Freddie Ye Palk's Store and Bakery (Ruins)

Statement of Significance

Freddie Yee Palk’s Bakery and Store has historical significance as the only remaining structure in Roebourne that stands as a link to the role that Chinese people played in the development of the region. It has some aesthetic significance as a substantial ruin located in the central part of the town. This building provides an insight into the building techniques of the past.

Physical Description

There are two partial simple stone buildings standing in ruin on the site. These do not have roofs. The buildings are constructed in local stone random laid with cement mortar. The main building consists of two rooms separated by a stepped wall, making two equal sized rooms. Bolts protrude from the outside walls where a verandah may have once completely surrounded the main structure. Of the second, smaller building, only partial walls remain. Some recent bulldozing for grading of the amphitheatre has occurred adjacent to the structures, impacting on the potential for archaeological research.

History

The pearling industry brought an influx of Malay, Chinese, Filipino and Japanese migrants to Cossack from the 1870s. There is also evidence that European settlers imported Chinese labourers as servants and labourers for the pastoral industry.1 The recorded population of Roebourne in 1877 was ‘428 whites, 78 women, over 600 Aboriginal workers including station hands, almost 1000 Asians.’2 Freddie Yee Palk set up a commercial enterprise servicing the district. He established a bakery, store, tailoring business and market gardens from c1902. Evidence shows that Yee Palk dissolved a storekeepers business partnership in Port Hedland in 1902.3 He started a tailors and outfitters business on Roe St in Roebourne, opposite the Mercantile Store selling the ‘latest European styles’ the same year.4 By the 1920s, the store was selling groceries and it is likely that it was also a bakery from this time or earlier. His market garden was located behind the store on the banks of the Harding River. The memoirs of EH Tuslove, a resident of Roebourne in the 1920s, state ‘I often went to Yee Palk’s for green groceries and would see several men in the room noisily playing Mah Jong and smoking... everyone firmly believed they were smoking Opium.’5 In 1955 the local health authority reported on Yee Palk’s bakery ‘Approx 50 loaves of bread made each week. The shop does a very limited trade.’6 Yee Palk died a pauper in 1963 aged 75 and is buried in the Old Cemetery, Roebourne. The bakery and store were repeatedly damaged by cyclones and the Harding River in flood (1889, 1935 and 1954). The Roebourne Road Board had condemned the building by 1949, and permission was granted by the State Housing Commission to extend and improve the building in 1950.7 It is unlikely this work was undertaken. In 2013 the building is on land being used by the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd (NYFL). Plans are underway to develop the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Cultural Complex, with the heritage values of the building and site preserved.

Archaeology

There is potential for archaeological remains related to the use of this structure over the time of it use. The archaeological values should be considered during the redevelopment of the area.

Integrity/Authenticity

Ruin

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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