Mead Homestead

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The place has aesthetic value as a distinct cultural environment, being an intact collection of vernacular farm buildings of the 19th century within a cleared pasture setting surrounded by native bushland. The close proximity of Lake Cooloongup further enhances the setting of the place. The various landscape features, including the remnant fig trees, mulberry tree, peppermint tree, mature gum trees, the tankstands represent early plantings on the site and combine with the buildings to create pleasing environs. Historic Value: The place is associated with the Mead family, who were pioneers in this State and owned the property for over 130 years, and much of the existing fabric of the building features in the family’s history, for example the three consecutive dwellings, the various working buildings, remnant fig orchards and other specific trees all illustrate aspects of their lives. The place is historically significant as one of the earliest land grants in the area, and combines with other remaining homes such as Key Cottage, Smirk’s Cottage, Paradise Cottage and Pines Cottage to form a precinct that represents the early settlement of the East Rockingham district. Social Value: The place is among a number of significant sites in the area which provide the district with a sense of history and permanence.Mead Homestead has social significance due to interest and support for its retention from the City of Kwinana, the Mead family and members of the local community. The recent occupancy of the place by Horse Power Peel Group has brought more members of the community to the place who have actively sought to preserve and restore it. Level of significance: Exceptional

Physical Description

Lealholm (mead Homestead) comprises an early farming property located south of the East Rockingham Cemetery and east of the railway line, with access via Mead Road, a dirt track that extends east from Mandurah Road. The place includes the early homestead, outbuildings, working buildings and remnant orchard, all set within the setting of cleared pasture. The site also includes a raised mound believed to be the site of the first cottage, a raised pathway between the dairy and homestead, and a number of tree including peppermints, fig trees, a mulberry, and large gum known as ‘the killing tree’. The homestead is built of masonry, the older part made using the local East Rockingham limestone (vuggy lacustrine limestone) with lime mortar, the newer with red brick and a weak cement mortar. The building comprises a main house with a verandah along the rear and south side, and a semi-detached room which was formerly the kitchen. The entire homestead has a timber-framed hipped roof clad with corrugated galvanised iron. External openings in the limestone part of the building are trimmed with red brick quoining. Windows are typically timber-framed side-hung casements, while doors are timber-framed doors with patterned glass inserts. Four outbuildings occupy the yard immediately south of the homestead. A limestone toilet with an adjoining timber-framed laundry and store (clad with fibro) is situated near the former kitchen. An old timber tank stand and lean-to are located just south of the toilet and laundry. West of this are two timber-framed huts clad with fibro and corrugated iron roofs. The barn is a timber-framed structure constructed of vertical bush poles with milled hardwood rafters supporting the corrugated iron roof, which is hipped, with a gable on the south. The external walls are clad with corrugated iron (interior lined with timber boards) and the building comprises one main volume and stables opening out onto yards on the north. The dairy is in a ruinous condition, with no roof and only partial limestone walls remain extant.

History

The site was first purchased by Henry Mead c.1854. Henry was later joined by his brother, William Mead c.1860s. While Henry’s purchase was finalised in 1857, William himself was not granted title to the land until 1878. The property was named Lealholm after the village in Yorkshire from which the Mead brothers had come, and was used primarily to raise small animals (larger animals were grazed on the commonage on the west side of Mandurah Road until at least the 1960s) and grow vegetables, crops and fruit trees. In 1860, William planted approximately 70 fig trees near where the ruined dairy now stands and along the drive. The first house built on the property was a wattle-and – daub one-roomed dwelling (no longer extant), while the second house, was built using limestone obtained from the property and was believed to have be constructed in time for William’s wife and children to move into, c. 1860. In 1895 a third and larger house was built closer to Mandurah Road, using stone sourced from the swamp land on the other side of the road, between Office and Dixon Roads. A barn and shed were constructed at about the same time as the house, which by this time was occupied by William’s eldest daughter Hannah, and her husband (and first cousin) George Mead and eight children. After George’s death in 1917, his third son Andrew took over the farm, and along with his wife, Muriel (nee Pollard), planted the peppermint tree still standing in the backyard from seed obtained on their honeymoon in Busselton. During the inter-war years, Andrew Mead bought up a substantial amount of East Rockingham land and established a dairy herd at Lealholm, it was also during this time that much of the land was cleared using local men. Following Andrew’s death in 1946, Lealholm was run by his sons Murray and Colin, and it was not long after, in the early 1950s, that the government resumed part of the Mead property for the future suburb of Medina. Despite the deaths of both Murray\ and Colin during this decade, and the cessation of dairying operations forced by the subdivision of the land, the Mead family descendants continued to occupy the property until 1989, when it was finally sold to the government. Following the transfer of the property to the state government the place was occupied by tenants but gradually fell into disuse and then was extensively vandalised and a fire caused siginificant damage. In 2014, the property was leased to Peel Riding for Disabled (HorsePower Peel Group) and grant funds were secured from the State Government for conservation works and rebuilding. These funds have enabled the construction of buildings and groundworks for the group to establish a thriving organisation however no works have been undertaken on the former homestead.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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