Blackwood Inn

Statement of Significance

Blackwood Inn is a former staging inn, about 150 years old which, together with its outbuildings, (now on a separate title on the opposite side of the road) illustrates the early method of horse transportation and the associated need for closely connected accommodation for travellers, before the railway linked the southern towns and well before the motor car became the predominant method of transportation. Blackwood Inn and Anchor & Hope Inn are the finest remaining stage inns in the district and Blackwood Inn is particularly important because of the existence of surviving outbuildings. Blackwood Inn is a good example of a Victorian Georgian building and is a landmark on the South Western Highway. Its original owner was John Bovell, an important figure in the early history of the district, and it is likely to have accommodated many prominent citizens when it was operating as a staging inn.

Physical Description

Blackwood Inn is a single storey brick building with a hipped corrugated iron roof in the Victorian Georgian style. The building is one room deep with a verandah along the front. It is intact and occupied, though no longer licensed. It is situated in a valley beside a creek and faces the South West Highway. The original roof shingles are still visible under the verandahs. The original outbuildings are across the road and are on a separate title. They consist of three barns. The oldest is of rough jarrah slabs and has lost its roof. The other two barns are of timber, brick and iron and are still used.

History

Blackwood Inn is located on part of Nelson Location 23, which was taken up by the first settler at Mullalyup, William Coverley (b. 1826; convicted, 1850; arr. April 1853; ticket-of-leave, May 1853; conditional pardon, Jan. 1855, m. Letitia Selby Andrews, August 1855; d. 23 Oct. 1886). In 1860, he and his wife and their two children settled at the farm he named Ellen’s Grove (where a further nine children were born) and the 40 acres of freehold land was registered in his name in 1861. It was later bisected by the Blackwood-road (later South Western Highway) and consequently Coverley’s homestead house and the dairy were on one side of the road and the barn, stable, pigsty and stockyard were on the other side, as shown in a sketch dated 26 March 1880. In November 1881, Thomas Maslin applied for an eating, boarding and lodging house licence that he occupied or intended to occupy on the Blackwood Road, which he and his wife operated at the place. In 1883, Nelson Location 23was transferred to Thomas Maslin. In April 1889, after it was transferred to John Bovell, Police Corporal, of Perth, he gave notice that he was applying for a Wayside House licence for ‘the house and appurtenances … situated at Ellen’s Grove … containing 2 sitting, and 3 bedrooms’ exclusive of those required for his family, that was currently licensed as a Boarding and Lodging House by Thomas Maslin, which he intended to name ‘the Blackwood Inn’, and ‘to keep as an Inn or Public House.’ (Western Mail 18 May 1889, p. 18.) John Bovell (b. County Antrim, 1846, d. Mullalyup, 1900) established the Blackwood Inn as a staging place for road travelers, accommodating visitors to the district and a social centre for local people who enjoyed dances and parties frequently held at the Inn. In 1899, John Bovell acquired further landholdings in the vicinity. After he died in 1900, his widow, Mary Ann Bovell, continued to operate the place as the Blackwood Inn, which was advertised as the ‘Oldest Hotel in the district … a ‘Favourite Resort of Visitors from all over the State’, with fruit from its own orchard and dairy produce from their own cows, horses and vehicles available for hire, ‘Beautiful Scenery’ and a ‘Comfortable Home’. (Western Australia: Garden of the Colony. 1895) Post-World War I, the Inn was operated by Bill Oliver, and later by a man named Palandris. In the 1970s, A. dell’Agostino owned the Blackwood Inn. In the early 2000s, the place continues to be occupied. Together with the Anchor and Hope Inn at Donnybrook, it is the finest remaining staging inn in the Shire. It is especially significant that the outbuildings of the Blackwood Inn are extant.

Integrity/Authenticity

The place is used for its original and intended use of residence and the use of staging inn is legible. Although some modifications have been made, much of the original fabric remains, including shingles under the corrugated iron roof sheeting.

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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