Avondale is located on land originally assigned in the 1830's to the first Governor of the Swan River Colony, Captain James Stirling RN and Harbour Master Mark Currie RN.
Several wealthy owners during the 19th Century saw Avondale grow to over 5,260 hectares in size.
In 1910 Avondale was purchased by the Lands Department. After the Great War, most of Avondale was subdivided and sold to returned soldiers as repatriation farms.
The remaining Homestead block of 705 hectares faced an uncertain future for several years, until it was vested in the Department of Agriculture from 1924 to 2009. Avondale is now a National Trust of Australia (WA Branch) property.
Wander through the 1850's homestead, admire the Clydesdale horses in the 1890's stables and be amazed by the range of agricultural machinery in the museum.
The Avondale Homestead
Agricultural
Machinery Museum
1890's
Stables
The Avondale Homestead was built in 1850 during the ownership of Nicholas Carey, a wealthy landowner who lived in Guernsey. It was the original residence of the manager who had to oversee the shepherds who grazed their flocks of sheep on the 17,000acres of un-developed land, that formed the Avondale Estate.
The Homestead was occupied until the late 1970’s when restoration began. It features pressed tin ceilings, jarrah floor boards and local brick of English garden bond construction. The furniture and homestead memorabilia were donated by families throughout the state, and create a cosy atmosphere reminiscent of a rural home at the turn of the century.
The gardens were redesigned to reflect our Colonial heritage and include a citrus orchard, grape vines, old varieties of roses and a kitchen garden.
Seven rooms at the Homestead, and the
gardens, are open to the public.
Believed by some to be the largest agricultural machinery collection, on display to the public, under one roof, the Avondale collection boasts over 260 items. There are many significant examples of developments in mechanisation of agricultural production.
For example an
1860 Horwood Bagshaw winnower,
1864 Ridley Stripper,
1920’s clover harvester,
early stump-jump plough or
1907 Sunshine Harvester, to name a few.
There are many working tractors including
1920 Model F Fordson,
“W” tank type Cletrac,
1950 model N Lanz Bulldog, and
a 1936 model 25 Massey Harris.
The group of enthusiastic volunteers maintain our collection in good order
and on special days start them up for us to enjoy the sounds, smells and
spectacle of seeing these early models in action.
For further information see the Contact page
This substantial construction is timber framed and iron clad, of Yorkshire design and considered unique in Western Australia.
There are ten
stalls down each side and an overhead loft.
There can be several Clydesdale horses at Avondale at any one time.
Find out more about Clydesdales at Avondale.
A horseworks,
chaff cutter and blacksmiths shop complete the stable complex.
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