Windy Harbour Houses

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic, Representativeness, Social and Historic

Physical Description

Windy Harbour comprises a settlement of small simply designed houses built from second hand materials with little to no architectural input.

History

These notes have been derived from Windy Harbour Settlement by Dave Evans 1992. After the settlement of the Northcliffe area in the 1920s people began to be attracted to Windy Harbour for day trips for picnics and fishing. As Windy Harbour is a sheltered spot from the Southern Ocean it was soon recognized as a superior fishing spot. One of the first tracks into Windy Harbour was pushed through by the Ladhams family. However, this track was difficult to traverse owing to steep sand dunes. The Manjimup Road Board took on the task to provide a better track with a more direct route. The builders apparently received 50 pounds for their effort. As this track again proved inaccessible at certain times of the year it became known as “The Fifty Pound Tragedy” shortened overtime to Tragedy Track. Many stories arise from long term residents about getting to Windy Harbour in spring and winter through he notorious bogs. Visitors to Windy Harbour grew with the increasing ownership of motor vehicles and families began to camp for longer periods in tents and rough huts. These huts in the late 1930s began to get more enduring until one day Roy Dunlop decided to stay as a permanent resident. Roy was a well known identity in the area who took people for fishing trips in his boat. The first person to build a fishing hut for holiday stays was Aubrey Sheffield who came from Pemberton. He was soon followed by others who began to cart in building materials that were usually second hand such as timber offcuts or odd sheets of corrugated iron. Second hand furniture was used in what has been described as rough lodgings. After World War II the onset of more leisure time and increasingly reliable motor cars led to more huts at Windy Harbour being erected. By the 1950s about 80 dwellings had been constructed but the owners (some said squatters) had no legal entitlements over the land and there was no planning for the building sites. The local authorities decided this situation could not persist and organized development and administrative system under the Windy Harbour Progress Committee was introduced in 1953 and ratified in 1956 by the Minister for Lands EK Hoar the Member for Warren. This allowed building controls and proper landing surveys for the settlement. The road to Windy Harbour was sealed in 1970 but even though this allows very easy day trips from Northcliffe the overall services in the settlement have not overly changed. There is no shop or liquor store, both held in abhorrence by the early lease holders, and living is still very simple in nature. Windy harbour is situated very close to Point D’Entrecasteaux and is not encompassed by the Point D’Entrecateaux National Park.

Condition

Various

Uses

Creation Date

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