Orange Grove Farm

Statement of Significance

Orange Grove and the contribution of the Wheatley family is significant to the early settlement of the area. Aesthetic Value Orange Grove has aesthetic value as both a working farm and a homestead within a setting that includes an early driveway and garden plantings. Historic Value Orange Grove has historic value as the farm and homestead of Thomas Wheatley, a significant leader in the cattle industry in the region from the 1890’s. Research Value NA Social Value Orange Grove is of high social importance to the Wheatley family, currently being run by fourth and fifth successive generations of the family on this farm.

Physical Description

Orange Grove homestead is a large farmhouse which has had numerous additions but still retains evidence of the original structure. It has a double gable roof line of iron and Colorbond, with a third cross-gable centred at what is now considered the front of the home. The return verandah has a dropped raked roof. The original house (built c.1894) of wood fired clay bricks and mud mortar (made on the property), now consists of the main bedroom, dining room and two other bedrooms. The main bedroom floor has original wide floor boards, however some variations indicate a small extension to the room at some time. The c.1910 addition adjoining the southern side, is made of local stone, with brick and render quoining. This quoining consists of three to four courses of handmade brick at the base, with the remainder being a red wash over render. This render has false tuck point lines to create the appearance of bricks. This western portion of the house has two decorative niches flanking each side of the French doors. This addition includes a lounge with pressed metal ceiling. At the north east corner, there is another major addition, which was built as a maid and guest wing, and which entirely changed what was previously the front of the house. Also a later addition is the south-east corner, which is now the main entrance. This features large lintels, doors and windows which display some influence of the Inter-War Old English style. Based on the detailing and materials, both this addition and the verandah supports appear to have been constructed during the 1930s. The latter consist of a rectangular brick plinth with rendered, tapered masonry posts above, which display some influence of the Inter-War California Bungalow style. Note: The original verandah supports were typical timber posts, which the family recall were later used for creating shelters along the Wheatley Coast Stock Route. The original tree lined driveway still exists, however it now diverts to the southern side of the house rather than the northern side. Originally the driveway entrance was the extent of the road west out of Bridgetown, before it was extended through the Wheatley’s farm lots to extend all the way to Nannup.

History

Thomas Wheatley, eldest son of Peter and Ellen Wheatley, was one of three brothers who grew up in the Warren district before settling in the Blackwood. He married Eliza Mottram (who was from another pioneering family of the Warren district) in 1894. Thomas bought the Orange Grove property c.1890, as a holding for his business of droving other people’s cattle to Albany and later to Perth, where he would sell them at market, returning the earnings to owners minus a fee for his services. Tom married Eliza in 1894 and the first settlement on the property was a camp by the river, while Thomas built a home of handmade bricks. Thomas Wheatley was one of the first to breed cattle stocks in the district, which included predominantly Herefords in the early years. Orange Grove later produced butter fat, fruit and crossbred sheep. Thomas became a very well respected local farmer and was also well known in Perth, where he would regularly sell fine cattle of his own and others at market. In 1909, Thomas and his brother William (Parkville Farm) bought a small fruit case cutting mill from Curtze and Allnutt and enlarged the mill to fulfil larger Government contracts for telegraph poles and the mining industry. The mill was named Donnelly Mill, being situated on the Donnelly River, while the milling settlement became known as ‘Wheatley’. It was later sold to the Bunnings Brothers, and is now more commonly known as Donnelly Village, which is run as a tourist accommodation village. The stock route used by the Wheatley’s, for droving cattle to the coast for the summer, is somewhat known throughout the Warren-Blackwood district, with the name Wheatley Coast Road being applied to the road from Muirs Highway in Upper Warren, (near the original Wheatley farm) to the townsite of Northcliffe. The route then continued in a south - south easterly direction to Lake Maringup. In 1929, Thomas and Eliza built a home for themselves to retire to, after dividing the farm between their three sons. Their new home ‘Greystones’ was built on an eastern portion of Orange Grove farm. The original Orange Grove homestead was then occupied by their son, Sydney, who had married Marguerite “Peggy” Stuart in 1929. Based on the style of the current main entrance it appears likely that the major additions of that period were undertaken by the new occupants. The property remains a large cattle farm, run by two generations of the Wheatley family.

Integrity/Authenticity

High Orange Grove remains a family home and a working farm. Medium Orange Grove contains the original home, set within a number of alterations and additions.

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update