NARRIKUP HISTORY Taken from the Shire of Plantagenet book "Plantagenet Rich and Beautiful" by Rhoda Glover.  This book is a history of the Shire of Plantagenet which includes two chapters on Narrikup.  The Shire of Plantagenet has given permission to reprint some of the sections on Narrikup. "Narrikup is the birthplace of agriculture within the Shire of Plantagenet, and is an important factor in the economy of the Shire today... The history of Narrikup and the Shire may be said to have begun on Thursday 3rd December 1829, when Suregeon Thomas Braidwood Wilson, R.N. camped for the night on the banks of a stream some miles westward of the present townsite of Narrikup.  The doctor and his party had set out from the military encampment at what is today called Albany.  The late Irvine McKenzie who was well qualified to express an opinion, considered that the mountain stream where the party camped was the Hay River or one of its tributaries, Rivett Creek or Crystal Brook, where later Sir Richard Spencer, R.N., established his Hay River Station (Location 13)... Plantagenet Location 14, also on the Hay River, was another block granted for one peppercorn per year - to Thomas Hester for certain military services rendered.  This grant was the gracious act of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith etc. soon after her accession to the Throne. Within the South Ward, of which Narrikup is the business centre, ‘Woodlands’, selected by William Grills Knight, was probably the next property to be developed.  Distant from the present township it dates back to the late 1860’s.  Both farms used the facilities provided at Albany, the only town within the Country of Plantagenet.  Woodlands was forty acres only .  At first a two-roomed house was built.  Later, mud bricks were made and sun dried and were used to build a larger colonial-style house that was occupied  by Mr Jack Knight and family.  The old barn still stands today – a monument to those who built it.  It was not until 1871 that the Central Authority in Perth became convinced that the interested of road users generally, and local users in particular, would best be served if local men were appointed to lay down and manage the roads in their own districts.  Hence and Act was passed to do so.  The third property to be established was that of Joseph Nelson on the southern fringe of what later became the South Ward.  This was in 1872 after he built Chorkerup Inn.  It provided refreshment for man and beast, and a welcome respite from the jolting, jarring and bruising transport of the day.  Another big step forward was taken when the railway line from Albany to Perth was opened for traffic.  As against the transport of passengers and produce by horse-drawn vehicles, the rapid movement of people and great quantities of goods by the railway was incalculable.  The increase in population called for the production of large quantities of farm produce such as the drained swamps of the Narrikup Region could produce.  So it was that the new century witnessed a recurrence of rural activity that brought Narrikup- or the ‘Hay River’ as the siding on the railway line was called – into prominence again.  The name Narrikup was not used by the railways until 1910, four years after the townsite had been officially declared.  About the turn of the century a Mr Jackson selected and, together with his partner Mr Bishop, pioneered the development of a swamp not far from the siding, which  was given the attractive name of ‘Willow Farm’.  The property has changed hands several times since, but there are still those who remember the Jackson family with pleasure. After 1900, individual settlers began slowly established themselves in an ever widening sector of the country, mostly on the more grassy spots along the creeks or on permanent water holes.    With the transport link, the railway proved successful and slowly the scattered population increased to the point where schooling for the children and other public facilities became within the bounds of practicality. In those early days schooling was a source of anxiety for the parents, and it is to the credit of Mr and Mrs Jackson that when they were able to employ a governess to teach their children they invited neighbouring parents to send theirs along too.  At a later date the State saw fit to assist. First by providing desks only, and followed this up with complete one-teacher schools.  Down the Hay River Road in 1910 the first one teacher school was conducted by Mrs Hart and Mrs Steele, but closed again because it could not maintain the minimum number of pupils.  Before W.W.1 Mrs Steele opened another school in the recently built Narrikup Hall and divided her time between the two centres.  After the war, only the Hall was continued, and a house was provided for the teacher.  The decision was finally made to transport children to Mount Barker for school.    A bus service, still in operation, transported children to schools of a higher grading.  The first proprietor and driver of the Narrikup bus was Peter Benson.  The first business was in 1919 when Mr Sam Jolly began operating in a galvanized iron shed on the eastern side of the railway opposite the siding.  He sold some of the everyday needs of the settlers, opening for a short time on certain days.  As the district grew so did the business and in the 1920’s he transferred to a larger and more pretentious building on the Hay River Road, now a fully fledged store.  It is still in operation today.  A spot mill providing scantling and boards of limited length had been operated from an unknown date well before WW1 by Mr ‘Buff’ Harris and still further down the Hay River Road.  It continued for some years.  A second timber mill was started on the southern slopes of the Porongurup Range in 1918 by Harry Elliot.  A third mill operated by the Rizzi Bros was located a few miles east of the siding.  Still another was established on railway land at the siding, and several individuals milled smaller quantities of timber for shorter periods. Claude Harris, son of ‘Buff’ Harris,  was one of the earliest potato growers, and it was he who built the substantial storage shed still standing near the siding.  It later passed into the hands of Messrs Williamson & Pugh for the conduct of their potato business.  As farmers in the area became financially more secure because of their dairying and baby beef production, potato growing was abandoned and the Narrikup district developed rapidly into a cattle breeding areas.  After WW2 a pilot study was carried out in the area and as a consequence ten dairy farms were carved out of the bush. Each farm was designed as a self-contained unit with at least 400 acres of arable land.  Two bores were on each farm, and they could carry fifty milking cows each.  Though the scheme was a success, only two of the original settlers are still on the farms today.  Today the properties are much larger and mostly grazing the beef cattle for which the district is so ideally suited. Organisations had been formed in the Narrikup area for the betterment of the district.  Of these, none was more active than the Country Women’s Association or the Red Cross.  Both bodies donated considerable sums to charitable and needy causes. In 1908 Mrs Hannan began the Post Office service and carried on until her death in 1931 when her daughter Molly (later Mrs Herbert Dunn) took charge until 1966.  Her daughter Joan then became the postmistress.  Like so many country districts in their early days, sporting fixtures were few and far between and very much in the nature of an annual picnic at some convenient spot where water and shade were available.  In the horse and buggy days the families concerned arrived in the morning, when the bully was boiled for the cup that cheers, before the fun of the fair began.  Foot-racing was always popular and occasionally brought to light such outstanding runners as Bill Norton, who could do 100 yards in ten seconds.  Bill could also hit hard, both with his fists and the bat.  Cricket was a popular game for Narrikup who won the local premiership.  Sack races, three-legged races, thread-the-needle, egg-and-spoon and obstacle races were always a source of much shouting and laughter.  The day would also finish with a dance and songs.  Over the years Narrikup has had a high proportion of above-average sports men.”  Today Narrikup is still a thriving farming community with 3 of the original farms still occupied.  One of the first fuel pumps in Narrikup Early Potato farming in Narrikup