A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT   
WHERE IS PICKERING BROOK?
NAMING OF PICKERING BROOK
FEEDBACK COMMENTS   DATED JULY 2010

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT  

Welcome to the Pickering Brook Heritage Group Website. We trust that you will enjoy this journey into our past as we pay tribute to the Men and Women who pioneered the early settlement of the district.

Let their courage and perseverance be etched in your memory so that you can take away some treasure from this journey.

Our Website has now had its second upgrade and new information and many more photos have been downloaded for your enjoyment and information. Enjoy the snaps of our Open Days and the upgrade of our Family History Site. Old names and old family photographs from the relatives of the early settlers are now coming forward and it is exciting to see the interest shown by Grand and Great Grandchildren.

We were pleased to be part of the Heritage Council Awards for 2009 and we have been awarded a Certificate for "Outstanding Contribution to Heritage in Western Australia by an Organisation". We proudly show the Certificate below.

We appreciate your interest in our Website and encourage everyone who may have some snippets of historical information to be forthcoming and share with us.

Beverley Giumelli

President

PICKERING BROOK HERITAGE GROUP Incorporated

Email: flortona@iinet.net.au

PICKERING BROOK, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Pickering  Brook is a small  town  situated  in the  Darling  Ranges  south-east of Perth, Western  Australia. It is mainly Orchard  country  surrounded  by  State Forest Reserves of magnificent Jarrah and Marri trees supplemented with hundreds of colourful  wildflowers. The hillsides  have row after  row of fruit  trees  with fresh water streams  meandering  through  the  bottom of the valleys.  A  truly  beautiful  place  in which to reside and to  enjoy  the  peace  and quiet of the bush surroundings, with only a 30 minute drive to the city. But please don't tell everyone about our secret otherwise they will all want to come and live up here.

NAMING OF PICKERING BROOK

The 341 ton sailing ship "Atwick" was under the command of Captain Hugh McKay when she left London with passengers and general cargo bound for Western Australia. She carried two guns and had a crew of 20 men. She arrived in the Swan River Colony on October 19th, 1829.

Forty-eight year old agriculturalist Capt. Edward Picking (aka Pickering) from Gainborough, was a passenger on board. His servant William Hyde (aka Hide) was also on board. He applied for a land grant the same day as he stepped from the boat. He farmed in several places in Western Australia. In 1834 he was assigned 3000 acres, but this was lost due to non-payment of location fees. Was Postmaster in Perth in 1841. In 1844 he became Clerk of the Roads Trust and called tenders for Canning Bridge in 1846. It appears that he made several exploratory journeys along the Helena River. In the Hand Book of Western Australia, there is a map dated 1835 which shows the Helena River and a tributary, "Picking Ck" flowing north into it. All other maps show the tributary as "Pickering Brook" and one can only conclude that it has , over the years, been corrupted into "Pickering". About 4 miles west of the creek or brook is the settlement of  Pickering Brook. It seems that when the Canning Jarrah Timber Company Ltd. owned the Upper Darling Range Railway, a log line running in an easterly direction, was built from a point on the main line somewhere below Monument Hill. That point was of course, a junction and before the railway was taken over by the Government, was known as Pickering Junction. Later it was called Pickering Brook, presumably because the Government did not acquire the log line. 

The place name of Pickering Brook was used. Because of its proximity to the water catchment country, settlement was not encouraged, and a named  townsite was not formed. A townsite was formed about 2 miles east on 22nd January 1922 and it was known as "Beamulla", an aboriginal word meaning "Black Cockatoo". At a meeting of the Pickering Brook Progress Association, a request was made to the Under Secretary of Land, requesting a change of name. The reply dated 26th December  1923, presented three names for consideration. The name Carilla, on the recommendation of the Surveyor General was gazetted on the 17th February 1926, replacing Beamulla. Carilla is the Aboriginal name for "running water". In 1952 the location of Carilla was cancelled and Pickering Brook formally encompassed the whole area. The town site of Pickering Brook was gazetted on 12th January 1973.

ENTRANCE TO HERITAGE PARK ON PICKERING BROOK ROAD, NEXT TO PRIMARY SCHOOL 2008  #1

GENERAL VIEW OF HERITAGE PARK 2008  #3

VIEW OF HERITAGE PARK 2008 SHOWING THE FORMER BARTONS MILL PRISON CHAPEL WITH PRISONERS CELL BLOCK TO THE  RIGHT, WHICH WERE OBTAINED FROM THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE & C.A.L.M. AND RE-LOCATED TO THE PARK   #2

VIEW OF HERITAGE PARK 2008 SHOWING MACHINERY SHED  #4

References:      Article:         Kalamunda of the Dreamtime 
                                         Cala Munnda, a Home in the Forest
                       Images:      1, 2, 3, 4 Gordon Freegard

EXCITING

As this site slowly came together, it was very exciting to see so much material compiled in one area, which can be referenced by young and old alike. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have putting it all together.

UPDATING

It is an ongoing project that will continually be changing and added to, as new information is forthcoming. It will develop into a great reference and resource area for young and old to avail themselves of. So please keep checking the site as we have many new pages that we are preparing to add once confirmation of the material is obtained.

YOUR FEEDBACK HELPS US

The Group is very carefull to make sure that all material is correct before it hits the worldwide web. However errors do happen and we are pleased to look at anything that you think may need to be clarified or altered. Additional info is most welcome, particually photographs. Please contact us so we can include your input.

EMAIL:           flortona@iinet.net.au

PHONE:          9293 8203        President     BEVERLEY GIUMELLI
                        9359 3334        Secretary      HELEN ROSS

MOBILE:         0418 923 970                          BEVERLEY GIUMELLI

POST:              HELEN ROSS

                         32 TOURMALINE GARDENS
                         FORRESTFIELD
                         WESTERN AUSTRALIA          6058

FEEDBACK COMMENTS   DATED JULY 2010

I am always on your website and think you have done a great job with all the history. It is so interesting.
EMILY DEWAR, Pickering Brook, Western Australia.

I have recently viewed the Pickering Brook Heritage Website and note the photo of the pipe band. Unfortunately the band is wrongly named. The Kalamunda Pipe Band was not in existence in 1958. The band in the photo is the 16th Battalion Cameron Highland Pipe Band of which I was a member at the time. May I congratulate your group on your endeavours to record the history. I hope I have not offended anyone by pointing out this little discrepancy. (Not at all, we appreciate your input to make the details correct. Thank you).
DOUG BATHGATE, Kalamunda Pipe Band, Kalamunda, Western Australian.

I love the Website, you have done a fantastic job.
FRANCIS RUSS (nee Viskovich), Western Australia.

I am writing to congratulate the Pickering Brook Heritage Group for the great Website and the valuable work being undertaken in preserving the local history for current and future generations.
As a keen kayaker on the Canning River I had often wondered about the weathered timber posts that run down the middle of the river from Salter's Point to Shelley. I was able to find limited information on the structure, now understood to be "The Convict Fence", by surfing the net. However the historical importance of the fence and the significance of the river transport system in the 1860's really came to life when I discovered the Pickering Brook Heritage Group Website. What an amazing journey to another one. The pictorial and written content on the site seem to draw you in and give you a sense of the determination, enterprise and character of the early settlers in this region.
I would also like to give a special thanks to Gordon Freegard who contacted me in response to a question I posted on the Website. Gordon also provided a wealth of information and another contact, Helen Skehan, who further assisted me with some interesting facts about the people and happenings on and around the Canning during this intriguing period of our history.
Thanks to all involved in the Pickering Brook Heritage Group for your valuable voluntary work. You are a credit to the often forgotten men and women who forged this country.
PHIL TAYLOR, Leeming, Western Australia.

I am thoroughly enjoying reading and learning more about the area in which I grew up. Happy memories have flooded back and I look forward to reading more. Thank you. Your Website is a wonderful way to bring together records and memories to share with people now and in the future.
MARGARET PUZEY (nee Price), Yokine, Western Australia.

The Pickering Brook Heritage Group have compiled this fabulous Website, rich in stories, facts and photos of the area. In the "schools section" many locals have already looked themselves up and viewed older relatives when they were school aged. Even for readers who were not from this area, viewing the old photos with names from the past reveals the families many of our landmarks are named after.
All this and more feature on this fantastic Website. Congratulations to all concerned. This Website provides so many memories and keeps the record of the proud history of schooling in Karragullen.
LINDA MOORE, Editor and Owner, "Roleystone Courier", Roleystone, Western Australia.

Congratulations on a great Website.
STEPHEN KING, Western Australia

I have been looking at your excellent Website and I'm most impressed with it, especially the Railways page.
GRAHAM WATSON, Australian Railways Historical Society, W.A.Division

You should be very proud of yourselves.
You have achieved what many funded organisations have not yet been able to. 
The website is enabling the history of Pickering Brook to be accessible to a world wide audience.
It has been my pleasure to assist with information for the website as it is a most worthwhile project.
Well done.
 

Congratulations and thank you for your group's excellent work in making the rich history of your area so accessible to the public through your website.
DAVE OSBORNE, Attadale, Western Australia

I was gobsmacked when I opened your site just a few minutes ago. All I can say is Wow!!!!!!! You have done a fantastic job. I had to ring my son Brett as he was the one that put all the photos on to the disk. He was so pleased to see the School Reports back in colour. He was thrilled for me to have contributed to the site. He said that it was wonderful that my parents featured on the Internet. They would have had no concept of the technology that was to come. My Dad never ever used a telephone. I will now have to send a link to my relatives in Western Australia. I am going to have a second look at it before I go to bed. Accolades by the million.
IRENE JENKINS, Victoria

I had a chance to look at the Website a couple of days ago, and didn't have any problem whatsoever with the pictures taking time to load up to the page. You certainly have done a truly wonderful job. I did enjoy it very much. I have spoken to my mother about getting my Aunty Peg to look at your Website so it will give her the idea she needs to present the Holroyd picture etc. My Mother spent last night reading your Website, and rang today to say how much she enjoyed it also.            
KERRY COOLING,  Western Australia

Thank you for your telephone calls. I did my memoirs some years ago on the computer, and at that time I searched the net for any information. The only thing 
that I could get up on Google was the Little Darkin walking tracks of the area. No history at all. I can't tell you how absolutely blown away I was to receive your
telephone call and be given the marvelous Heritage Site that you have made.
I really enjoyed looking briefly through the Site last night and can see I have a lot more reading to do. I congratulate you on what you have achieved. It has opened up a lot of knowledge regarding the whole  of the forest areas around Barton's Mill. I had never heard of Carilla, Karragullen or any of the other local mills so it has been so helpful for having filled me in with the "bigger" picture. I look forward to seeing my memoirs on the Website, and would like to thank you all over there for thinking that it is worthy of putting on. I never dreamed, when I did them, that they would be kept for posterity, and perhaps be read by lots of people.              
IRENE JENKINS,  Victoria

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