Bundidup Farm & Homestead Historic Site

“Thomas Hayward (1832–1915) was born in Suffolk, England, the son of a gentleman farmer. He received a good education and afterwards farmed with his father. Thomas intended to establish his own farm but land was difficult to buy in Suffolk. His cousin Robert Rose had migrated to Western Australia and after hearing about the large acreages available there, Thomas joined his aunt, Mrs Elizabeth Rose and her children Charles and Bessie, on the Devonshire which landed in Fremantle in September 1853.

Between his arrival in the colony and his purchase of ‘Bundidup’, Thomas Hayward suffered several failed ventures. His luck began to change when Hayward and the Rose family leased ‘Parkfield’ in the Australind district, where they successfully grew potatoes and carried on dairy farming. Robert Rose married Ann Bishop Allnutt and when his mother bought ‘Parkfield’, Robert settled there.

Thomas Hayward, in partnership with Mrs Rose and her son Charles, then leased Dr Ferguson’s ‘Wedderburn’ property at Brunswick. When that venture was found wanting, the Roses bought ‘Wilgarrup’ beyond Bridgetown while Hayward carried on at ‘Wedderburn’. In 1859 he bought ‘Bundidup’. ‘The land was part of the Western Australian Land Company’s Location 1 – 65 Ommanney Road, nearly 6 miles south of the Harvey River. He built a good house and necessary farm buildings and started dairying.’

In 1861 Thomas Hayward married Catherine Logue who had been living with her brothers north of the Harvey River since 1852.

In 1862 he bought land in Bunbury to accommodate the sale of imported agricultural implements and farm machinery. Thomas Hayward and Son, as the business was known, became the biggest business in Bunbury and expanded from farm machinery to supplying most goods for farm, home and clothing. By the mid-sixties, Thomas was fully occupied with business and farming operations were capably carried out under the supervision of Catherine.

Convicts played a major role in developing ‘Bundidup’. The Haywards used ticket-of-leave men to develop and work the property. One in particular, a man from Glasgow stayed for 14 years. Convicts occasionally used ‘Bundidup’ as a point of refuge in failed attempts to escape.

‘Bundidup’ was well placed to supply meat, butter, vegetables and fodder from the farm to workers during the construction of roads and the Perth-Bunbury railway. In 1898 the Mornington Timber Mill was built only four miles from ‘Bundidup’ and the Haywards supplied the mill workers with produce from the farm – a handy source of cash income.

Thomas Hayward founded the Bunbury Hunt Club. During the early 1900s he was a Member of the Roads Board and a Member of Parliament.

‘Bundidup’ was farmed by three generations of Haywards – all named Thomas. It was sold out of the family by the third Thomas Hayward in 1926. A portion of the holding was purchased by The Ugly Men’s Association as a boys farm school. In 1936 five hundred acres were purchased by the Western Australian Government to produce dairy heifers for the use of soldier settlers. In 1950 the farm became an agricultural research station to serve irrigation areas. In 1999 the Wokalup Research Station was sold to the Education Department and became the Harvey Agricultural College’s farm but the residential and other teaching areas remained in Harvey. That was remedied in 2012 when the residential and agricultural teaching facilities were united on the one site at Wokalup enabling the College to accommodate 120 students and offer a wider range of vocational subjects.

The ruins of the old ‘Bundidup’ home can still be seen north of the College buildings on Mornington Road.”

…This post and photos are shared with permission from the Harvey History online website. It is written by Heather Wade. Thank you to Harvey History for allowing me to share this in it’s entirety.