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Wongan Hills
A look at the history
of one Farming Family in Wongan Hills | |
|  | | Wongan Hills farmer Michael Brennan |
| | Kevin and Sarah Watts left Staffordshire to begin a new life in Wongan Hills, Australia.
She's been sending us articles about how the family are settling down into rural life down under. Check out the latest article... |
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| | Living in Wongan Hills has given me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions about the history of the area and some of the names that appear to go back many years. One of the lovely ideas here in Wongan Hills is that some of the road names are named after previous residents who have had businesses and farms in this area. Today you will see descendants of these families still in Wongan Hills and some of the well-known road names are Shields Crescent, Stickland Street, Rogers Street and Ackland Street. Out by the farm where Kevin works there is obviously a Brennan Road which was named after the family who farms there.
I have sat down with Michael Brennan, one of the brothers who own the farm in Wongan Hills to tell me more about the history of their property and how their business came about.
In 1926, Peter and Ellen Brennan arrived by boat with their son Jim, from Roscommon in Ireland. A very unpleasant boat trip that lasted several weeks. Ellen Brennan who was pregnant at the time had the terrible misfortune of losing a baby daughter on board the ship. Their voyage was incredibly uncomfortable and totally demeaning and offered little in the comfort of luxury.
Peter had been a shopkeeper in Ireland and decided to take the huge step of emigrating to Australia to work with an Uncle, Dan McCormack. Dan McCormack had moved over to Australia in previous years and was a gold prospector in Kalgoorlie (an inland mining town in Western Australia which was 430km away). During these times they had the opportunity to claim land which was taken as C P Blocks (Conditional Purchase Blocks). A C P block is land that once cleared of trees and bushes, was then fenced subsequently became freehold land and was ready for cultivation. Dan McCormack decided to move away from prospecting and took 1300 acres of land in Wongan Hills having walked from Kalgoorlie – a feat in itself considering the harsh and unrelenting conditions out in the bush.
Ellen then gave birth to Danny in 1928, (Michael and Chris’s father) in a town called Northam which is an hour South of Wongan Hills. When Danny was just 12 years old, his father, Peter passed away which left the farm intestate. Luckily the Trustees were able to help the family out and Ellen Brennan bravely decided to take the farm on by herself. Jim, the eldest son stayed on to work the land and once Danny was old enough, he also worked full-time on the land. They grew wheat, barley, oats, kept cattle, sheep pigs and bred horses to work the land. In those days all the land was cultivated and cropped by hand and horse. Danny and Jim grew up, had children of their own and the farm has been passed along to their families who continue the tradition of farming their land.
This is one of many fascinating stories of how a family from Ireland came out and created a future for their family in a small but prosperous town in Western Australia.
Article by Sarah Watts
More Wongan Hills articles:
A new life in Wongan Hills
Differences between Staffs & Wongan Hills
Social life in Wongan Hills
Holidaying in Western Australia
Farming practices in Wongan Hills | | | |
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