THE historic Edenvale homestead at Pinjarra has been a landmark entry to Pinjarrahfor generations.
One year ago, the Edenvale Homestead Working Group conceived a plan to improve the homestead in three stages, providing a unique history of Pinjarra in the former master bedroom.
Stage 1, the Pinjarrah Room, launched yesterday , depicts the social history of Pinjarra from 1900 to 1960 when the pioneering McLarty family lived there.
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READ NOWTo kick-off stage 1, the Friends of Edenvale launched a raffle, which provided the finance and confidence to proceed, and Bendigo Bank’s Pinjarra branch has agreed to a partnership with Murray Districts Historical Society for $2500.
A group of past and present Pinjarra residents shared their stories and memories, family items and artefacts.
Twenty individuals and families with a strong connection to Pinjarra, including three Sutton sisters who grew up on a farm on Greensland Road, were interviewed with one travelling from Geraldton for the launch.
Stage 2 will concentrate on the life and times of the McLarty family and stage 3 will recognise the life of Kitty, a young Aboriginal girl who lived at Edenvale and became Lady Violet McLarty’s housekeeper as well as the lives of other Aboriginal people of the era.
The guest room, formerly used for McLarty visitors, will be used for short-term displays.
Edenvale was the Victoria Regency home of the McLarty family for three generations and administrative centre for their outlying farming interests.
In later years, it housed a boardroom and an information centre.
In 1977, a citizens committee was formed to lobby for purchase of the home.
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