Local Government
Bridgetown-Greenbushes
Region
South West
Greenfields/Boyup Brook Rds Bridgetown
MHI states A Class Reserve No. 680
Bridgetown-Greenbushes
South West
Constructed from 1890
Type | Status | Date | Documents | More information |
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(no listings) |
Type | Status | Date | Documents |
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(no listings) |
Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | More information | |
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Category | Description | ||||
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 29 Mar 2018 | Management Category C |
Management Category C |
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Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 28 Jun 2001 | Category 3 |
Category 3 |
Eight Mile Well is of significance as a place of conflict between early settlers and the local indigenous people.
Eight Mile Well is significant to the early settlement and development of the area as it supported travel between farms and towns, particularly in dry seasons. It also supported the establishment of small farms in the immediate area, under the Group Settlement Scheme of the 1920s.
Aesthetic Value
NA
Historic Value
Eight Mile Well is of historic value concerning the conflict reported to have taken place at this site in 1860, between the local indigenous Kineyang people and European settlers
Eight Mile Well is of historic significance, demonstrating a way of life before motor vehicle transport replaced the need for watering travelling stock.
It is also associated with the development of the associated school and nearby farms of the Group Settlement Scheme.
Research Value
NA
Social Value
Wells were often a place of social value as they were a resting point and place of social interaction between people either travelling together or crossing paths. The Reserve later became of high social value as a school site and as a place of public recreation.
Eight Mile Well is part of a natural water course without a man- made well. Nearby and still visible, just a short distance into the bush, are some of the large jarrah fencing poles which made a holding yard for horses and stock. However it is difficult to traverse to what is left of the water course due to overgrown vegetation.
Eight Mile Well is thought to have originally been used as a traditional watering hole by the local indigenous Kaniyang people. Interceding use of this precious resource by European settlers may have led to the conflict between the two groups at this site in the 1860’s. “The attack reportedly took place prior to any police being stationed in Bridgetown and was carried out by a group of settlers. The survivors of the attack were reported to have relocated to Three Acre Pool on the Blackwood River above Bridgetown. They subsequently caught chicken pox and in an attempt to cool their fever, they bathed in the Blackwood River, which in turn gave them pneumonia that eventually killed them”. (Hadley 1995)
In the 1890s it became one of a chain of watering points which served mail coaches, farmers and other travellers, regardless of the dry summers. Amongst others, this served an early Mail Coach route, which included the run to James Lee Steeres ‘Jayes’ property and the Blackwood Police Station No. 2.
In 1924, the Eight Mile Well area became part of the Group Settlement Scheme. A newspaper report at that time speaks of the Eight Mile Well already being in use, with more wells being made to suffice the new landowners until their water tanks had time to fill up. The increase in farmers in this district led to a school being built within the same reserve (now separate reserves) named ‘Eight Mile Well School’.
The site was also used as a place of recreation for the local community. An example of this was the annual picnic held by St Pauls Church, Bridgetown, in January 1925, when it was reported that “upwards of seventy children spent an enjoyable outing” at the “8-Mile Well, Jayes Road”.
Eight Mile Well is no longer used as a watering hole, although it remains a nature reserve with seasonal water flow.
Any or all tracks which were once used within the reserve are no longer visible due to lack of use and vegetation regrowth.
NA
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
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South Western Times pg.6 | 31/01/1925 | ||
McDonald Hales and Associates | 1995 | ||
Register of Heritage Places Assessment Document ‘Pinjarra Massacre Site’ | 12/2007 | ||
Hadley | 1995 | ||
South Western Times pg.2 | 27/12/1924 |
Ref Number | Description |
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A48185 | Assess No (Shire Ref) |
No.R5 | MI Place No. |
Historic Site
Epoch | General | Specific |
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Original Use | Transport\Communications | Water: Other |
Other Use | EDUCATIONAL | Combined School |
Present Use | Transport\Communications | Water: Other |
General | Specific |
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DEMOGRAPHIC SETTLEMENT & MOBILITY | Settlements |
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.