Speaker 1: This is remember when with Harvey Degan on Perth six pr.
Speaker 2: Open the door, Richard, open the door and let me in.
Speaker 1: Open the door, Richard, rich dot.
Speaker 3: You that door, which is exactly what Richard has done.
Speaker 3: Is in the studio sitting opposite me.
Speaker 4: Now when you opened the car park door, that was
Speaker 4: more important.
Speaker 2: And we uh turned a bit of audio on for
Speaker 2: a bit loudly.
Speaker 4: Well somebody scraping him off the ceiling, folks, somebody had
Speaker 4: had the headphones volume up to full board. It's blown
Speaker 4: my brains out through my nose.
Speaker 2: I think as long as you can hear yourself from me.
Speaker 3: And he speak up, mate, you're going to talk about
Speaker 3: some very couple at least a very important parks.
Speaker 4: We've done a lot of the gardens and parks in
Speaker 4: Perth and about I think it was three weeks ago
Speaker 4: I gave a talk to the friends of Bowl Park,
Speaker 4: which is only up the road from me and the
Speaker 4: dog and I very often walk up there to about
Speaker 4: the history of the park and it's a fascinating history.
Speaker 4: And that made me think, well we'll do that. And
Speaker 4: the oldest national park in Western Australia is John Forest
Speaker 4: National Park. But first I think it's quite interesting to
Speaker 4: know how national parks worldwide came into being, and the
Speaker 4: idea for them originated in the early nineteenth century in America,
Speaker 4: when an artist George Catlin expressed concerns about the wilderness
Speaker 4: areas of the USA. And it has to be said
Speaker 4: at about the same time that sort of thing was
Speaker 4: happening in America, and on a trip to Dakota in
Speaker 4: eighteen thirty one, Catlin became very concerned about the westward
Speaker 4: movement of the urbanization, basically the effects it was having
Speaker 4: on Indian civilization, wildlife, and most importantly the wilderness. And
Speaker 4: he wrote of his dream that there might be an
Speaker 4: I quote, by some great protecting policy of government, preserved
Speaker 4: in a magnificent park and National Nations park, containing man
Speaker 4: and beast in all wilderness and freshness of their nature's beauty.
Speaker 4: And subsequently, in eighteen sixty four, Yosemite Valley in California
Speaker 4: was donated to the United States Congress to be present
Speaker 4: as a state park, and in eighteen seventy two it
Speaker 4: was reserved as a public park.
Speaker 5: Or pleasuring ground as they called it.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, the use of language has changed over the years.
Speaker 4: I think a public park or pleasuring ground for the
Speaker 4: benefit and enjoyment of people, and it was administered by
Speaker 4: the Department of Interior. And Yosemite was the first designated
Speaker 4: national park in the world. And interestingly, seven years later
Speaker 4: Royal National Park in New South Wales was declared and
Speaker 4: that was the second national park in the world. And
Speaker 4: that's south of Sydney and is stunning. I'd spent a weekend.
Speaker 5: In the park there.
Speaker 4: If people are interested in the history of the national
Speaker 4: parks in America, there's a fabulous I think it's six
Speaker 4: part documentary which you can find on the Public Broadcast
Speaker 4: Survey Service. It was also on SBS and it's entitled
Speaker 4: The National Parks America's Best Idea. Now I think it
Speaker 4: probably was their best idea. I think looking at some
Speaker 4: of the ideas, I think it would have had to
Speaker 4: have been well, yes, of course, of course, but it's
Speaker 4: a wonderful story. And of course places like Yosemite are
Speaker 4: just stunning and just as stunning. Quite frankly, I think
Speaker 4: is John Forrest National Park and that covers today two
Speaker 4: six hundred and seventy six hectares and it is the
Speaker 4: oldest reserve of that sort in Western Australia having been established,
Speaker 4: as I said in the in the last century. The
Speaker 4: initial reserve centered on Jane and Glenn Brooks and was
Speaker 4: set aside in eighteen ninety eight, and two years later
Speaker 4: it was actually named Greenmont National Park and proclaimed an
Speaker 4: A class reserve. Now, in eighteen ninety five the Reserves
Speaker 4: and Parks Act by the State Government was passed, followed
Speaker 4: by a Land Act just three years later, and both
Speaker 4: provided a degree of security for the parks and reserves
Speaker 4: in Western Australia, so it made sure that they couldn't
Speaker 4: be developed inappropriate ways. And in eighteen ninety eight, on
Speaker 4: the recommendation of the Surveyor General at the time Harry Johnston,
Speaker 4: an area at Greenmont on the edge of Darling Range
Speaker 4: was set aside, and in eighteen ninety nine, just one
Speaker 4: year later, Permanent Reserves Act ensured the absolute safe future
Speaker 4: of all of those parks. Now, in the early days,
Speaker 4: Greenmont National Park more commonly known then as National Park,
Speaker 4: was managed by the Greenmont Road Board. And you know,
Speaker 4: the Roads Boards had very limited funds available to carry
Speaker 4: out any works in the park other than the construction
Speaker 4: of a road to it. And in eighteen ninety six,
Speaker 4: the Eastern Railways line over the Darling Range was opened
Speaker 4: and that went straight through the park, which was fine,
Speaker 4: and actually it helped the park no end in a
Speaker 4: strange way, because railway travelers saw the beauty of the
Speaker 4: scenery and the waterfalls and the profusion of wild flowers
Speaker 4: in the spring, and you know, that began to give
Speaker 4: it some public presence. Unfortunately, the railway not only drew
Speaker 4: the public's attention, but for some seventy years of its operation,
Speaker 4: it also brought brought into the park wind blown weed
Speaker 4: seeds which were on the wagons that had come from
Speaker 4: other places, and that led to serious weed infestations competing
Speaker 4: with the natural vegetation, and I think it's still probably
Speaker 4: they're fighting it to this day. In the first thirty
Speaker 4: years there was little development in the park and the
Speaker 4: recreation area. But in nineteen eleven the Roads Board asked
Speaker 4: the Lands Department if anything could be done in the
Speaker 4: way of an i quote, beautifying the west end of
Speaker 4: the park near the York Road which is now the
Speaker 4: Great Eastern Highway, And gradually they did some extra works
Speaker 4: in there. But it's interesting, even though it was a
Speaker 4: nature reserve and a Class one reserve during the early
Speaker 4: twentieth century, and in fact right the way through to
Speaker 4: the nineteen fifties, timberlogging continued in the park and that
Speaker 4: left a legacy of logging tracks and tree stumps and
Speaker 4: die back disease. And dairy cattle were also allowed to
Speaker 4: run in the park close to the present glen Brook Dam,
Speaker 4: and there was an orchard in the area below the
Speaker 4: Rotary lookout site, so you know, it wasn't exclusively a
Speaker 4: park as we would see it today with anything like that.
Speaker 4: And even gold mining was carried out for a little
Speaker 4: while in the park, but it didn't have much success.
Speaker 4: There wasn't a lot of gold up there, and caused
Speaker 4: quite quite minimal damage, thank goodness. However, the extraction of
Speaker 4: gravel for roads, there's quite a lot of gravel in
Speaker 4: the park did cause a lot of damage by the
Speaker 4: removal of gravel and stone and earth, which was eventually
Speaker 4: prohibited in nineteen twenty nine. That resulted from the State
Speaker 4: Gardens Board taking over the management of the National Park
Speaker 4: the year before.
Speaker 5: And I think we better pay some bills, y, yes,
Speaker 5: shall we do?
Speaker 2: That'll do that, folks, We shall be back. You won't
Speaker 2: even have time to have missed.
Speaker 5: A sunny.
Speaker 1: On Perth six PR. This is remember when with Harvey Dgan.
Speaker 3: Welcome back folks, and Richard Oftens in the studio with
Speaker 3: me and he's taking a stroll around the park. We
Speaker 3: could say not just your normal suburban park, but serious.
Speaker 5: And very serious parts.
Speaker 4: And we got to nineteen twenty nine when the State
Speaker 4: Gardens Board started managing the National Park as it was called,
Speaker 4: and improvements in the park began to take place. But
Speaker 4: of course nineteen twenty nine was the start of the
Speaker 4: Great Depression was which caused a lot of problems for everything.
Speaker 4: But there was a savior here in Western Australia, and
Speaker 4: that was the philanthropist Sir Charles mcness who ran the
Speaker 4: Iron Mungery on the corner of Hay Street and Barrack Street,
Speaker 4: and he provided considerable funds for the employment of what
Speaker 4: they called sustenance labor for various projects. So it was
Speaker 4: unemployed people got a job through this fund and they
Speaker 4: found jobs for them to do, and it included works
Speaker 4: at the Anchet Park which had come by then and
Speaker 4: the National Park, and they started to create the National
Speaker 4: Park recreation sites centered around James Brook and Glenbrook and
Speaker 4: the site was both picturesque and had the advantage of
Speaker 4: being close to the railway line, which meant that day
Speaker 4: as could come up from Perth and the suburbs very easily,
Speaker 4: and thanks to mcness's funds, between nineteen thirty and thirty one,
Speaker 4: a total of four hundred men were employed on the
Speaker 4: project of forming terraced gardens, paths and buildings, and they
Speaker 4: also constructed a road into the park now known as
Speaker 4: Scenic Drive and the dam across Jane Brook to provide
Speaker 4: water for the gardens, and of course later that dam
Speaker 4: was converted into a swimming pool from park visitors, which
Speaker 4: is still there to this day, and other buildings were
Speaker 4: erected and other novelties like there was a wheelhouse from
Speaker 4: a ship that was relocated to the park and that
Speaker 4: helped considerably to help the people of Western Australia. And
Speaker 4: these people were also employed in cutting firewood which was
Speaker 4: transported by rail from Hovier Station to Perth and distributed
Speaker 4: by sustenance workers in the city to those who had
Speaker 4: no money for fuel.
Speaker 5: So it was quite an incredible park.
Speaker 4: Exercise and the garden that they built was known as
Speaker 4: the Garden in the Forest, which I thought was rather chice,
Speaker 4: and the swimming pool was supplemented by another one called
Speaker 4: the Rocky Pool, which had diving boards and so on.
Speaker 4: So there were two park pools that were built by
Speaker 4: damming the streams, and there were picnic shelters which you
Speaker 4: could hire for two shillings a day, very reasonable, and
Speaker 4: photographs in the nineteen thirties show that Jane Brook Pool
Speaker 4: and the Terraces Rising.
Speaker 5: Were very popular.
Speaker 4: Indeed, initially that visitors came to Hovia Station, which was
Speaker 4: about two kilometers from the picnic area, but in nineteen
Speaker 4: thirty six they built a special stop for the park itself.
Speaker 4: Now it's interesting that quite a number of histories don't
Speaker 4: actually say when it became John Forest National Park, but
Speaker 4: I did a bit of research and according to the
Speaker 4: West Australian, it was announced that national park would be
Speaker 4: renamed Forest Park John Forest National Park in memory of
Speaker 4: that man, and it was part of the celebrations of
Speaker 4: his birth. And through the nineteen fifties, of course it
Speaker 4: became even more popular as a park. It's had a
Speaker 4: few fires and things like that, but you know, all
Speaker 4: of these places survived. Nature is quite remarkable in doing that.
Speaker 4: And in nineteen sixty one, the area of the park
Speaker 4: was increased to three four hundred and sixty eight acres,
Speaker 4: so it's a pretty big area and is quite remarkable.
Speaker 4: And there are now heritage trails around it, history trails
Speaker 4: and the redundant railway cuttings and line no lines are a.
Speaker 5: Cycle track through the park.
Speaker 2: Good idea.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So it's absolutely fabulous and an interesting history.
Speaker 2: Indeed, that is and you mentioned Bold Park before. We've
Speaker 2: got a couple of minutes of talking about Bold Park.
Speaker 4: Bold Park is quite remarkable. And again it was Henry Trigg,
Speaker 4: who was one of the early builders in Perth, who
Speaker 4: was granted five hundred acres of land around there to
Speaker 4: quarry stone and he did that and the Tamala limestone
Speaker 4: was used for a lot of buildings in Perth in
Speaker 4: those early days. And Trigg eventually sold the park to
Speaker 4: Walter Padbury and in eighteen sixty nine it was purchased
Speaker 4: by Henry and Somers Birch for one thousand pounds. Padbury
Speaker 4: had put he graized cattle in the area and he'd
Speaker 4: put an abattoir out there. Now, the Birch brothers were
Speaker 4: butchers and I think they bought it because they could
Speaker 4: have the abbotoir and use that. It was then actually
Speaker 4: purchased again at an auction because Henry's birch went bankrupt
Speaker 4: and they had to sell his.
Speaker 5: Asset.
Speaker 4: But interestingly there was a court case because the chap
Speaker 4: who bought it at auction didn't cough up the money
Speaker 4: and so there was quite the a court case about it,
Speaker 4: and eventually it was it was sold yet again and
Speaker 4: it has the most amazing area. If you go to
Speaker 4: it from Stephenson Road, there's Camel Lake and that was
Speaker 4: where they quarantined camels before they took them out to
Speaker 4: the Eastern goldfields. In fact, Ernest Giles, the explorer who
Speaker 4: came here in eighteen seventy five, he took his camels.
Speaker 4: He was here for a month, so the camels went
Speaker 4: out to that lake. The lakers dried up now, but
Speaker 4: that area was used for camels and they were still quarrying.
Speaker 4: And then of course in the nineteen eighties where Triggs
Speaker 4: Quarry was was turned in to the Amphitheater, which is
Speaker 4: quite by Diana Waldron who was the director of the
Speaker 4: Perth City Ballet. And again it was a job's the
Speaker 4: doll and that is still used as an outdoor theater.
Speaker 3: It's wonderful to remember seeing a bit of a country
Speaker 3: music fan. Honest, I remember seeing John Williamson performing very
Speaker 3: very good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, and it's just one of those magical spots
Speaker 4: because you sit and take your picnic and you look
Speaker 4: back over the city and Bold Park. As I say,
Speaker 4: I take the dog there very regularly and it's always
Speaker 4: the walk of a million sniffs, but we get.
Speaker 2: Used to that, and also the dog does much the same.
Speaker 5: Well yes, yes, exactly exactly.
Speaker 4: But it has a long history of being one of
Speaker 4: the special recreation site in Perth and it's managed now
Speaker 4: by the King's Park Authority, so it's an adjunct to
Speaker 4: other wonderful park.
Speaker 3: We've got some wonderful parks and recreation areas and we're
Speaker 3: very very lucky, of course, Richard, that's fantastic, mate. That
Speaker 3: was so enjoyable, as it always is, my friend, and
Speaker 3: we shall look forward to reconvening this meeting in a
Speaker 3: fortnight night's time.
Speaker 1: See you that che taught you open that door.