Liebe Shed No.l

Statement of Significance

Liebe shed No.l has high historic significance given its association with Gustave Liebe and his agricultural achievements in the Coorow district. The Liebe Estates have further historic and social significance for their links to the Soldier Settlement Scheme of the 1950's. In addition the large scale of the building and the use of large bush timber poles and the operations of the Liebe farms are unique in the district. Together with Liebe Shed No.2 and Liebe Shed No.3, which although of lesser size, these sheds form a significant group of farming structures.

Physical Description

General A large shed enclosed on three sides, open to the south side. Large locally cut bush poles of salmon gum {eucalyptus salmonophloia) are used as main roof supports with dressed timber roof timbers. There is a small room to the southeast, possible an office or parts store. A loading dock runs from behind this room along the east interior wall of the shed. The west end of the building is divided off into living quarters, and occupies about one-third of the building. The height of the central gable was estimated at 13 metres. Quarters A gable roof covers the quarters and extends over a verandah to the west. The kitchen in the quarters measures approximately 5 x 5 metres and the meeting room is about 6 x 8 metres. All rooms have ceilings and are about 4 metres high. Windows to the quarters are large, about 2.4 metres high, double hung timber framed with either 12 or 8 panes. The sitting room has a brifck fireplace and chimney. All rooms have timber floors. The verandah has metal support posts. Interior walls are finished with weather-boards to 1500 mm height and framed fibro above. Paint colours are light green with brown timber. Adjacent Immediately east of the shed is a small cottage of concrete block construction with a corrugated iron roof. Windows are timber framed, eight paned and double hung windows and there is a metal fireplace and chimney attached to the south facade. There is a lean-to verandah to the west elevation. Possibly this was workers accommodation. Immediately to the west is a large corrugated iron water tank set on concrete walls and supported by large timber beams. The concrete walls and tank form a partly underground room accessed by four descending steps, this structure was possibly used as cool store.

History

Friederich Wilhelm Gustave Liebe is the noted designer and builder of His Majesty's Theatre, Perth. When aged 63 in 1925 he purchased 23,000 acres of virgin land from the Midland Railway Company and another 30,000 acres in 1929 to form what was known as the Liebe Estate. He cleared the land and built several massive sheds using huge bush timber and corrugated iron. His fences were noted for their size and precision, being 6 foot high boundary fences with 3 foot 6 inch rabbit wire below and 2 foot 6 inch dog wire above, topped with a single barbed wire. There were 26 fully equipped watering points with windmills and tanks. His rainwater tanks built close to the sheds could harvest as much as 400,000 litres. In 1929 he achieved the world record wheat production for a single producer, being 106,000 bags from 21,000 acres. In 1932 he had 32 tractors working the land and a permanent work force of 20. Due to the poor price of wheat he changed to the production of wool and sheep and had 23,000 sheep in 1944. He later used sharefarmers to work the land, one of whom was Eric Smart (later Sir Eric) who was instrumental in developing farming techniques which improved the productivity of the light sandy soils. After the death in 1950 of Gustave Liebe, the 53,000 acre property was purchased at £2/10/0 per acre by the West Australian Government and subdivided into 17 farms for exserviceman. The blocks of land were allocated by November 1950. The order of construction of houses for the settlers was decided by the drawing of lots, the first being constructed by June 1952. Builders known to have worked on these houses were Fred Ray, Berger and Goodchild. The original settlers were G. Tremlett, R Kerr, J. Backman, E. Shenton, M. Clarke, F. McPartland, K. Thomsett, S. Anderson, T. Rhodes, L. Smith, H. Green, L. Singleton, G. McDonald, F. Ingle, R. Williams, D. McQueen, T. Starcevich. The current [1995] owners are Adams, Backman, Broun, Dring, Fowler, Kerr, Muller, Ovens, Tremlett, Waite, Walton, Bodycoat. The Backman, Kerr and Tremlett families are the second generation on this land.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

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