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Karragullen Bush History
Once located on Dale Road, a CALM-managed road (Conservation and Land Management) in Karragullen, three properties were located in close proximity on this side of the road. Although it’s difficult to know when they were constructed, by the mid-1970’s, they were all but gone and have most likely, since been forgotten. I shall refer this to the “Main Site”. The back cottage on this side of the road appears to have been located where the sink hole is, or atleast in close proximity to it.
A search of Google using a variety of terms reveals nothing, other than it being a CALM managed road. Searching for Dale Road in Trove brings a number of mentions, mostly relating to the community campaigning the Main Roads Board for action to maintain or repair it. Nothing can be found on the residents living on the road nor anything about their homes.
It’s very likely the community here were all forestry workers, as a work site (blue outline) was located approximately 370m south of the Main Site, down Dale Road. Continuing 90 metres further down the road, eight equally spaced out cottages were located on the same side of the road, with one cottage opposite. A number of fallen trees are visible in 1965 aerial imagery.
Returning to the Main Site back up Dale Road, a number of sheds or temporary living structures can be seen on both sides of the road. Opposite the Main Site, two large houses can be seen with two smaller cottage structures located in between. A water tank can be seen behind them in the bush.
Metal Detectorists
Of course, including an aerial image of the area from Landgate carries the risk of greedy metal detectorists making a beeline to the site to pilfering the remains of history for their own benefit.
We at Streetkid Industries fully understand that this will never be monitored (and can’t!) but have been advocating for an anonymous self-reporting service for some time now.
Those who find historical items should be able to have access to a system to report the particular details of items found, which contribute to the history of the past, however big or small, even if these anonymous disclosures were made to the crew behind Streetkid Industries until one day, something official is established.
West Side of the Road
Campaigning the Main Roads Board
In the monthly meeting of the Canning Hills Fruitgrowers’ Association on 13 February 1914, local residents living on nearby Mount Dale and Croydon Roads requested that the Road Board be asked to “lay out the unexpended portion of the Crown grant for the Dale Road”. The grant appeared to have been reserved for settlers, “for the conveyance of fruit to Karragullen station”.
The ongoing debate on maintaining and upgrading Dale Road seemed to have gone on for an extensive amount of time, with Main Roads Board response usually being that of, ‘it would be a waste of taxpayer’s money to do so’.
Finally the day came in October 1928 when a new Dale road was constructed and completed through Karragullen. The old road appears to have run somewhat parallel to the current Dale Road, its line now barely visible in aerial imagery, which shows a dense growth of trees fading the road from view.
In July 1932, between 35-40 men employed by the Forestry Department, were camping along Dale Road. Due to bad weather of late, it was found to be impossible for food supplies to travel the road, as the road urgently needed to be repaired. With so many lives at stake, it would surely have been the case that it was quickly actioned and not a repeated struggle of the past.
Current Actions
In the March 2023 meeting involving the City of Armadale’s Technical Services Committee, the council recommended Dale Road to be vested as a government road, requiring immediate approval from CALM to undertake ongoing maintenance grading, with sealing to take place within the next few years. It will be interesting to see how long it takes this time!
