Greenwood Farm Historic Site 1839

George Leake first purchased Leschenault Location 23 Greenwood Farm, located at the mouth of the Collie River, in 1839.

The area was 320 acres (130 hectares). Leake was one of Western Australia’s wealthiest first settlers, a director of the first Bank of Western Australia, a member of the Legislative Council, and chairman of the Perth Town and General Roads trusts. He visited but never lived in Australind and died in 1849.

In 1844, the Hough family lived as tenants at what became known as Greenwood, where they grew wheat and potatoes. James, an agricultural labourer, and Elizabeth arrived on the Parkfield in 1841 with their son, Joseph.

After November 1844, Greenwood was taken over by Abraham Hurst (who had arrived in 1842 on Diadem), then his son Basil (1828-1901) and wife Maria, nee Gardiner (1831-1903), and later again his grandsons. Marriage connected the Hough and Hurst families.

Later, its owners, the Gibbs family, operated it as a dairy, piggery, and poultry farm with an old homestead surrounded by Cape Lilac trees.

In the 1970s, the land was subdivided into the present-day Clifton Park and the Clifton Community Reserve.

Image: The Hurst family at Greenwood Farm: Basil Hurst, Maria Hurst, possibly John Hurst, Daisy Crampton, and Matilda Crampton, circa 1900.