Point Lautour & The Old Backwater

Point Lautour and the Old Backwater wetland are nature reserve sites along the banks of the Brunswick River in Treendale, Australind. The area is considered a place of high historic value for its association with the first land grant in the area in 1830 to Colonel Peter Augustus Lautour.

Colonel Lautour was an Anglo-French military officer who made a significant investment in the Swan River Colony. He never visited the colony, but his representative Richard Wells selected a holding of 103,000 acres known as Wellington Location 1 (between Australind and Wokalup) in 1830.

When he failed to develop the land and make significant improvements, the Crown transferred his land to The Western Australian Land Company, which was responsible for the establishment of the settlement at Australind. Some of the first settlers who were part of the scheme were Lautour’s indentured servants.

It was Governor Hutt’s brother, and Sir James Stirling, an ex-Governor of the Colony, who induced an English company to acquire Latour’s land for the settlement of immigrants. It was largely due to Stirling’s report on the quality of the soil and the opportunities offered to the right type of colonist, that the English public subscribed to the necessary capital and formed the Land Company. Stirling knew the Bunbury district, for he had acquired sizeable areas in the locality, but he was genuine in his recommendations and not prompted by selfish motives.

A survey of the land was undertaken in 1840 by surveyor H.M.Ommaney and in his field book the name is first recorded as Point Lautour.

In 1879, it was noted in The West Australian that the land was being transferred to Benjamin Piggott and the description of the lot includes a reference to a tree on the point marked with two horizontal lines as a survey reference marker. This Casuarina tree still exists on the site.

The swampy land to the east of the Point Lautour is known as the “Mier”, a Noongar word.

The original town plans for Australind identify the Old Backwater as a site planned for an abattoir. However, this never eventuated.