Walebing

Statement of Significance

The Cultural Heritage value of the "Walebing" buildings has been considered as a group. The buildings themselves are of greatest value as a precinct, or a collection whose individual uses collectively illustrate the way of life and operation of a "station" as an entity. ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Aesthetic Value The homesteads and farm buildings at "Walebing" are simply detailed. The roof forms (basic hips, gables and skillions at varying pitch), and wall structure combine to form buildings which are attractive. However, the community generally has little opportunity to view these buildings as they are not visible from the highway. "Walebing'' is extremely important in its entirety, as a precinct which has a singular character created by its individual components. Collectively, they form a very significant cultural environment. Historic Value The buildings illustrate the "pioneer" development of the locality. Difficult conditions, with a restricted availability of labour and materials lead to slow progress. Farming initially was not greatly more financially rewarding than "subsistence" level, and slow capital accumulation illustrate the very difficult human occupation and evolution of the locality. The fact that the majority of the buildings were constructed with the aid of convict labour is in itself important. The minor acceleration of development of the whole colony of Western Australia came with the availability of convicts in 1850. The buildings have significance for their close association with significant persons. Anthony O'Grady Lefroy (1816-1897) held numerous positions of importance in the government of Western Australia, including Colonial Treasurer. Sir Henry Bruce Lefroy, eldest son of Anthony O'Grady, gave community and State service including his becoming the Premier of Western Australia in 1917. The Lefroy links to the region and their association with New Norcia are important and significant. The buildings have importance as an example of achievement in a particular period. The construction of the buildings in the 1850s appears to have been quite an achievement for the period. The resources (finance, manpower, construction materials) were not readily available or obtainable. The main homestead is perhaps less of an achievement (though still a major undertaking) because the property was more established at that time. Scientific Value The cultural history of Western Australia has an important reference site at "Walebing". Written, drawn and photographic records can to some extent pass on the details to future generations, but the importance of the buildings in their context on the site is not reproducible . Social Value "Walebing'' is important to the local rural community for largely social reasons familiarity with the long­ standing use and occupation by the Lefroy family and their various family branches in the area. The present Lefroy's are descendants of the original settlers. "Walebing" and other pioneering stations contribute strongly to their various local community's sense of place in that they were the first points of settlement and thus the initial focus of any future development. Rarity The buildings are significant for their rarity, in that, there is unlikely to be found in Western Australia the same combination of various uses of buildings grouped together in a homogenous and well-preserved entity. The buildings represent way of life that is in danger of being lost. The concept of a self-contained rural community such as "Walebin g" with proprietors, staff and livestock accommodated in a singular area, geared to run to serve its own nee9s, is a function no longer truly evident in the State. Buildings no longer required to be used on the property (ie, staff quarters) are the most deteriorated and will eventually disappear without conservation measures being applied. DEGREE OF SIGNIFICANCE Representativeness The cluster of buildings at "Walebing" have all the attributes which identify it as being characteristic of its class as a rural station. Condition The buildings at "Walebing'' are in relatively good physical condition. Given that they are relatively rigid structures, with floorings on a relatively elastic foundation material, it is fortuitous that further deterioration than what exists has not occurred. Generally this is because the buildings have been in continuous use, and thus have been maintained . The buildings 'D's collapse, and the imminent collapse of a portion of building 'C', are due to the fact that they are no longer in use. The buildings are in extremely good condition in relation to each of the values for which "Walebing" has been assessed. Integrity The long term viability or sustain ability of the values identified is quite clearly possible. Authenticity The "Walebing" buildings are generally all in an original state. The decay of building 'D' (former bulk store and living quarters of "Walebing" employees) has occurred in such a way that restoration (by reassembling the wall components) and reconstruction (with new roofing timber and iron following the example of the remaining portion) of the building is possible. This building has authentic features still intact, despite its collapse, including hand-forged hardware to doors and windows.

Physical Description

Physical Evidence The building is described in From Ireland to Western Australia 1842 as follows: "H.B. Lefroy built a house at "Walebing" in 1880 with the intention of living there and managing the property. It is a large building of granite and brick and possesses many attractive features that were lacking in the old building by de Courcy. It was a work involving a great deal of labour. All the necessary timber was hand-sawn and dressed in the Bindoon pits, including the jarrah roof shingles. The latter have since been covered with corrugated iron, and the residence remains sturdy, cool and weatherproof." Generally the 1880 main homestead is the most sophisticated construction on the site. One of the most appealing features of the collection of buildings at Walebing is the homogeneity achieved by the use of the local granite for the construction of the walls. This stone is attractively presented in slightly differing formats throughout the various structures. The difference is attributable to the time spans between the date of construction of each building. Thus the stonemasons were different and possibly the method of procuring granite was different. Some portions of walls appear to have been built with granite that was readily available, that is, manageable block sizes laying on top of the ground. Others have quarried rock which may have been procured with the assistance of fires lit on granite outcrops to split them.

History

Assessment 1996 Construction 1950-1880 Restoration after 1892 Evidence The "Walebing buildings have retained that name from the original station of that name on the property. (1) The property was initially established in the late 1840s by the transfer of Anthony O'Grady Lefroy's and Gerald de Courcy Lefroy's sheep holdings from a base at "Victoria Downs" near Bolgart.(2) The Lefroys ·appear to have gradually worked their way north from their initial experience - gathering and familiarisation at "Tipperary'' near York in 1842, and Springhill near Northam in 1844. Anthony O'Grady Lefroy leased "Victoria Down" at Bolgart in late 1846, and Gerald de Courcy Lefroy secured the rights to the land at "Walebing" on 8 December 1846. It appears that for the next few years they gradually established the property. By mid-May 1848, it had been arranged by the Lefroys that a Mr Beer should take over the lease hitherto held by them at Bolgart, and that all the sheep would be placed on the Walebing property. They transferred themselves and their remaining sheep to "Walebing", and very shortly work was begun on the first small house there. Gerald de Courcy, when he was not away, and until the house was finished, lived in what he called a "mia". This was, in mid 1848, a hut made from stone and earth, with a rush roof. It remained in existence until 1892, when most of it was destroyed by fire. The "Walebing" property was increased in August 1851 to 80,000 acres and by that time the house de Courcy had started to build the previous November was nearing completion, despite disasters such as "thirty feet of wall fell down, flat as a pancake." The outside walls had stone foundations, but rammed earth formed the supports of the interior ones. The floor was of ants' nest, lime, and sand in equal proportions. The rooms were in size; 20 x 17 feet, 14 x 17, 10 x 17 and 8 x 17 feet. Gerald de Courcy was assisted in the work by a man named Pike, who agreed to erect the stonework at threepence a yard, and be paid 5/- a day for laying the bricks. Mud bricks and pug mortar were used. This house was burnt down, along with the "mia" as already mentioned, in 1892. However the house was rebuilt using the same walls and foundations. This assessment refers to a number of different buildings (as depicted in the site plan): the original homestead completed in 1851/52 (building 'B'); the 'light' horse stables were erected in the 1850s by convict labour (building 'E'); 1852 living quarters for "Walebing" employees were constructed (building 'D'); the men's kitchen/dining room, cook's room and store room is also c. 1850s (building 'C'); the 'old' shearing shed has a 1859 inscription (building 'G'); main homestead was built 1880 (building 'A'); Other buildings include: a new shearing shed (building 'F'); a storeroom under the flour mill (building 'H'); foundation of "horse works" (building 'I'); a meat house (building'K') and a 'heavy' horse stables (building 'J'). The horse-works comprised machinery for gearing to the flour-mill, chaff cutter and other mechanical appliances. It was impelled by a horse which pulled a wooden bar or crank round the perimeter of a fifty foot circle. The majority of the buildings at "Walebing" were built in the 1850s with the aid of convict labour. After Gerald de Courcy Lefroy left in 1856 the property was largely developed by overseers, Anthony O'Grady Lefroy's principal business being in Perth. In the late 1870s, Henry Bruce Lefroy (eldest son of Anthony O'Grady Lefroy) took up residence at "Walebing". and was responsible for the construction of the main homestead in 1880, described in the following section.

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