WEBVTT - Historian Richard Offen, 01 June 2025 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:32.360 This is remember when with Harvey Degan on Perth six pr. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:28.840 Open the door, Richard, open the door and let me in. 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:35.760 Open the door, Richard, rich dot. 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.000 You that door, which is exactly what Richard has done. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:40.920 Is in the studio sitting opposite me. 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.879 Now when you opened the car park door, that was 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:45.400 more important. 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.800 And we uh turned a bit of audio on for 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:49.479 a bit loudly. 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.840 Well somebody scraping him off the ceiling, folks, somebody had 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.880 had the headphones volume up to full board. It's blown 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:59.440 my brains out through my nose. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.080 I think as long as you can hear yourself from me. 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:09.080 And he speak up, mate, you're going to talk about 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.760 some very couple at least a very important parks. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.160 We've done a lot of the gardens and parks in 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.839 Perth and about I think it was three weeks ago 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.640 I gave a talk to the friends of Bowl Park, 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.039 which is only up the road from me and the 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.720 dog and I very often walk up there to about 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.320 the history of the park and it's a fascinating history. 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.680 And that made me think, well we'll do that. And 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:38.639 the oldest national park in Western Australia is John Forest 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.039 National Park. But first I think it's quite interesting to 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.880 know how national parks worldwide came into being, and the 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.360 idea for them originated in the early nineteenth century in America, 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:58.040 when an artist George Catlin expressed concerns about the wilderness 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.040 areas of the USA. And it has to be said 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.440 at about the same time that sort of thing was 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:08.760 happening in America, and on a trip to Dakota in 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.799 eighteen thirty one, Catlin became very concerned about the westward 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:21.360 movement of the urbanization, basically the effects it was having 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:27.120 on Indian civilization, wildlife, and most importantly the wilderness. And 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.359 he wrote of his dream that there might be an 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:35.639 I quote, by some great protecting policy of government, preserved 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:41.280 in a magnificent park and National Nations park, containing man 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:46.880 and beast in all wilderness and freshness of their nature's beauty. 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:55.440 And subsequently, in eighteen sixty four, Yosemite Valley in California 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:59.920 was donated to the United States Congress to be present 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:05.640 as a state park, and in eighteen seventy two it 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.040 was reserved as a public park. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.280 Or pleasuring ground as they called it. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:16.639 Yes, yes, the use of language has changed over the years. 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.840 I think a public park or pleasuring ground for the 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.720 benefit and enjoyment of people, and it was administered by 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:31.040 the Department of Interior. And Yosemite was the first designated 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:35.560 national park in the world. And interestingly, seven years later 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.960 Royal National Park in New South Wales was declared and 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.800 that was the second national park in the world. And 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.760 that's south of Sydney and is stunning. I'd spent a weekend. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:47.360 In the park there. 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.240 If people are interested in the history of the national 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.400 parks in America, there's a fabulous I think it's six 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.960 part documentary which you can find on the Public Broadcast 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:02.800 Survey Service. It was also on SBS and it's entitled 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:08.200 The National Parks America's Best Idea. Now I think it 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.320 probably was their best idea. I think looking at some 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.880 of the ideas, I think it would have had to 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.520 have been well, yes, of course, of course, but it's 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:20.760 a wonderful story. And of course places like Yosemite are 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:26.000 just stunning and just as stunning. Quite frankly, I think 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:32.120 is John Forrest National Park and that covers today two 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:37.840 six hundred and seventy six hectares and it is the 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:44.800 oldest reserve of that sort in Western Australia having been established, 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.360 as I said in the in the last century. The 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:53.520 initial reserve centered on Jane and Glenn Brooks and was 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.919 set aside in eighteen ninety eight, and two years later 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:03.640 it was actually named Greenmont National Park and proclaimed an 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:09.200 A class reserve. Now, in eighteen ninety five the Reserves 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:14.359 and Parks Act by the State Government was passed, followed 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.279 by a Land Act just three years later, and both 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.880 provided a degree of security for the parks and reserves 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.839 in Western Australia, so it made sure that they couldn't 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:31.240 be developed inappropriate ways. And in eighteen ninety eight, on 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.240 the recommendation of the Surveyor General at the time Harry Johnston, 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:40.000 an area at Greenmont on the edge of Darling Range 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.600 was set aside, and in eighteen ninety nine, just one 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:49.600 year later, Permanent Reserves Act ensured the absolute safe future 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.040 of all of those parks. Now, in the early days, 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:57.200 Greenmont National Park more commonly known then as National Park, 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:02.200 was managed by the Greenmont Road Board. And you know, 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:06.000 the Roads Boards had very limited funds available to carry 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.400 out any works in the park other than the construction 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.440 of a road to it. And in eighteen ninety six, 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:17.799 the Eastern Railways line over the Darling Range was opened 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:23.159 and that went straight through the park, which was fine, 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.960 and actually it helped the park no end in a 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.599 strange way, because railway travelers saw the beauty of the 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.520 scenery and the waterfalls and the profusion of wild flowers 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:40.160 in the spring, and you know, that began to give 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:46.880 it some public presence. Unfortunately, the railway not only drew 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.920 the public's attention, but for some seventy years of its operation, 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:58.159 it also brought brought into the park wind blown weed 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.719 seeds which were on the wagons that had come from 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:08.880 other places, and that led to serious weed infestations competing 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:13.840 with the natural vegetation, and I think it's still probably 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.360 they're fighting it to this day. In the first thirty 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:21.440 years there was little development in the park and the 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:26.680 recreation area. But in nineteen eleven the Roads Board asked 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.520 the Lands Department if anything could be done in the 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.640 way of an i quote, beautifying the west end of 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.760 the park near the York Road which is now the 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:46.239 Great Eastern Highway, And gradually they did some extra works 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.600 in there. But it's interesting, even though it was a 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.320 nature reserve and a Class one reserve during the early 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.000 twentieth century, and in fact right the way through to 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:01.520 the nineteen fifties, timberlogging continued in the park and that 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:06.000 left a legacy of logging tracks and tree stumps and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.600 die back disease. And dairy cattle were also allowed to 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.760 run in the park close to the present glen Brook Dam, 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.840 and there was an orchard in the area below the 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:24.320 Rotary lookout site, so you know, it wasn't exclusively a 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.720 park as we would see it today with anything like that. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.960 And even gold mining was carried out for a little 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:36.240 while in the park, but it didn't have much success. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.680 There wasn't a lot of gold up there, and caused 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:44.320 quite quite minimal damage, thank goodness. However, the extraction of 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.720 gravel for roads, there's quite a lot of gravel in 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.200 the park did cause a lot of damage by the 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.720 removal of gravel and stone and earth, which was eventually 0:08:54.760 --> 0:09:01.000 prohibited in nineteen twenty nine. That resulted from the State 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.839 Gardens Board taking over the management of the National Park 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:06.760 the year before. 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.240 And I think we better pay some bills, y, yes, 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:10.679 shall we do? 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.480 That'll do that, folks, We shall be back. You won't 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.440 even have time to have missed. 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:16.600 A sunny. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:24.240 On Perth six PR. This is remember when with Harvey Dgan. 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.439 Welcome back folks, and Richard Oftens in the studio with 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.880 me and he's taking a stroll around the park. We 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:35.600 could say not just your normal suburban park, but serious. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.239 And very serious parts. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:42.080 And we got to nineteen twenty nine when the State 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:46.960 Gardens Board started managing the National Park as it was called, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:53.360 and improvements in the park began to take place. But 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.080 of course nineteen twenty nine was the start of the 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:01.400 Great Depression was which caused a lot of problems for everything. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.760 But there was a savior here in Western Australia, and 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.720 that was the philanthropist Sir Charles mcness who ran the 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:14.760 Iron Mungery on the corner of Hay Street and Barrack Street, 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:21.079 and he provided considerable funds for the employment of what 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.600 they called sustenance labor for various projects. So it was 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:30.559 unemployed people got a job through this fund and they 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.720 found jobs for them to do, and it included works 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.360 at the Anchet Park which had come by then and 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:44.679 the National Park, and they started to create the National 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:51.920 Park recreation sites centered around James Brook and Glenbrook and 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.920 the site was both picturesque and had the advantage of 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.760 being close to the railway line, which meant that day 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.439 as could come up from Perth and the suburbs very easily, 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:10.160 and thanks to mcness's funds, between nineteen thirty and thirty one, 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.640 a total of four hundred men were employed on the 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:19.360 project of forming terraced gardens, paths and buildings, and they 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:23.120 also constructed a road into the park now known as 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:28.360 Scenic Drive and the dam across Jane Brook to provide 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.720 water for the gardens, and of course later that dam 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.080 was converted into a swimming pool from park visitors, which 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.360 is still there to this day, and other buildings were 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:43.079 erected and other novelties like there was a wheelhouse from 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:48.560 a ship that was relocated to the park and that 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:57.440 helped considerably to help the people of Western Australia. And 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.480 these people were also employed in cutting firewood which was 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:07.320 transported by rail from Hovier Station to Perth and distributed 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.960 by sustenance workers in the city to those who had 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:13.400 no money for fuel. 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.600 So it was quite an incredible park. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:23.440 Exercise and the garden that they built was known as 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:26.480 the Garden in the Forest, which I thought was rather chice, 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:32.080 and the swimming pool was supplemented by another one called 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.880 the Rocky Pool, which had diving boards and so on. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.200 So there were two park pools that were built by 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.079 damming the streams, and there were picnic shelters which you 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.600 could hire for two shillings a day, very reasonable, and 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.640 photographs in the nineteen thirties show that Jane Brook Pool 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:54.880 and the Terraces Rising. 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:57.520 Were very popular. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:03.040 Indeed, initially that visitors came to Hovia Station, which was 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.880 about two kilometers from the picnic area, but in nineteen 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:12.479 thirty six they built a special stop for the park itself. 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.959 Now it's interesting that quite a number of histories don't 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.320 actually say when it became John Forest National Park, but 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.240 I did a bit of research and according to the 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.160 West Australian, it was announced that national park would be 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:35.400 renamed Forest Park John Forest National Park in memory of 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:40.400 that man, and it was part of the celebrations of 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:45.080 his birth. And through the nineteen fifties, of course it 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.400 became even more popular as a park. It's had a 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.200 few fires and things like that, but you know, all 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:57.600 of these places survived. Nature is quite remarkable in doing that. 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.199 And in nineteen sixty one, the area of the park 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.920 was increased to three four hundred and sixty eight acres, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:12.200 so it's a pretty big area and is quite remarkable. 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:18.120 And there are now heritage trails around it, history trails 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:25.840 and the redundant railway cuttings and line no lines are a. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:27.160 Cycle track through the park. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:27.840 Good idea. 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:33.760 Yeah, So it's absolutely fabulous and an interesting history. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.400 Indeed, that is and you mentioned Bold Park before. We've 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.040 got a couple of minutes of talking about Bold Park. 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:43.320 Bold Park is quite remarkable. And again it was Henry Trigg, 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.360 who was one of the early builders in Perth, who 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:50.320 was granted five hundred acres of land around there to 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:56.640 quarry stone and he did that and the Tamala limestone 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.040 was used for a lot of buildings in Perth in 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:04.400 those early days. And Trigg eventually sold the park to 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:10.400 Walter Padbury and in eighteen sixty nine it was purchased 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:16.200 by Henry and Somers Birch for one thousand pounds. Padbury 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.480 had put he graized cattle in the area and he'd 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:24.320 put an abattoir out there. Now, the Birch brothers were 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.520 butchers and I think they bought it because they could 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:34.720 have the abbotoir and use that. It was then actually 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:42.080 purchased again at an auction because Henry's birch went bankrupt 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.320 and they had to sell his. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:46.680 Asset. 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:52.640 But interestingly there was a court case because the chap 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.920 who bought it at auction didn't cough up the money 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.320 and so there was quite the a court case about it, 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.440 and eventually it was it was sold yet again and 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:11.640 it has the most amazing area. If you go to 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:17.720 it from Stephenson Road, there's Camel Lake and that was 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:22.000 where they quarantined camels before they took them out to 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:27.280 the Eastern goldfields. In fact, Ernest Giles, the explorer who 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:32.000 came here in eighteen seventy five, he took his camels. 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.080 He was here for a month, so the camels went 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.360 out to that lake. The lakers dried up now, but 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.680 that area was used for camels and they were still quarrying. 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:47.040 And then of course in the nineteen eighties where Triggs 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:53.520 Quarry was was turned in to the Amphitheater, which is 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.120 quite by Diana Waldron who was the director of the 0:16:56.120 --> 0:17:00.200 Perth City Ballet. And again it was a job's the 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.760 doll and that is still used as an outdoor theater. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.159 It's wonderful to remember seeing a bit of a country 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.600 music fan. Honest, I remember seeing John Williamson performing very 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:13.120 very good. 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.600 Yeah, yes, and it's just one of those magical spots 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.960 because you sit and take your picnic and you look 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.240 back over the city and Bold Park. As I say, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.719 I take the dog there very regularly and it's always 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.680 the walk of a million sniffs, but we get. 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.960 Used to that, and also the dog does much the same. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.359 Well yes, yes, exactly exactly. 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:40.360 But it has a long history of being one of 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.000 the special recreation site in Perth and it's managed now 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.679 by the King's Park Authority, so it's an adjunct to 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:51.240 other wonderful park. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.840 We've got some wonderful parks and recreation areas and we're 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:57.679 very very lucky, of course, Richard, that's fantastic, mate. That 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.600 was so enjoyable, as it always is, my friend, and 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.159 we shall look forward to reconvening this meeting in a 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:05.400 fortnight night's time. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.640 See you that che taught you open that door.