Made in Mundaring

PAST EXHIBITION

This exhibition interpreted the history of the Shire of Mundaring through the many items crafted from, by, and within its landscape.

This land has provided food, water, clothing, and shelter to those who have lived here for thousands of years. It has informed community and individual identity in diverse ways.

This exhibition highlighted the building materials, foods, domestic objects, artworks, inventions, and landscapes that were not only 'Made in Mundaring' but also have MADE Mundaring.

Making Mundaring

Today and Yesterday

From the granite slabs quarried at Mahogany Creek for the Perth GPO, to the beautiful stained-glass windows made in Greenmount by Gowers and Brown, the range of building materials, foods, domestic objects, artworks, and inventions made locally is extraordinary. The labour and creativity of people in the past, and in the present, was acknowledged in the array of objects displayed, and in the stories of the individuals who made them.

Gowers & Brown

Stained-Glass Artists of Greenmount

At 'Carraboya', their studio in Greenmount, Ted Gowers and Albert Brown made hundreds of magnificent stained-glass windows for churches throughout Western Australia. Arriving in WA from England in 1954, they moved to Greenmount in 1958, where they established a home and a studio-workshop.

Made from Weeds

Una Bell's Watsonia Hat

Using the leaves of the Watsonia plant - a prolific weed throughout WA - local artist Una Bell used millinery tools passed onto her by her Grandma to make beautiful hats.

Poultry, Eggs, and Fruit

All Made in Mundaring

Orchards with peaches, plums, apricots, pears, apples, and citrus fruit were once a key feature of Mundaring. Bees were kept for honey and pollination, and railway stations were kept busy as boxed fruit was sent daily to markets in the city.

Poultry farms also proliferated. Brooklyn Poultry Farm in Parkerville was the largest such business in the southern hemisphere in the 1930s.

Made by Nature

Timber, Granite, and Clay

The Perth Hills were once abundant in natural resources such as timber, granite, and gravel. These products were used to build harbours, monuments, homes, and roads throughout the state and overseas.

Homemade

and made for the home

Glen Forrest local, Jack Lindsay, made this beautiful and functional sewing box for his wife in 1928, using everyday materials - a tea chest and a sewing machine crate.

Upcycling in 1916

A kerosene tin becomes a family heirloom

Made from two Laurel kerosene tins and recycled timber, this washstand was made by Frank Roberts for his family. Frank was Mundaring's Station Master from 1914 until his death in 1925. The washstand became a much loved family heirloom and was donated by the Roberts family to the MHHS in 2016.

George's Homemade Machine

keeps tools close-to-hand

George Beamish (1922 - 2013) loved to tinker, and this multi-purpose woodworking machine ensured George could work on his projects in the most efficient way possible.

St Cuthbert

Made in Mundaring

This beautiful stained-glass window, made by Ted Gowers and Albert Brown in their stained-glass studio in Greenmount, can be seen in St Cuthbert's Church in Darlington.

Innovative Mundaring!

From the Buffalo Handle Factory to Arbortech

Innovation has been a feature of many items 'Made in Mundaring'. Did you know that the Pink Lady apple was developed at the local Stoneville Research Station, or that a small factory in Wooroloo experimented with karri to make tool handles post-WW1?