Davies Park & Foundry Chimney

Statement of Significance

The following is an extract from the Heritage Council of WA’s Assessment Documentation for the place: Davies Park and Foundry Chimney, a culturally modified landscape containing a substantial and massively proportioned part of a furnace flue, oven ruin, donkey engine boiler, and other archaeological material relating to Karridale Mill, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • the foundry flue was constructed in c. 1883, by M C Davies shortly after he founded the mill at Karridale, and it was an integral part of the timber company’s operation from its completion until the early twentieth century and is the only substantial evidence of the mill; • the remaining evidence of the industrial processes associated with timber milling in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are amongst. the few remaining of their type and therefore have rarity value; • it is closely associated with M C Davies and his family, whose company developed the place, and after whom the site is now named Davies Park. The place is also associated with Millars' Karri and Jarrah Company, which owned and operated the mill following the amalgamation of 1902; and, • the stone construction remaining section of flue is a finely constructed piece of Victorian industrial architecture. The park entrance portal, stone construction barbecue and fences to parts of the site perimeter, together with re-growth plant material have little significance.

Physical Description

Davies Park and Foundry Chimney is located in a reserve to the east of Caves Road. It comprises the remains of a furnace chimney, remains of an oven, and a donkey engine, in a setting of re-growth forest. The area is likely to contain other archaeological material relating to the milling operation and related uses.The cultural features are all located at the far eastern side of the site, alongside the old rail permanent way, and set within a zone between 9 and 21 metres from the boundary fence. The foundry furnace (constructed of random rubble granite) is located in the north-eastern corner, the oven (also random rubble granite) in the south-eastern corner, and the cast iron donkey engine a few metres west of the oven.Other features relating to the development of the site as a park include a stone barbecue, and an entry portal to the Caves Road frontage, constructed in bushpoles, with a cattle grid under it.The site is quite overgrown, with re-growth Jarrah, Peppermint trees, Acacia and bracken ferns. The vegetation obscures clear views of all the cultural material, and the main feature, the foundry chimney, can no longer be seen from the road.For a more detailed description of the place, see the HCWA Assessment Documentation Davies Park and Foundry Chimney (00124) at http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/.

History

In 1875, Maurice Coleman Davies, a contractor in Adelaide, visited Western Australia to inspect the timber industry. Davies was to become the driving force behind the timber industry in the South West, promoting Western Australian timber in Australia and internationally.Davies’ first mill was operating at Coodardup by 1881 and at around the same time he built a jetty at Hamelin Bay and laid a 3'6" gauge railway (with steel rails) to connect the harbour with the locality of Karridale. In 1882, work commenced on a new jetty at Flinders Bay, also to be connected by rail to Karridale, therefore providing Davies' operations with alternative ports for shipment of timber - Flinders Bay used in winter, and Hamelin Bay used in summer.The Coodardup mill was moved to Karridale in early 1882 and increased to double the capacity. Over the next twenty years a self-contained private mill town was developed to accommodate the timber workers.In 1902, M.C. Davies and seven other timber companies in operation in Western Australia amalgamated into Millars' Karri and Jarrah Co. Ltd. However, the era of prosperity in timber was coming to an end with market changes and reduced viability of the local timber practices. The Karridale mill closed in c1905 and a number of buildings and materials were subsequently removed from the site, as was common practice.On 23 December 1948, the place was declared Public Reserve 22875. In 1961, bush fires raged in many areas of Western Australia. On 3 March, the 60 Karridale residents were evacuated. The hall, post office and general store, St. Augustine's Church, and two houses were destroyed. The only remaining buildings in the town were the CWA Rest Room, and seven houses. At the former mill site, the stone foundry chimney was almost all that remained after the fire. The only other remains at the mill site were a boiler which stood horizontal, supported by sections of rail line, and a nearby brick oven. The town was never rebuilt.Circa 1982, a tall timber archway was erected at the entrance to the Public Reserve, on which was painted the name by which the park is now known, Davies Park, in commemoration of the Davies family. A memorial plaque made by Wilsons Engraving Works was laid at the foundry chimney as a reminder of the timber industry (which was the reason for the town’s existence), of the town itself and the people that worked and lived there.On 19 August 1988, a change of purpose for the Reserve was gazetted, changing it from Public Utility to Parklands and Historical Site; and the site was vested in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River in trust for that purpose. As at 2012, the place continues as a park and historic site.For a more detailed history of the M C Davies Karridale mill from its establishment in 1883 to its closure in 1913, see the HCWA Assessment Documentation Davies Park and Foundry Chimney (00124) at http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium: The use has been altered, but the original use is still clearly evident through interpretation of the fabric. Low: The place has been considerably altered, with the loss of significant fabric. The original intent/character is no longer clearly evident.

Condition

Variously Fair to Poor *Assessed from streetscape survey only

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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