Fleshing Out
It has been mainly getting the feel of the Albany
region over the past few days. From the original settlement days, the farm (not
quite the original buildings) -- the convict museum - the oldest
wattle-and-daub house in Albany - the Oyster Harbour Aboriginal fish traps.
Today, Sunday 12th November, I met with Caroline and Lynette, direct descendants
of the Noongah people of the Albany region. They took me along a sandy track
through the bush. We sat on great slabs of granite overlooking King Georges
Sound, and as we gazed on a panorama as near as it could possibly be to the
view of 200 years ago, they told me of the great stories of creation of the
region, as far as the eye could see, and further.
The original settlement, a collection of wattle
and daub cottages slapped together on a hill overlooking Princes Royal Harbour,
began on 25th December, 1826, when Major Edmond Lockyer planted the English
flag. He had 23 convicts 18 soldiers, a surgeon and a storekeeper under his
command. To supplement the stores, a farm was begun nearby, and a garden was
also established on Green Island, in Oyster
Harbour.
A
model of the first settlement.Little
had changed when Collet Barker assumed command from Sleeman in late 1829. Barker
took a keen interest in the garden, and the general well being of those under
his command, as well as nurturing a close relationship with the Aboriginal
people of the King Georges Sound
region.
The Old
Farm.
Green
Island.
The convict
Gaol.
In the Aboriginal section of
gaol.
Patrick Taylor House, (oldest
wattle and
daub).
Lila, volunteer at Patrick Taylor
House.
On Barker's
trail.
Ancient fish traps in Oyster Harbour.
Princes Royal
Harbour.
Barker
Bay.
Caroline and
Lynette.
Lynette's fish
trap.
The
isthmus.
King Georges Sound.
Posted: Mon - November 13, 2006 at 02:10 AM