Visit to a ‘Historic Town’

Saturday, 27 May 2017 00:48 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Within a couple of hours’ drive from Perth, the capital of Western Australia (WA), one can reach interesting places for a day’s outing. Although these places have a history of less than two hundred years, they are charming old towns with original buildings and houses being renovated and well looked after. With farming being the main industry in the early days, most of these towns are in areas where water could be obtained easily. Thus rivers have played a significant role in forming settlements.

York, 97 kilometres east of Perth, is one such place. Situated in the fertile Avon Valley, York is WA’s most historic and oldest inland town. The area was first settled in 1831, two years after Perth was settled in 1829. A town was established in 1835 with the release of town allotments and the first buildings were erected in 1836.

The historic importance of the town can be gauged by the fact that the Australian Heritage Commission and the National Trust of Australia have acknowledged it and classified it as a ‘Historic Town’.

On a Saturday we drove to York for a picnic outing. The weather kept fine and we walked around admiring the old buildings which are situated along Avon Terrace – the main street. In fact, York can be described as ‘a single street town’. Unlike most busy towns, we didn’t find parking to be a problem.

After parking the car opposite the Town Hall situated at one end of the town, we visited the Visitor Information Centre – a common feature in any Australian city/town where tourists visit – in the same building. These Centres are manned by retired female volunteers. They are most courteous and go out of their way to tell you the interesting places to see and how to get to those places. Well-illustrated brochures in colour are available not only about the particular town but also in the surrounding areas.

Opposite the Town hall was a fair with open-air stalls manned by senior citizens. Walking round we found a wide range of products ranging from household plants, carpets, dresses, books, curios and even lollies, being sold at very reasonable prices. Behind each stall was a van or a pick-up used to bring the products to the fair.

Chatting to one of the retirees, he told me it’s more as a pastime that he spends the weekend visiting fairs of this type in and around Perth. He had a whole collection of Indonesian vases and other household knick-knacks which he had collected over the years.

“I have lost interest in these and I see no point in storing them in the house. So I thought of virtually giving them away, in the process collecting a few dollars,” he said. There was another with a fine stock of books ranging from cars to cricket. Potted plants were sold at very reasonable prices.

After enjoying a hot cup of coffee we strolled along the street admiring the old architecture. British convicts have been used to build most of the government buildings. The courthouse and goal built in 1840 comprise two courtrooms, police station, troopers’ cottage, goal cells and stable yard.