The Banksia Farm at Mt Barker near the Porongorup Ranges. Banksia praemorsa grows to 9 metres at the Banksia Farm.
Mt Barker is often confused with the SA city of the same name and there is a link between the two. The nearby mountain of the same named was discovered in 1829 by Dr Wilson who named it after the then Commandant of the King George Sound (Albany) camp from NSW, Captain Collett Barker. Later Captain Barker was sent to SA for some exploring some years before white settlement. It was he who discovered and named Mt Barker in SA but sadly he was killed by Aboriginal people in April 1831 near the mouth of the Murray River. The soldiers from his troop erected a fine memorial to Captain Collett Baker in St. James Anglican Church, King Street in Sydney. The first settlement near Mt Barker happened in 1835.A bush inn opened in the town in 1860 but growth was very slow. A convict built police station opened in 1868. Later Mt Barker became another of the WA Land Company town sites on the Great Southern Railway to Albany. But land did not sell here and when the government reclaimed the site there was nothing much here. However three years later in 1899 they gazetted a town with a few buildings that existed from the Great Southern Railway era. In 1868 convicts had built a convict station here and the old Police Station from that year still stands. It is now the town museum and was used until 1908 when a more modern police station as erected. We will be visiting the Banksia Farm but the district is known for its apple orchards, wheat and canola fields, sheep and cattle, timber and vineyards, not to mention springtime wild flowers.
The Banksia Farm at Mt Barker near the Porongorup Ranges. Banksia praemorsa grows to 9 metres at the Banksia Farm.
Mt Barker is often confused with the SA city of the same name and there is a link between the two. The nearby mountain of the same named was discovered in 1829 by Dr Wilson who named it after the then Commandant of the King George Sound (Albany) camp from NSW, Captain Collett Barker. Later Captain Barker was sent to SA for some exploring some years before white settlement. It was he who discovered and named Mt Barker in SA but sadly he was killed by Aboriginal people in April 1831 near the mouth of the Murray River. The soldiers from his troop erected a fine memorial to Captain Collett Baker in St. James Anglican Church, King Street in Sydney. The first settlement near Mt Barker happened in 1835.A bush inn opened in the town in 1860 but growth was very slow. A convict built police station opened in 1868. Later Mt Barker became another of the WA Land Company town sites on the Great Southern Railway to Albany. But land did not sell here and when the government reclaimed the site there was nothing much here. However three years later in 1899 they gazetted a town with a few buildings that existed from the Great Southern Railway era. In 1868 convicts had built a convict station here and the old Police Station from that year still stands. It is now the town museum and was used until 1908 when a more modern police station as erected. We will be visiting the Banksia Farm but the district is known for its apple orchards, wheat and canola fields, sheep and cattle, timber and vineyards, not to mention springtime wild flowers.