Greenough Museum and Gardens > Records

Letter to the farmers on the Greenough Flats

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L.C. Burges

1865

Subcollections

Maley Mill and Store Archives

Overview

hand-written note on two sides of a sheet of blue paper

Historical information

This letter by L.C. Burgess to his ‘brother farmers’ of the Greenough Flats is about the construction of a bridge over the Greenough River. This letter calls on the farmers to honour their commitment to cart timber to the bridge now the government has fulfilled its part of the bargain to build the bridge.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-72-GMOB1251

Item type

Letters

Themes

People

Material

Writing Paper

Width

400 mm

Height or length

253 mm

Depth

1 mm

Inscriptions and markings

11/12/1865 Letter to the Farmers on the Greenough Flats.
At a public dinner given by you all to Gov Hampton when he visited this district in 1862 it was pointed out to his Excy the great necessity there was for a Bridge to be built over the Greenough River, and you all then pledged yourself to cart all the timbers for this proposed Bridge, if the Govmnt would undertake to erect it. The Govmnt have fulfilled their part of the contract and I now ask you how have you fulfilled yours!!! The unfinished Bridge speaks for you you have all broken your promises to the Governor. But it is not too late even now to redeem your word. So come forward now like men and finish carting the timber for this Bridge for I can tell you that you will get no further help from the Govmnt if you are not inclined to help yourselves.
I remain your Brother Farmer
L C Burges
Henry Gray £5 0 0
L C Burges 3 0 0
James Smith 3 loads
F.W. Pearson 2 do
J Warner
Wm Hunt
Thos Duncan
F Waldeck
Wm Waldeck
John Rhodes
Frank Allender
John Stokes
John Perejuan
R Bell
Wm Stokes
George King
John Wilton
John Walker
- Connolly
D Desmond
R.J. Brockman
A Dewar
John Bone
John Akins
Wm Forrest

Contextual Information

Maley’s bridge, known locally as the Convict Bridge, is one of the oldest convict-built bridges in Western Australia, and is highly valued in the community as part of the convict-built infrastructure of the region. It survived the 1888 flood but part was washed away in the flood of 2006 and was repaired with funding from a number of government agencies. The bridge is registered by the National Trust and is on the State Heritage register.

Keywords

Greenough

Place made

Geraldton
Western Australia
Australia

Year

1865

Statement of significance

This is a rare and significant private communication between the farmers of the Greenough Flats that relates directly to an important piece of existing heritage infrastructure in the region.

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Scientific or research significance

Comparative significance criteria

Interpretive capacity

Object’s condition or completeness

Well provenanced

Greenough Museum and Gardens

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