History about the Malmalling Homestead....
In February 1899, Perth civil servant John Moreton Craig leased 3,693 acres of land near Chidlow's Well
(Chidlow after June 1920). John Morton Craig (1850-1924) worked as a stockman and stock breeder before
taking up a position as the Chief Inspector of Stock in the 1870s. He held that position for over 30 years and
was well regarded for his knowledge in the profession.
In June 1900, Craig became sole proprietor of Avon Location 3444. Sometime between then and 1904, he
built two houses on the property. The first of these, enclosed in a slatted timber fence, was a two roomed
timber cottage located between the Helena River and Handcock Brook. The second was of Pise, or
rammed earth construction, with a corrugated iron roof. Nearby was a stone-lined well.
In February 1907, when Edward Whatty of Claremont obtained the property, he and nephews Alexander
(Bert) and Henry Gorrie dismantled the timber cottage and re-built it near the Pise house, connecting the
two with a porch. They also worked to fence some of the property.
In c.1912, Whatty and his two nephews built a weir adjacent to Wellbucket Road and a hay and shearing
shed (demolished in c.1968). By September 1913, Bert and Henry Gorrie owned the property. Soon after he
acquired sole ownership in November 1915, Bert grubbed 2,000 acres to rid it of the farmers' double curse of
"York Road Poison" and zamia palms.
Between 1933 and 1934, Bert used the timber cottage (c. 1904) structure as form work for the existing stone
house. A timber weatherboard bedroom, laundry and pantry were added to the back. The rocks and mud
were taken from a nearby quarry and soak.
Soon after this house was finished, Bert and his wife Mona opened up the non-viable property for the then
novel idea of farm-stay holidays. Visitors, up to 20 at a time, were collected from the Chidlow Railway
Station on the farm's spring trap or 3-horse-lorry. In 1935-6, the Gorries used a horse drawn scoop to build
tennis courts of crushed termite mounds. In 1942, a house using sun-dried adobe bricks was built on the
north side of the Pise house.
After Bert and Mona Gorrie left to live in Victoria in 1953, their son-in-law Terence (Charles) Chambers of
Claremont took over the property and ran beef cattle.
A report in May 1956, by a senior engineer with the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme suggested measures to
improve the Mundaring Weir's water quality. As a result, soon afterwards, Gorrie's farm was placed on the
compulsory resumption programme. After 1968, when the Chambers family left the property, the Pise house
(c. 1904) was destroyed by vandals and all that remains is an earth platform formation adjacent to the
stone ruins. On 18th July 1971, the Water Authority of WA acquired the farm and the property is still [2015]
owned by the State Government of WA.
A site visit by the State Heritage Council in 2015 indicated that the stone ruins were demolished and aerial photographs were not able to determine the year of demolition.
In 1997 the Shire of Mundaring made two new suburbs to the east of the Sawyers Valley in the area where the homestead was located. It was named after the families surname and homesteads name 'Gorrie and Malmalling'
.......*Do you have any photos of the homestead when it was occupied?*......
Thank you to the Mundaring Shire for the 1996 photo of the homestead!
Information from State Heritage Council
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