Carnamah homestead given heritage listing

22/4/95

The home of one of the first European families to settle in the Carnamah district has been permanently listed on the State Register of Heritage Places.

Heritage Minister Richard Lewis said the listing of the MacPherson Homestead followed a recommendation from the Heritage Council of Western Australia.

"The building has played a significant role in the growth and development of Carnamah and is a reminder of early European settlement in the district," Mr Lewis said.

The homestead was built in 1870 as the residence of Duncan MacPherson, one of  the four members of the MacPherson family who migrated from Scotland in the 1830s.

The building and the MacPherson family made a significant contribution to communications between Toodyay and the Greenough area after the daughters of Duncan MacPherson agreed to set up post offices at Carnamah, Arrino and Greenough.

The Carnamah Post Office was housed in the MacPherson Homestead until 1913.

Mr Lewis said the value of the building to the local community was evident.

"In 1979 the then owners of the building donated it to the Shire of Carnamah and a special committee was established to raise money to fund much needed restoration work," he said.

"The building was restored over the next decade and now is used regularly by various community groups as a meeting place."

The Minister said the building had structural value as an example of a rural, vernacular WA homestead of the 1870s.

"The stone walls of the single storey homestead are over four metres high and the steeply pitched roof, which was originally thatched, is now covered in corrugated iron," he said.

"MacPherson Homestead is representative of the type of building constructed during early settlement of the Carnamah district when materials were difficult to obtain and the future development and growth of the area was tenuous."

Media contact: Bronwyn Hillman: 222 9595 / 221 1377