Forest Hill and Moriarty - Camballup Trails

Statement of Significance

Forest Hill and Moriarty-Camballup trails have cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • They were significant in sustaining the development of cattle farming in the Gordon River and Forest Hill regions. They also contributed to the opening up of coastal pastoral lands between Denmark and Walpole and to the establishment of the settlement at Peaceful Bay. • The trails, with the camping and watering places along them, are important physical reminders of the former necessity, due to a lack of trace elements in the soil, for annual droving routes in the South-West between inland farms and coastal grazing runs. They also demonstrate the difficulties and vicissitudes that faced drovers taking stock along their length. • They are associated with several pioneering families, such as the Muirs, the Hassells, the Moirs and the Moriartys, all of whom were important in the development of the region and instrumental in the opening up and regular use of these cattle pads. • They are valued by those in the local community who are keen to retain evidence of this aspect of the history of South-West cattle farming. • They are significant for their contribution to the natural landscape of the region as cultural elements that survive as trails through relatively unspoilt bushland.

Physical Description

The trails, while formally unmarked, nevertheless remain in similar condition to the period in which they were used. The native vegetation remains much as it was during the period of the cattle droving, although it may be somewhat thicker due to the cessation of regular burning. While few visible remnants remain, there is evidence of blazed trees, ruins, stone ovens, watering places and river fords, all of which confirm the route of the original trail.

History

Forest Hill and Moriarty-Camballup trails, comprising sections of two former unofficial stock routes (dating from 1870 and c.1900 respectively), were opened up and utilized by settlers to access coastal pastures for their stock each summer. Both routes are situated in largely undeveloped forest country between the Muirs and South Coast Highways, westwards to Mount Barker. Originally, they were part of a droving network that once brought cattle annually from as far north as Kendenup and even Tenterden and Cranbrook to coastal runs such as Quarram, near Irwin Inlet, and Crystal Springs, west of Walpole. These remnant sections are now known as the Forest Hill Trail dating from the 1870s and the Moriarty-Camballup trail, a short cut which was opened up post 1900. The trails have not been used for cattle droving since George Higgins brought through a herd in 1972.

Uses

Creation Date

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