Clinch family kitchen table

This table was made c1890 by Arthur Clinch at Mill Farm using timber from packing crates used to ship mill machinery to Greenough. The two drawers were made from Irish whiskey cases.

A two storey flour mill was constructed in 1857 for Walter Padbury at Central Greenough. The mill was sold to Thomas Clinch in 1868. In 1889, Clinch imported roller mill technology. The new machinery began operations in 1891 in a new three storey structure (it being the second mill in Western Australia to use this new technology) and continued working until 1926.

The nearby Greenough Hotel had been purchased by Thomas Clinch in 1888 for his eldest son, Arthur Charles. The hotel then became known as Mill Farm.

Arthur Charles Clinch (1868-1933) married Edith Kniest Waldeck at Greenough on 8 November 1892. Arthur ran the flour mill and the extensive farm and was Chairman of the Greenough Road Board for many years.

The table was kept in the kitchen at Mill Farm and was always kept well-scrubbed with sand-soap. It was used for preparing meals, making cakes and other delicacies for entertaining, dances, socials, sporting activities etc and for preparing vegetables and fruit for jam bottling, pickles and chutneys. Joy Clinch (grand-daughter of Arthur Clinch) can remember seeing the table laden with flowers, greenery and cotton wool to make wreaths when there was a funeral. During seasonal work such as ploughing, harvesting and shearing, the workmen ate from the table. After Mill Farm was sold in 1941, the table was acquired by his nephew, Bernard Clinch and taken to nearby Donnaville Farm, and was later inherited by his son, Milton. When Milton sold Donnaville in 1994 the table was given to Joy Clinch. Up until August 2006 the table was being used by her daughter Carol Cahill in Gosnells.