This has been the land of the Whadjuk people since dreamtime. This area is known as Mandoon Nyoongar, Munda’s Country.
Nitja Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodjar, Nyoongar wirin Gnulla Birfiyia Moort Djinoong wer Koorlinjy Nyoongar Boodjar, Munda Boodjar Cooram.
This is land-of Whadjuk people Nyoongar spirit Country Nyoongar leaders and family walked and looked after the land of Munda, Munda’s land.
Charles Harper, agriculturalist, legislator and part-owner of The West Australian newspaper, bought this land on the banks of the Swan River in 1883. He built this unique house as a display of his success and in 1896 founded Guildford Grammar School in the billiards room.
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About Woodbridge at Mandoon on Whadjuk Nyoongar Country
Captain James Stirling explored the area in 1827 and on returning two years later as Governor of the Swan River Colony took up 1,620 hectares of land. He named his property ‘Woodbridge’ and the adjoining town site ‘Guildford’, as it reminded him of the area around his wife’s family in Surrey, England.
Stirling had a small cottage built but spent little time there. At the end of his term as Governor in 1839, Stirling left the colony and leased the property.
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History
Charles Harper married Fanny de Burgh in 1879 and the following year took up a lease at Woodbridge at Mandoon. They began growing wheat but switched to sheep, dairy cattle and pigs after the crop suffered from rust. After Woodbridge Estate was subdivided in 1883, Harper bought 274 acres and commissioned architect Francis Bird to prepare plans for a family home.
Charles, Fanny, their three sons and one daughter moved into the completed house in 1885. Over the following decade three more boys and three girls were born. The family was supported by live in staff and others who came in for specific tasks.
Woodbridge at Mandoon supported extensive orchards of apples, pears, peaches and table grapes. A commercial nursery stocked fruit trees and vines. Charles developed various wheat varieties, pioneered the use of artesian water for agricultural purposes, developed an inexpensive fencing system and improved pastures using clover and superphosphate. He served as a parliamentarian, was part owner of The West Australian newspaper and started The Western Mail.
In 1895 Charles established a school at Woodbridge at Mandoon for his and neighbours’ children with older ones in the billiard room and younger ones on the verandah. A small single storied school building was erected in 1900. Ten years later the Church of England purchased the premises and 54 acres and took over operation of the school which became part of present day Guildford Grammar School.
Charles died in 1912 and Fanny stayed on at Woodbridge with two unmarried daughters until 1921. The farm and orchards were managed by eldest son Charles Walter Harper. Two other sons were killed at Gallipoli in 1915.
Cecil C. Priestley leased the house and 8 acres of land from 1921 and for the next 20 years operated Woodbridge House School. The residents of the Old Women’s Home in Fremantle were hurriedly transferred to Woodbridge in 1942 for the duration of the war. Various alterations were made to the house and it was soon overcrowded. The Health Department finally vacated Woodbridge in 1964 and it was used as an annexe to Governor Stirling Senior High School. Demolition was anticipated but community support for its retention won over.
Woodbridge was vested in the National Trust of Australia (WA) in 1968, extensive restoration was carried out and it opened to the public in 1970. The former coach house was converted to a gift shop and tea rooms in 1986 and continues today as a café.
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Conservation
There was considerable alarm expressed by local residents at the prospect of losing what was regarded as a key house of the late Victorian era in Western Australia. The National Trust approached the government for the transfer of Woodbridge at Mandoon with a view to its preservation. After some negotiation, the decision to vest the property in the National Trust was made. Restoration work began in August 1968 under the direction of the Trust’s honorary architect, Marshall Clifton.
One of the main external features of the original house was the cast iron lace of the verandahs and balconies which had been mostly lost during the wartime conversion. The National Trust was fortunate to be able to restore this feature from material obtained from Perth’s Federal Hotel, demolished in 1969.
The building was opened to the public in 1970 when restoration was completed, and most the ground floor rooms furnished. Since then, gradual restoration, furnishing and display have continued, with the building today reflecting one aspect of life in the late Victorian era.
The National Trust, in furnishings its properties, endeavours to use furniture of the period, most of which has been donated.