Strawberry Hill at Barmup is significant to the Menang people as a seasonal campsite and water source. It is also the site of the first British farm in Western Australia and is associated with the colonial occupation of the state.
We care for a highly significant collection of artefacts associated with all periods of the occupation of the place. With the support of a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia we have been able to carry out a project to guide us in the ongoing conservation and care of these precious objects.
International Conservation Services was engaged to provide an assessment of the condition of the artefacts and the environmental conditions in which they are kept. We continue to work with their conservators in implementing the recommendations.
Claire Rowson, Conservation Manager, International Conservation Services, assessing the environmental conditions at Strawberry Hill.
A New Italian Dictionary, 1806, given by Sir Richard Spencer to his daughter Mary Ann. Spencer was the Government Resident at Strawberry Hill from 1833-1839.
A letter written from Strawberry Hill in 1902 from labourer Jack Howarth to his sister in England.
While stationed in Malta in 1806, Richard Spencer assisted in securing the release of thirty men, two women and their servants, who had been prisoners in Algeria for 15 years. As a sign of appreciation, the citizens of Malta gave him “silver plate worth one hundred guineas” and later the merchants of Malta rewarded him with an additional piece of silver worth 40 guineas for protecting their trade.
This teapot was part of that gift from the citizens of Malta and has been identified as being made by Saverio Cannataci, probably the most prominent silversmith of the 19th century. Born in 1783, he became a master silversmith in 1806 and Consul for Silversmiths in 1848. His style was often a mixture of English and Italian designs.
A Royal Humane Society Bronze medal awarded to Jessie Marchant in June 1872 for saving the life of her 2-year-old daughter from drowning in a well in Duke Street, Albany. Jessie was a granddaughter of Sir Richard and Lady Anne Spencer and lived at Strawberry Hill.
