Old Brunswick State Farm 1900 & Bridgemore 1856
- 421 Wellesley Road, Brunswick WA 6224
- Private property. Not open to public
Old Brunswick State Farm 1900 & Bridgemore 1856
Private Property - not open to the public
The Brunswick State Farm was an early-20th-century experimental farm located on Wellesley Road, which was established around 1900 to promote dairying and agriculture.
It featured an irrigation system from the Brunswick River, Ayrshire cattle, and Clydesdale horses before transitioning to a training farm and later part of the Soldiers’ Settlement scheme.
The State Farm was established on land originally owned and developed by James Perren, on which he built a home that he named Bridgemore, circa 1856.
James died in 1893, and his wife in 1903. Their executors sold 4014 acres of land to the Government, including the 811 acres acquired by the Agricultural Department for the experimental State Farm, with the aim of encouraging further dairying. The Bridgemore homestead accommodated the Farm Manager.
Well-bred Clydesdale horse teams were used to clear, drain and cultivate the land. The farm had a piggery (purebred Berkshire pigs) and a herd of the best strains of Ayrshire dairy cattle. Experimental crops of clover, fruit trees and vines were planted. An irrigation expert from the Department of Agriculture, Mr A.H. Scott, designed and installed an irrigation scheme using water pumped by a Crossley engine from the Brunswick River. His involvement continued until 1910.
By 1919, the farm had proved to be unsuccessful and was then used for agricultural training before becoming part of the Soldiers’ Settlement scheme.
The Noakes family drew the block on which the old historic homestead now stands on Wellesley Road, Brunswick. The original Perren homestead was relocated to Wellesley Road because of flooding from the Brunswick River and renamed Cregmore.
Cregmore consisted of two storeys, the upper one roofed in tile and bearing two big chimneys. Later, brick additions were made around the lower storey.
Not open to the public. However, the homestead is visible from Wellesley Road and a beautiful avenue of oak trees along the road is believed to originally formed an entrance to the Bridgemore farmhouse.
