Follow the convict trail on a round trip from Perth for a journey laced with history and legend. This road trip traces the movements of Western Australia’s convicts, who were put to work building much of the young colony’s infrastructure, more than 150 years ago.
Feature by Fleur Bainger
DAY 1
The riverside suburb of Guildford feels more like a hamlet popped in a time capsule than a fringing suburb of Perth. Make your way to State Heritage-listed Lieutenant Du Cane’s House on Meadow Street. Now a private home, the original brick and shingle-roofed residence was built for the lieutenant using convict labour. Du Cane’s role was to establish the Guildford Convict Depot in the early 1850s, not long after the first convict ships arrived at the Swan River Colony. He also used convict labour to improve the roads, build nearby Barker’s Bridge and construct soldiers’ houses.
Prisoners were again put to work on Guildford Colonial Gaol (entry $5), just down the road from Lt Du Cane’s home. Renovated in 2017, the gaol is part of the Guildford Heritage Precinct – itself worth a wander. Take time to explore the Rogue’s Gallery, with its tales of misdemeanours such as an inmate sentenced to 12 months labour in the Convict Depot for stealing grapes from a garden in 1854. There are historic artefacts inside the Prisoners’ Day Room, from winemaking and flour-milling implements to brickmaking and woodworking tools. Take a tour (gold coin donation) through the timber settlers’ abode, Taylor’s Cottage, which grants an insight into day-to-day life in the mid-19th century – don’t miss the authentic ‘thunder box’ in the backyard.
Drive a few kilometres further north into the Swan Valley for lunch – Taylor’s Art and Coffee House is a favourite – then set the GPS for York, an atmospheric town one hour’s drive away. There, you’ll find the York Residency Museum (entry $5), housed in the last remaining building of the town’s original Convict Depot. It was first home to the resident magistrate (from whom it takes its name), and then became part of the Old York Hospital, before being turned into a museum. Find the convict handcuffs in the ‘Convicts Arrive’ section.
The Residency Museum, York
DAY 2
After breakfast at The York Mill Cafe, drive through the countryside for just under an hour to the Toodyay Red Hill Convict Road Station Ruins, constructed in the 1850s. The camp housed the convict road gangs that built and maintained the road to Perth. Back then, there were five buildings made of rammed earth; now the ruins of only one remain.
Also in the charming town of Toodyay, grab lunch at the quirky Cola Cafe, then go to the well-preserved Newcastle Gaol Museum Precinct (entry $5). Learn about bushranger and serial escapee Moondyne Joe; wander through the lock-up; explore the old police stables; and see the Wicklow shearing shed. Spend the evening in Toodyay, and dine at the modern-Australian-meets-Indian Toodyay Spice & Grill.
DAY 3
After a leisurely breakfast in Toodyay, spin your wheels for coastal Greenough, a four-hour journey north. If you’re travelling between mid-July and late October, pull over at Eneabba to seek out the Wheatbelt’s wildflowers. Pull up at Maley’s Bridge, built by convicts in the 1860s and restored in the late 2000s. The historic stone settlement of Greenough – one of the first in WA – is also worth a wander. Drive 20 minutes to Geraldton and stay overnight at The Gerald, a chic apartment hotel.
DAY 4
From Geraldton, it’s a one-hour drive north to Lynton Convict Hiring Depot in Yallabatharra. While the former bakery, blacksmith, lock-up, hospital, lime kiln and administration block that made up the depot are now in ruins, the complex is regarded as the most intact example of a convict depot in WA.
Established in 1853, it housed 60 ticket-of-leave convicts and put them to work at the Geraldine Lead Mine and local pastoral stations. After exploring the depot, and the nearby pretty town of Northampton, set off on the five-hour journey back to Perth, this time taking the scenic Indian Ocean Drive.
Our Lady in Ara Coeli Church, Northampton
Published January 2020.