old block road was located to the west of the current Wanneroo Road with the plaque erected midway along Mangano Place in a small public garden. The plaque erected to identified the road is worded as follows; The Old Wanneroo ‘Block’ Road
The old ‘Block’ Road passed adjacent to this point and wooden blocks were found here during works in the late 1980s. Jarrah blocks had been cut and laid in two rows with sand in between to form parts of Wanneroo Road. In later years limestone, instead of sand, was used in between the blocks. By 1900 between the 10 mile and the 14 mile was a mixture of sand and planks, with wooden blocks used to the 16 mile at Wanneroo. The wooden blocks were thick slices of tree trunks. Local settlers
supplemented their income by cutting these for the Wanneroo Road Board. The Road Boar recognised the need for a bituminised road and by 1930 most of the main road was bitumen. Feeder roads were still made of blocks or planks. Using sustenance labour during the depression a good road was completed to Yanchep National Park in the mid 1930s.

History

The first road to the Wanneroo district was a sandy track that was difficult to traverse with horse and cart. The track was improved with blocks of wood laid in the approximate location of the wheel ruts. Sand was spread between the jarrah blocks and later crushed limestone. Convicts worked on the construction of the road to Wanneroo for approximately three years and it served as the main transport route for the early settlers in the district until the mid-20th century. It is not clear how far the road was constructed from blocks but was likely to have been only as far as the Wanneroo townsite. The road did extend to the Yanchep and then provided the main link to the north of the state as it was the alignment of the North West Stock Route north of Yanchep. There was some disappointment among the early settlers that this road was not the alignment of the major stock route south of Yanchep which was located west of the Old Block Road. Wanneroo Road was paved c1930 and the jarrah blocks were ripped up and many were used for firewood. A section of blocks were found in the late 1980s which were subsequently removed. Portions of the Old Wanneroo Road are still visible alongside the current Wanneroo Road, frequently providing a service road function. One portion to the west of Wanneroo Road between Pipidinny Road and Lacey Road in Eglinton is a sandy track within an avenue of eucalypts. It also features original timber fence posts.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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