Woman's History Month...2023. Post 8... My Great Grandmother's House...100 Blog Posts.
This month is Women's History Month. I have decided to repost the stories of many of the wonderful women from Subiaco I have come across.
While this is not about a woman from Subiaco these articles were a special find on Trove.
My Great Grandmother's House...100 Blog Posts.
I never knew my great grandmother or grandfather. I did not know my grandmother who died in 1952. My grandfather died in 1973 when I was 10 years old. I learnt a little bit about my mother's side of the family and where they were from over the years through stories told to me by my mother and a collection of photographs.
My interest in family history started when I found my grandmother's death notice on Trove, the database at the National Library of Australia. It was very emotional reading the notice. When I did a basic search of my grandmother's maiden name I found a collection of articles from a variety of sources. There were a number of articles collected via a brother who served in World War One in a Lighthorse Brigade created from documents from the Australian War Memorial and National Archives. There were articles about a sister who married a man who later became a mayor of East Fremantle.
Many of the documents about the history of the Wheelock family were collected for a page about a soldier in World War Two named Jack Logan Wheelock, the son of Darcy Logan Wheelock and Enda Elizabeth Wheelock (nee ILes) called 'WX8753 Wheelock Jack Logan - 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion'.
An entry from Friends of the Battye Library...
"WHEELOCK, CHARLES THOMAS, b. Toodyay, d. 15-5-1916, m 16.6.1885 (Carnarvon) Jessie Nevin McJANNET. Chd May Elizabeth Wheelock b. 1886 d. 1964 (Carnarvon owned drapery store), Darcy, Gerald d. 1964. Shepard at Irwin, drover of flocks into Gascoyne district. In partnership with G.J. Gooch, established "Wandagee Station" 1880. Was at meeting there when 1st Gascoyne Rd. Bd. was formed 1882. To Carnarvon, built "Red House" 1883. Town councillor employee as well as station manager, town butcher. Pesbyt..."
The highlight of my search came when I searched the Royal Historical Society of Western Australia collection of digitalised photographs. I found a photograph titled 'Cotton Palm At Site of Red House Carnarvon'. The summary read "Cotton palm at site of Red House. Carnarvon. Note 'May Wheelock's birthplace and her mother's treasured cotton palm in a week enshrouded garden on the banks of Gascoyne River, Carnarvon. The cotton palm was grown and cared for by Mrs. C. Wheelock who built the Red House in the background. The wheels etc are all that remain of early transport". The photograph was by R. Scott-Memory.
There is also a photograph of May Elizabeth Wheelock. The summary of the photograph reads "In front of the home her father built in 1884 - Red House at Yankee Town on the Gascoyne River. Carnarvon. Verandahs were added later." The photographer was R. Scott-Memory.
There is a considerable amount of information about their family home the Red House. The Red House is a heritage listed building on the Inherit State Heritage database.
"...History
The Red House was built around 1883 in what was known as Yankee Town about three miles from the town centre. It was built by Charles Wheelock for his bride to be Jessie Nevin McJannet whom he married in 1885. They had six girls and two boys, the first child being the third white child to be born in Carnarvon. Their child May Elizabeth born in 1886 lived for seventy eight years in Carnarvon. Bricks were handmade mud bricks from the red soil. The house was renovated by Ann and Mike Kerswill and a portion of the mud brick section was left for tourists and interested people to see. The Cotton Palm is almost as old as the house having been planted by the Wheelocks from a seedling brought home in Charles Wheelock’s saddle bag from a droving trip and nurtured through drought seasons by Jesse. At one time, Aboriginal mothers and children used to hide and sleep under the beds in the Red House for fear of the ‘Gum mint’ (government) Man coming to get them (a law at that time was to separate the Aboriginal children from their mothers). The Red House is one of the few remaining homesteads and has stood for over 100 years through cyclones, floods and droughts and should continue to do so for much longer.
Physical Description
A hipped roofed dwelling with a surrounding partly enclosed verandah. The bricks used in the construction of the house were hand made locally. The original owners were the Wheelocks..."
The dream is to go up to Carnarvon and visit the house. Writing family history is very emotional. While I have learnt a lot from those who have kept records and photographs of the past there is still a long way to on this journey.
The photograph below is from the Royal Historical Society of Western Australia. The photograph below is from the Inherit database. No copyright infringement intended. 
