Internees Hut

Statement of Significance

The place has strong historic value through its association with an Italian internee and the Makeham family who were the owners of the property during the construction of the building.
The place has a strong connection with the Soldier Settlement Scheme administered by the Soldiers Settlement Commission Act 1918.
The place has historic value through its connection to the Internment camps set up in Western Australia during WW11 and administered under the National Security Act 1939.
The place has social value for the manner in which the farmer and Internee combined to work together on the property, to construct dwellings and to operate the farm.

Physical Description

The Internees Hut consists of a largely intact building of modest construction. It is comprised of one room measuring 6.65 metres by 2.47 metres with raked ceiling. The exterior of the building displays cement courses reinforced with steel rods to a height of about one metre and topped with weatherboards that continue up to the skillion roofline on
three sides. The fourth side, facing east is covered in weatherboards that have been joined down the middle from the roofline to the base of the wall, indicating that the building has been extended at some stage into approximately double its original length. The joins have been covered with small square pieces of aluminium in an attempt to keep out the moisture. There are two windows set into the west wall of the hut. They are different sizes and have been altered and added to over the years. The front door has been cut down from a full-sized door and has been constructed of wide planks with ship-lap detailing and evidence of red/brown paint remains. The structure has been mainly lined with asbestos sheeting and the joins covered with batons. A section at the top of the east wall has been sealed with weatherboard in the area where the skillion roof is at the highest level. The floor is of wide butt jointed jarrah planks in fair condition. The flooring substructure appears unstable in places indicating issues with a deterioration of fabric below the floorboards. The hut is located in a farming property, surrounded by paddocks. A farmhouse and other outbuildings are located nearby.

History

The site of the Internees hut has been a farming property since the late 19th century.
English born Raymond Cecil Syayes Makeham (1893-1971) is designated as the owner of 704 Chapman Hill Road from 1926 to 1950 and during this period constructed a farmhouse on the property. Raymond Makeham served with the AIF during World War One and on his return secured this lot under the Soldier Settlement Scheme. Information from the Electoral Rolls indicates that Raymond and his wife Nellie MacDonald Ruane
(1897-1967) were living and working at Chapman Hill from at least 1921. It is noted that Raymond Makeham was not part of the Group 40 Chapmans Hill Settlement Scheme which was in operation during the Inter War period. With the onset of World War Two, the Federal Government initiated a program of internment of Italian born residents.
Thousands of Italians in Australia became the enemy as Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis. Many enemy 'aliens' were interned in Australia under the National Security Act 1939 and just over 20% of all Italians residents in Australia were interned' with up to 3,200 Italian POWs employed on farms in Western Australia. The Prisoner of War Control Centers [PWCC] were installed in Northcliffe, a high risk area where they used labourers to clear land for the War Service Land Settlement Scheme as well as in Margaret River. Prisoner of War Camps (as opposed to PWCC) such as Harvey, where 1,000 internees were retained before being distributed throughout the area were assessed as low
risk, usually non-combatants for the agricultural centre. This hut is understood to have been built in the 1940s and was occupied by an Internee and their family. Internees were required to assist with work around the farms, and in this instance, it appears that the resident Italian also worked on Makeham's farmhouse. How much work he did is unknown however, it appears that he constructed tapered verandah pylons (in line with the contemporary Californian Bungalow design genre) and was responsible for cementing the verandah floors. Remnants of a signature "POW" are visible in the corner of the verandah of the farmhouse. At the end of the war the Internees were released back into the community and the hut was used for a range of uses, most recently storage. In 2020, a heritage assessment of the Internee's Hut was undertaken to guide future conservation works. Since that time some conservation works have been undertaken and the place is currently vacant.

Condition

Fair

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.