Boyup Brook, Western Australia: History
About 1839, John Hassell brought sheep and cattle from the eastern states of Australia via Albany, and acquired a lease of land along what would later become Scotts Brook, south of the current town site. Although he grazed this stock in the area, the leases did not become permanent, and Hassell later moved to Kendenup.
In 1845, Augustus Gregory followed the Blackwood River from the junction of the Arthur and Beaufort Rivers downstream for about 170 kilometres (110 mi).
He carved his initials and the date into a jarrah tree, approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) north-east of where the town now lies.
That tree is now dead, but the stump and the markings remain. The stump – now known as Gregory Tree – has been covered for preservation.
The first permanent settlement in the area was a 4,900-hectare (12,000-acre) lease, south of the current town site, along what became known as Scotts Brook. This lease was granted to William Scott and his wife Mary (née Keane). William arrived in Fremantle as a single passenger on Napoleon in 1841, and Mary on Travancore in 1853. They settled at Scotts Brook in 1854, having travelled from Albany following their wedding in the same year. Their marriage certificate shows William's occupation as bailiff for Peter Belches and his residence as Kindenup Farm, Albany.
Initially they named the property Rutherglen after Scott's family farm in Scotland. Scott later questioned the local Indigenous population about the original name of the area and was told it was Norlup, meaning 'shady place', due to the trees surrounding freshwater pools. Inspired by this Scott decided to rename the farm. In about 1872 Scott built a new house that remains to this day (albeit with more recent extensions and renovations), and is now listed as Norlup Homestead on the Heritage Council of Western Australia's register.
In 1861 James George Lee Steere, in partnership with Mr J H Monger, took up a 40,000-hectare (100,000-acre) lease near the Blackwood River. Shortly afterwards, his wife Catherine and their baby son travelled from Bunbury to join him.
In 1871 William Forrest moved into the area, to a farm called Dwalganup.
By 1882 there were nineteen families in the area. In 1896 land was set aside for a future town and the Upper Blackwood Road Board district (which became the Shire of Boyup Brook in 1961) was created as a separate local government area.
Boyup Brook was declared a town on 9 February 1900. The district had an area of 3,200 square kilometres (1,240 sq mi), and in December 1900 an estimated population of 400. Milestones in the town's early history include:
The town was originally gazetted as Boyup by an Executive Council minute dated 31 January 1900.
However the name Boyup Brook was in common use by the locals, the Progress Committee and the Upper Blackwood Road Board. In 1908 residents suggested that the town be renamed to Boyup Brook, to avoid confusion with the similarly named Boyanup. Lee Steere, by now the Speaker of the Assembly and member for Nelson, which included the area, strongly supported the use of the name over that of Throssell, which had been advocated by some at the time.
The name was ultimately changed to Boyup Brook on 5 February 1909 to match the railway station that was built in 1908–1909. Even after the change, there was still confusion about the name within the government, as can be seen in the name and text of the Boyup-Kojonup Railway Act 1909, assented some 10 months after the official change of name.