Ephraim Clarke (1806 – 19.11.1875), arrived in the Colony per the Parkfield in 1841 with his wife and family as part of the Australind Settlement. Around 1849 he owned and operated the ‘Hampden Inn’ on the Old Coast Road. Clarke was appointed overseer of the Bunbury Convict Depot in 1852. In 1856 he bought ten acres of land on the Harvey River, leased a large acreage to pasture stock and set about improving his land holding. He named the property ‘Jardup’ where he built a cottage, moving the family to the property in 1859, leaving his son William behind at ‘Hampton’.
That first cottage was demolished, although remnant trees and garden survived. Another cottage was built in 1870 by his son, Ephraim Mayo Clarke (1846 – 1921). Soon after, EM Clarke relinquished his share in the Harvey properties and moved to Bunbury to commence a store-keeping business. He married Louisa Teede in 1876 and was the first elected Mayor of Bunbury in 1888. He entered Parliament in 1901.
In 1890, William Sutton paid a deposit on ‘Jardup’, which consisted of 600 acres as well as seven-year lease on 10,000 acres. Sutton and his wife Florence farmed ‘Jardup’ until 1913, increasing their holding to 1527 acres. There they built a home constructed of hand-made clay bricks not far from Harvey, near Quindanning Road. The house was later limewashed and the original shingle roof was replaced with corrugated iron.
‘Jardup’, courtesy Harvey Historical Society.
Sutton sold the ‘Jardup’ property in 1913 to Edward William Nicolaus.[1] After farming for a few years, Nicolaus decided to join the armed forces and in 1917 advertised a large clearing sale at the ‘Jardup’ property.[2] He enlisted at the age of 33, but defective vision, aggravated by service in Egypt with the 10th Light Horse, led to his eventual discharge in 1919. Nicholaus later went to New Zealand where he died in 1960.[3]
In 1920 Lieut. Allan Bennison Black, originally from Victoria, purchased the property, with the intention of making big improvements. His resident manager was a Mr Bennett, of Dowerin.[4] Allan Black’s war records show that he enlisted at Blackboy Hill in WA, then was seriously wounded in France and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He died at the age of 63 and was buried in the Harvey Cemetery.[5]
By the time George Morris and his artist wife Dorothy bought ‘Jardup’ in 1973 from Jeff Zechin, the old ‘Jardup’ homestead was in disrepair. They began restoring the house which became an art gallery where Mrs Morris’s paintings were displayed. In 1980 they moved into a new house adjacent to the old ‘Jardup’ homestead.
The Water Corporation bought the property in 1996 and three historic properties, ‘Jardup’, ‘Nicklup’ and ‘Glentana’ were inundated when the new Harvey Dam was constructed in 2000 – 2002. Causeways were named to commemorate the three properties.
[1] South Western Advertiser 12 December 1913
[2] South Western Advertiser 9 March 1917
[3] https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/
[4] Bunbury Herald 13 April 1920
[5] West Australian 19 May 1949