Rivers have long shaped the way people live, work, and connect with the world around them. Through their Australian History excursion, our Year 9 students examined how the Canning (Dyarlgarra) River has supported diverse communities and reflected on these histories through a Christian lens.
What do a wagon wheel, the Canning (Dyarlgarra) River and the Fremantle Jetty have in common?
As part of the new Australian History curriculum, the Year 9 students spent some time delving into the local history of the Canning River region. We heard from Belinda Cox, a Noongar woman who explained some of the Noongar practices and beliefs, helped us choose a good camping site and find food, medicine and showed us how to build a fish trap. In our excursion reflection, we were challenged to consider these beliefs from a Christian point of view. Whilst Aboriginal culture acknowledges and knows lots about God’s creation, the Noongar relationship to the land is based upon a set of spiritual beliefs that differ significantly from our view of God as a generous Creator who desires to know us personally and intimately for His glory and our good.
We also visited Mason’s Landing opposite Carousel. Mason’s Landing is the location of the Mason and Bird Timber Co. who logged jarrah trees up at Lesmurdie and Carmel and then sent them down a 9km wood railway next to Rehoboth (roughly following the route of Bickley Road) to the Canning River. At Mason’s Landing, Benjamin Mason employed a significant number of early settlers as sawyers, blacksmiths, drivers and bakers. The wood was then transported down the river by barge to Fremantle. The wooden poles in the river near Riverton Bridge and Shelley are the remains of a fence built and maintained by convicts to create a navigable channel for those barges. The jetty and bridges at Fremantle, many railways and building around the British empire contain wood logged and shipped by Mason and Bird in their enterprise that lasted from 1860 – 1880. The river proved vital to their ability to ship their products around the world, when there was no highways or railways to move their wood.
Our final stop after the tranquillity of the river was Woodloes Homestead. Woodloes is the restored home of Mr Francis Bird, Mason’s business partner. Built in 1871, the home was one of the first to be designed by an architect. It contains many artifacts from the past, including a “Gazunder” – the chamber pot that ‘goes under’ the bed, a gramophone, a cellar that doubled as a lock up for prisoners and paving and roof tiles made of jarrah slabs. We stood under Mr Bird’s 150 year old Christmas (banyan) pine that he planted for his many children who wanted an English Christmas tree. Also on site is the ‘church with the chimney’ which was reconstructed there after the widening of Albany Highway led to its demolition.
These historical groups of people made very different uses of the river and its surroundings, but all were reliant upon it for water, transport and a rich and productive life. Today we enjoy the river for recreation and a healthy environment for flora, fauna and people!
