To Broome and Back!: Day 91. Geraldton to Dongara- Port Denison. 10/08/2015

Heavy rain again last night but it was fine this morning and the sun was actually shining as we departed Geraldton. Cold enough for us to put on some warmer clothes and I have now packed most of the summer clothes back under the bed.

We only travelled about 25 kms along the Brand Highway that took us on a very pretty drive through some undulating hills, again with large crops of wheat etc. before we stopped in the district of Greenough, a little hamlet with superb beaches on one side and the Greenough River running through the properties on the other side. The Central Greenough Settlement is nestled amongst the unique “leaning trees”. It is a charming settlement renowned for its pioneering history and 11 beautifully restored heritage buildings, all remnants of a once thriving community of 19th century pioneers. It is a National Trust treasure that was well worth the stop to visit. Central Greenough developed as the local administrative centre housing the churches, schools, stores, government and law enforcement offices during the 1860’s. St. Catherine’s Hall featured many photographs of the events that were held in that venue and they included dances, parties, weddings, concerts, political meetings and flower shows. During the 1930’s the hall was used as a school. It continues to be used for social functions. The St. Catherines’s Church, an Anglican Church, was first erected with iron and timber that had been shipped complete with fittings, from England in 1892, but was replaced by the present building in 1913, and the Church is still in use for regular worship.

St. Peter’s Church, the Catholic Church, was built in 1908 replacing an earlier Church that was damaged in an 1888 flood. This Church is still in use today. The Presbytery and the Greenough Convent have both had several uses during their time mostly as boarding schools for boys.

The Police Station and Gaol was first used in1863 and even had a Resident Magistrate and a Court Room. The Gaol cells were not used for the long term housing of prisoners, who were instead transferred to Geraldton upon conviction. It was a very large complex and it housed the police sergeant’s quarters, a school teachers quarters, a kitchen for preparing prisoners’ meals, and from 1874 a post office. There was also a stable for the police horses and a 22 metre deep well in the rear courtyard.

They were very impressive buildings and certainly gave us an insight to the daily living at that time.

We enjoyed a Devonshire Tea in the Cafe before continuing on our way to Port Denison. The Dongara Denison Holiday Park is situated right on the beach-front and we have a great site with wonderful views of the ocean. The waves can be heard continually pounding on the shore it is such a great sound to experience. We had lunch before setting off for our usual “discovery” tour of the area we are staying in.

We stopped at the Port Denison Marina, the home to the rock lobster fishing fleet, and John checked out the latest delivery of the lobsters from a cray boat to the distribution sheds. There were a number of boats at the wharf and we suspect because it was so windy the boats would not be going out to sea. Port Denison is a small township that featured those very beautiful Moreton Bay Fig Trees in the main street named Moreton Terrace and were planted in 1906. The surrounding areas were a mixture of very old holiday shacks and some very new and quite large homes. It is obviously now a popular area for people to holiday here from Perth.

Just a short distance from the Irwin River, we found the historical Priory Lodge that was constructed in 1881 as a single limestone building. It first served as the Dongara Hotel before being run for 70 years by the Dominican Sisters as a school and boarding college. Now restored again as a hotel in sprawling setting of pretty gardens.
Bed tonight to listen to the pounding seas that I find lull me into a beautiful restful sleep. There is probably more to see her in Port Denison but tomorrow we must move again to New Norcia our destination for a couple of nights.