Uda Bremer

Statement of Significance

Uda Bremer is a substantial Federation style house and is significant for its associations with the Mitchell family.

Physical Description

Uda Bremer is a single storey brick house with a hipped corrugated iron roof and a verandah on all sides. The front facade is symmetrical with a central front door flanked by large segmental bays with double hung timber sash windows. The verandah has been substantially modified. Internally the room sizes are generous and ceilings are high. Finishes and workmanship are of a high standard.

History

The house was built in 1904-1905 for Harry and Minna Mitchell (née Thomson) on a hill east of Donnybrook, overlooking the town. A square-shaped building, the house originally had five bedrooms, sitting room, dining room, hall, kitchen and bathroom, with high ceilings of pressed metal, and verandahs on all sides. The bricks were hand made on the property. There were five fireplaces, including one in the bathroom. The sitting room and main bedroom had large bay windows overlooking the Preston River. The original building cost a total of £600 ($1200). In 1951, when Jim Mitchell renovated the house, a new bathroom and inside lavatory were added and the doorway changed from the kitchen to the living room. On his death in 1970, the house was sold. Further changes were made, and the rear verandah was enclosed. The internal walls remain mainly original and the pressed metal ceilings extant in 2012. For many years Uda Bremer was the only brick home in the townsite. It was the family home for three generations of the Mitchell family. Harry Mitchell (who was Sir James Mitchell's brother) was a surveyor and did a lot of voluntary surveying in the town. Minna Mitchell was known for her hospitality. She worked very hard to raise money to build the Anglican Church, and worked for the Church all her life. Their sons started a butchering business during the Depression when it was not viable to sell their stock (cattle, sheep and pigs) away. When retail demand grew, Harry Mitchell and James Egan built the first butcher’s shop in the town. Jim Mitchell grew potatoes and worked to have the Potato Marketing Board established. He was a member of the Roads Board, an active member of the Liberal Party, and President of the Golf Club when it moved to the present grounds. Reports from Minna Drake-Brockman (née Mitchell) noted that when she was a girl, from about 1912, Aborigines on their way to Busselton camped near Uda Bremer. Her mother would cook stew or porridge in the copper in the wash-house, where she kept many bowls for their use, and having eaten the stew they would wash up their bowls and put them away until their next visit. An old Aboriginal called Kabul used to lived in his own room adjoining the wash-house. He had helped Harry Mitchell on his surveying trips and later helped in the garden and with odd jobs.

Integrity/Authenticity

Much of the original fabric remains. Modifications in the 1951 and the 1970s include the verandah posts and flooring and the form of the verandah.

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update