3 Cottages

Parent Place or Precinct

03367 Buckingham Mill Precinct

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Buckingham Mill - Site

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Statement of Significance

Buckingham Mill, has cultural heritage significance for its historic association with timber milling in the district. Its operations resulted in the establishment of the Buckingham townsite.

Physical Description

Historic Site

History

Thomas Buckingham and his brother Alexander arrived in Australia in 1850. Alexander’s sons Ernest and James arrived in Collie in 1911 and opened a mill at Buckingham. The steam-powered mill was built about 1km north of the railway line and connected to the WAGR line in 1912 at Buckingham’s Siding. The traction engine known as ‘Polly’, now located at the Collie Visitor Centre was used to haul lots to the mill and to shunt sawn timber to the WAGR siding. The mill closed during the depression years but reopened in 1933. The West Australian reported that ‘the mill has been closed down for a long time and the announcement is therefore particularly welcome. The mill is about 12 miles east of Collie, and is one of the largest in the district’. Fire ravaged the Buckingham area in 1944 and 1945 with much of the town including 11 buildings and ‘practically all the timber stacks at Buckingham’s Mill being destroyed in February 1945. The mill was operated by Buckingham Bros until 1954 when it was sold to the State Saw Mills. The Sunday Times of 4 July that year reported that ‘the industry will regret the passing out of Buckingham Bros as an entity in sawmilling…but the name will carry on for a very long period, as the mill at Buckingham has a considerable life ahead of its present location’. In 1960, the State Building Supplies (formerly State Saw Mills) was sold and Hawker Siddeley Buildings Supplies took over the mill. Further investigation is required to determine the exact location of the mill.

Integrity/Authenticity

None/ None

Condition

None

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Cabbage Tree Hotel - Site

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Statement of Significance

Site - Cabbage Tree Hotel is not considered to have cultural heritage significance. It was included in the 1996 Shire of Collie Municipal Heritage Inventory and the record is being retained for information purposes only.

Physical Description

Historic Site

History

HW Williams (One Day in Collie 1979 p73) records that the Cabbage Tree Hotel was located near Muja ‘at about the 13-mile peg on the Darkan Road’ and had been built for Mr Thomas George Collie. Mr Collie’s daughter, Mrs Marley related that on arrival in the area, her mother was much taken with the Christmas trees in flower which she thought looked like cabbage gone to seed and decided to call the property ‘Cabbage Trees’. Mr Williams writes that this name was also recorded on an earlier map of the area. As the Narrogin railway line was due for construction Mr Collie arranged for the construction of his hotel by Mr Telfer. The hotel was opened on 7 October 1900 on the same day as the Narrogin Line. Robert Henry Caine successfully applied for the transfer of the Cabbage Tree Hotel licence from TG Collie in April 1913. In December of that year it was reported that ‘under instructions from the trustee of Mr TG Collie’s estate, the well-known Cabbage Tree Hotel at Muja, near Collie’ would be sold. The property was leased at an annual rent of £156. The hotel was advertised for auction in The Daily News of 10 December 1913, the Cabbage Tree Hotel ‘situated at Muja, near Collie, together with 100 Acres CP land. The Hotel is a wood and iron building erected about 6 years ago, contains 8 rooms and 3 detached rooms, also dancing hall 32ft x 16ft, only erected last year. It is leased for 5 years at a rental of £3 per week; Lessee paying all rates and taxes and insurances (£500). The Premier Coal Mine, employing 100 to 150 men, is only 4 miles away. Messrs. Buckingham Bros Sawmill, employing 30 to 40 men is only 2 miles distant, and Messrs. Bunning Bros are erecting a sawmill about one mile from the hotel.’ (p10). In July 1918 application for transfer of Wayside House license for Cabbage Tree Hotel from Caine to William Lucas of Muja. Caine is listed as a hotel proprietor in Muja in the 1918 Post Office Directories. There is no newspaper record of the licensee until Ellen Dawson transferred the licence to Herbert Gordon Merritt in November 1927 who was licensee until June 1929 when Arthur Newport Pyke took the licence. That month Merritt advertised that the Cabbage Tree Hotel had been sold. Pyke transferred the licence to George Frederick Jackson White in September 1930. Ellen Dawson transferred the licence to James Dawson in November 1931. At some point the licence was transferred Walter Hines Dawson who, in June 1935 transferred it to Frederick Stephen Benson . Benson held the licence for only a few months transferring it to Stuart Wylie Baillie in December the same year. Baillie applied for a transfer of the licence to William Henry Taylor a short time later, in March 1936. The month before, an advertisement in the West Australian indicates that the hotel had been sold. Only 7 months later, Taylor transferred the licence to Hermann Ferdinand Schultz. Schultz remained as licescee until May 1938 when the licence was transferred to Arthur Youd. In May 1940 Richard Richards handed over the reigns to John Frederick William Everett and then Harry Wicks to William John Watson in July 1942 and to Bridget Theresa McMahon in October 1943. It is believed that the Cabbage Tree Hotel closed during the 1940s, perhaps due to being destroyed by fire in late 1943 . The Cabbage Tree Hotel was named after the Muja or ‘cabbage tree’, more commonly known as the WA Christmas Tree (Nuytisa floribunda).

Integrity/Authenticity

None / None

Condition

None

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Coal Mine Site - Muja Open Cut

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Statement of Significance

Muja Open Cut Mine (formerly Hebe Deep Cut Mine), Coalfields Hwy, Muja, is considered to have cultural heritage significance for its association with coal mining in the Collie region and for its influence on the development of the region following discovery of the Hebe coal seam.

Physical Description

Open cut mine which joins the Muja open cut mine with a lotal length of four kilometres and a depth of 200m.

History

A government exploration borehole revealed the Hebe coal seam in 1952. Like other coal seams, this seam was named after a mythological Greek God, Hebe, goddess of youth. In January 1955 Mines Minister Lionel Kelly advised that Collie coal production had exceeded one million tons per year from deep and open cut mining activities with over 1700 men employed on the coalfields. In February of that year it was reported that workers from the Griffin Mine were being transferred to the new Hebe Colliery at South Muja (Sunday Times 6 February 1955, p16). The Hebe mine was flooded in April 1965 when a borehole hit an aquifer. An estimated 5 millions gallons of water flowed into the mine every 24 hours. The deep cut mine, which was abandoned following the flood, employed about 230 men and produced about 1000 tons of coal a day at the time. Griffin continued to operate the open cut mine. Premier Coal (Western Collieries at the time) began work on the seam in 1997. In September 2012, the Collie Mail reported that mining of the Hebe coal seam would cease in November. The General Manager of Premier Coal said that the development of Collie was significantly influenced by the discovery of the Hebe Seam. ‘Most of the power stations on the coalfield, including Muja, were only built after the Hebe seam was discovered.’

Integrity/Authenticity

None/ None

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Buckingham School (fmr)

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Statement of Significance

Buckingham Hall, a weatherboard and iron hall, has cultural heritage significance for its social significance as a school for the children of workers at the Buckingham and Bunnings mills and later as a community hall and meeting place.

Physical Description

Buckingham Hall is 60’ x 30’, including the 12’ addition. Set on sawn jarrah stumps, the timber framed building is clad externally with jarrah weatherboards. The roof is medium pitch, hipped with louvred gables, and clad with short sheet corrugated iron. The original hall had two sets of double louvred windows either side and a set of louvres either side of the entrance at the southern end. The former school has a steeper pitched hipped roof, and similar style double set of louvres either side and double exit door at the northern end. There is a face brick chimney in the north west corner, with simple brick corbelling. Windows are covered with cgi sheeting as at 2016. The supper room (old school has a hipped roof and is clad with jarrah weather boards matching the hall, and the extension between the buildings was opened in 1987. Internal description from 2010 Draft MHI: The hall has been connected with electricity and water tanks/stands. Internal walls are lined with fibro material. The floor is tongue and groove jarrah boards.

History

The site comprises the Buckingham Hall and the Muja School (fmr) and is located on the western side of the Collie River at Duderling Pool (approximately 80m away). The Buckingham Hall was constructed in 1954/55. In February 1945, the Buckingham community was devastated by fire. Newspaper reports at the time indicate that up to 11 houses, timber stacked at the mill and a general store were destroyed . It is thought however, that numerous other structures including the church, hall and pumphouse were also destroyed . In 1951, The West Australian reported that a new church had been constructed at Buckingham Siding to replace one destroyed in a bush fire ‘some years ago’ . The Draft Shire of Collie Municipal Heritage Inventory 2010 notes that the original Buckingham Hall was located on Shotts River Road but was destroyed by the 1945 fire. When the State Saw Mills purchased the Buckingham Mill in 1954 they built a new hall which is on the current site and was funded by a levy applied to the local ratepayers. The hall was managed by the Buckingham Progress Association . The hall has been extended at some stage to include the Muja school and an adjoining kitchen area as one building. The Draft Shire of Collie Municipal Heritage Inventory 2010 identifies the northern portion of the place as the former Muja School, describing it as having a steep pitched iron roof, weatherboard clad and on jarrah stumps, with a pair of double hung windows on the eastern and western sides and a brick chimney at the north western corner. It is adjoined to the Buckingham Hall and is used a kitchen. It was relocated from Muja to its current site after the mid 1950s.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium-High / High

Condition

Poor

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Buckingham Memorial Church

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Statement of Significance

Buckingham Memorial Church, a single storey, single room weatherboard and iron church built in the Federation Carpenter Gothic style, constructed in 1951 as a replica of the 1915 church destroyed by fire in 1944 has cultural heritage significance for its historic association with the township of Buckingham and the Buckingham family and for its aesthetic value as a good example of a church constructed in the Carpenter Gothic style. It is one of only a few buildings remaining in the Buckingham townsite.

Physical Description

The Buckingham Church is a simple rectangular timber building with a gabled roof and a small gabled entry porch. A skillion roofed addition has been built to the rear of the church. The main church building and porch are clad in weatherboards and the addition in asbestos cement sheeting. The roof is corrugated galvanised iron. Internally the church has vertical timber cladding to dado height and plasterboard walls and coved ceiling. A dais is located at the rear of the church and a door in the rear wall leads to the addition. The walls and ceiling of the addition are unlined. A small toilet block is located in the grounds near the church. It is timber framed with weatherboard cladding and has a low pitched corrugated iron roof.

History

This Historical Description is based on the Heritage Assessment and Conservation Policy for the Buckingham Memorial Church & St David’s Catholic Church (Worsley Church), Hocking Planning and Architecture 1996 The Buckingham family arrived in Western Australia in 1850. In 1911 Ernest and James Buckingham arrived in Collie, opening at mill at what became Buckingham. The first church at Buckingham was built for Ernest Buckingham with the first service conducted by Reverend Walsh on 1 November 1915. During the 1920s and 30s, the Church played an important role in the community with a Choir run by Elsie Dawson, an Endeavour Society and Sunday School. Socials were held in the Church and Community Hall. Despite the local mill closing during the depression years, services continued to be held every second Sunday. A fire destroyed the original church in 1944. Services were held in the home of Mr and Mrs L Stewart but number began to decline. Fires again hit Buckingham in 1945 destroying the Mill, eight houses, the general store and a hall. Ernest Buckingham initiated the construction of a new church, cutting and stacking the timber required, including that for pews. The Church was rebuilt to the original design by John Buckingham, with finance from his brothers Ernest and James. The pews were built by A Sproston, a member of the congregation. The non-denominational Church opened on 3 June 1951. Worshippers were primarily Methodist and Anglican. The West Australian of 8 June 1951 (p8) reported that a new church had been constructed at Buckingham siding to replace one destroyed in a bush fire. Mr Ernest Buckingham, the mill owner, provided the materials whilst his brother James, built the church. An organ was provided by the Forrest Park Methodist Church, Mt Lawley. The church was dedicated by Methodist Ministers, the Rev AR Wilbrey and the Rev I Vaughan. In 1954 the Buckinghams sold their mill to the State Saw Mill. By 1961, only the Methodists worshipped at the Church so Ernest Buckingham gave it to the Methodist Church. It was registered as the Buckingham Methodist Memorial Church in memory of Buckingham’s mother Elizabeth. The Church became a Uniting Church following the amalgamation of the Methodist, Congregational and Protestant Churches in Australia in 1977. Services are no longer held at the Church.

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ High

Condition

Fair

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Buckingham Residence

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Statement of Significance

Buckingham Family Residence, Shotts River Road, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • It is associated with James and Ernest Buckingham who established a mill at Buckingham in 1911.

History

Thomas Buckingham and his brother Alexander arrived in Australia in 1850. Alexander’s sons Ernest and James arrived in Collie in 1911 and opened a mill at Buckingham. The place is thought to have been home to the Buckingham family. James and Ernest ran the mill at Buckingham from 1911 until 1954 when it was sold to the State Saw Mills.

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ High

Condition

Good

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Buckingham Church

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