Or is that too grand a title???
Anyways..... Windy Harbour has always been a part of our lives.
Windy Harbour is a very special place. It's a holiday settlement past Northcliffe on the south west coast of Western Australia. It's on about 190 hectares of Crown land, and is surrounded by the rugged and beautiful D'entrecasteaux National Park. Sometimes it is even named on a map (not here though), and often makes it on the weather report as the coldest or wettest or windiest place in the state.
The photo below is taken by a photographer named Halsall who does some amazing work- check out the website. There are other professional and amateur photographers who have taken great shots... These guys do helicopter shots- have a look at their Windy Harbour ones as I can't upload their photos.
Windy Harbour settlement with the Point D'Entrecasteaux cliffs in the background
The settlement is named after French Admiral Bruny D'entrecasteuax, who sighted and named the area in 1792.
About 220 cottages have been built on individual leases since the early 1900's. After the great depression, millworkers from the area started to use the area for cheap holidays over the Christmas break when mills shut down for several weeks. The settlement was born....
Mum and Dad bought a shack down there in around 1960, after David and Gavan were born. The reasoning was that as they intended to move around the state, they would need somewhere to go that would stay constant in our lives.
Not to mention, every two years they had no home!
The movers would come, take all the boxes and furniture Mum had packed up, and take it off to where ever we were posted next. Trouble was that it wasn't as smooth a transition as that. There were 8 weeks where we had no-where to live.
So, off we'd go to the southwest, and to Windy Harbour. Sometimes we'd even have Christmas down there! On the way we would drop in to Pemberton, and Mum would buy everything they needed for the stay at her parents' general store there. Because... there were no shops in Windy Harbour, then and now.
This shot with family friends (from around 1967) is taken on the outskirts of Windy, and you can see Sandy Island behind us.
Mum with Graeme on the bonnet, then right to left- David, Gavan and me.
Windy was very rustic then. And now in many ways. We used Tilly lamps for lighting in the "olden days"....
We went to a generator at one stage, and the noise of all the "jennys" running at night was deafening. But it meant that we could have a few more mod-cons. Mum even took a twin tub washing machine down!
Nowadays we have one solitary, lonely solar panel. But - it powers the entire hut's lights and minor electrical usage. Some people have a roof full of solar panels and wind turbines and run televisions, vacuum cleaners and computers. That's not what we go to Windy for, though.
There is no mobile reception, no phones (except for a rare few), no sealed roads, no street lights... I read that Windy Harbour has resisted modernisation. That may be true in some ways, but every hut is self sufficient through use of modern technology.
We had no running water, but did have a rainwater tank for drinking and cooking. We still have the water tank, but the hut is now plumbed into the settlement's scheme water that is pumped up from the artesian basin below.
We had no bathroom or toilet facilities. We had to go to the local ablution blocks to use the loos there, and would shower there as well in the salty and cold water. On a windy, blustery and wet night it was just horrible. There was no lighting, the floor was always wet and sandy, and the mosquitoes loved the dark and damp rooms. It was either that, or use a potty... It was just a bit embarrassing emptying it in the morning though.
We also had a bathing tub which Mum would fill with water heated on the stove. That was a lot more preferable than using the blocks for a shower at night, even if the boys would tease me mercilessly by peeking out of the attic hutch.
Photo of it to come....
We have had a bathroom since Dad renovated the hut in the mid 1980s. It has a toilet (yay) and a shower (woohoo) with a small instantaneous gas heater connected to a small gas bottle out the back. Luxury.
Nowadays, all these modern things take a while to set up when we go down. It is fair to say that although it has all become a bit easier, the start up and shut down procedures at Windy make it not very user friendly. There is a lot that can and does go wrong with all this stuff....
Anyway- Mum always took down supplies to Windy for our 6-8 weeks stay (our summers lasted forever in those days...) but the baker from Northcliffe came down a few times a week. Originally he travelled the 27kms by horse and cart as the road was not sealed, and after the road was sealed came down by van.
The baker would bring down huge vats of milk which we would buy by the ladle, and the settlement would come out of huts carting their ceramic jugs to get them filled. He also brought down freshly baked soft fresh bread (omg!!!) and the most amazing collection of lollies and confectionary. Marshmallow poached eggs (whatever happened to them?), redskins, white knights... YUM.....
In terms of keeping food safe and fresh, we started off with a meat safe and had ice blocks delivered (and I am not kidding- I can remember this!)
Meat safe.. A huge block of ice was cut to fit the safe, and this was placed in the green drawer between the cupboards. These safes were very effective, and the ice would last several days.
We then went up-market and got a kerosene fridge... This one in the next photo isn't ours but it is the same brand (you can't see the logo because it has been painted over here, but it is a Defender fridge).
I will have to get a photo and upload when I go to Windy next... And I can do that we still have the fridges, and they are still in operation. Well, one of them has recently been converted to a gas fridge now....
These fridges work on the same principle as hydrogen bombs. You light a kero flame underneath the fridge to set off an exothermic reaction with ammonia contained in cast tubes on the rear of the fridge. An exposed flame in a dusty, timber-floored kitchen? What could go wrong?
Defender kerosene fridge:
Our hut was originally a wooden garage, with railway sleepers as a floor and huge gaps between the sleepers ensuring just the right amount of dampness and dust was throughout the hut. It wasn't lined, which meant that the wind, dust and moisture whipped through the gaps in the walls. Spider webs were all over the inside of the house, attached to the raw timber walls. Yuck. The mattresses and pillows were horsehair, and the blankets were old army blankets lined with potato sacking. Unwashed, dusty and musty. Mum was an asthmatic, so it was pretty hard going for her.
Dad gradually added bits and pieces of "luxury". He put in windows, added rooms in a lean-to fashion, added an attic for the boys to sleep in (we were the envy of all the kids in the settlement). In the mid 1980s Dad tore everything down and rebuilt. We lost the attic, and have never let Dad forget it!
The photo below was taken in the early 70s, and Dad had added a couple of small rooms at the front. The pitch of the roof allowed for the attic to be sealed and a floor put in. We got up there via a rope ladder. That's Bracksie by the front wheel of the old Holden. You'll see shots of the "climbing tree" (it was a Banksia) through other photos I will upload. It attracted all the kids around- even ones we didn't know. Unfortunately it has died now. We will have to replace for future generations...
Below is one of the few interior shots we have, taken in 1978. Dad had lined the hut by this stage. You can see the old Metters Number 1 stove in the background, behind the exhibitionist youngest child (Graeme). We still have the gorgeous old canisters on the mantelpiece. Many of the things at Windy have always been there, and are still there... They are part of the tradition of the place.
1978- a family shot of whoever made it down. We still do our family shots to this day...
Left to right: Graeme, Dad, Mum, Gavan, Carey. Wonga was the pooch of the moment then....
Looking down the road at the other houses (and my legs)...
The street has had plenty of names, from Struggle Street to its current name of Windy Harbour road.
This is one of our neighbour's huts. I took this photo to show how the rain drives- only one half of the tree got wet! You can see the typical Australian forestry huts behind...
Below is the hut now- photo taken 2010. You can see the pitch of the roof has changed, and the windows are much larger. Spot the 'lil solar panel on the roof. When I go down next I will post a photo of the brand new verandah that has been built out the front by our Uncle John who still lives in Pemberton. The tree is missing, sadly....
The photo below was taken in generator days. Mum had bought a Flymo electric lawn mower, and was having a turn much to Dad's amusement. You can see another neighbour's hut in the background.
At Windy, during the late 60s and right up through to the early 90s Mum and Dad started off the swimming program for the Education Department. They were both very good swimmers- even Dad, which was strange with him being a Pom and all!
Below is a shot of Mum's sister Eva, taken around 1967. We still get days like this, when the sea is amazing and the weather perfect.
Eva with her boys, and Graeme far right in the red duck ring...
Over many, many Januarys the folks taught the kids of Windy Harbour to swim.
This was not a good thing.
It meant we couldn't get out of it.
And Windy in January was bitterly cold. Always.
The wind would whip the sand and sting our legs and arms as we did resuscitation on the beach.
We weren't allowed to have a towel around us to protect us.
The swell was enormous as we swam over dark seaweed between the boats and rocks to clock up our distance swimming.
In the boats there would be a roster of dads with guns, to shoot the sharks that came into the bay on occasion.
We had to dive (without goggles) for cans that Dad would throw to the bottom, usually into the seaweed.
When I came up to Perth to do my bronze medallion, I did it at the Bold Park Pool in Floreat. I couldn't believe how easy city kids had it! To this day I am terrified of seaweed.
I tried so hard to avoid swimming lessons. I pretended I was sick... I would hide...
But I never could work out how they always knew where I was hiding on the mornings of classes. Thinking back, always hiding under my bed was not the cleverest of places or habits...
Graeme putting on some entertainment for some old dears brought down for the day from the nursing home....
We were up at the crack of dawn and would collapse exhausted by evening. We would go back to the hut when we were hungry to grab whatever we could find and then take off again.
Gavan had a dinghy to go fishing in, and occasionally he would take cousin Christine (Eva's daughter) and me out...
Another excursion we would always fit in was visiting Mount Chudalup, and we would clamber about there with Bracksie the boxer. Mount Chudalup is on the road between Northcliffe and Windy and is 187 meters high. It is a huge lump of granite called a monadrock.
This photo was taken from the road, and is from about 1978. Nothing has changed though...
Racing David and Gavan up to the top. David cheating and starting first....
And then sliding down- it was steeper than it looks here, at least for little legs...
Back then, when you got to the top you would place the rock that you had carted up with you. This practice has stopped now, and in fact you are supposed to have a National Park pass to even climb it!
Looking out from the limestone cliffs to Penguin Island, or Flat Top... Never can remember what it is called!
Looking down the cliffs...
Looking over towards Salmon Beach, which you can see in the background.
The cliffs we used to climb. The horizontal slit was usually our destination, and involved some extreme vertical climbing. Just as well the folks didn't know what we were up to!
Sand track from the settlement to the cliffs:
The swimming beach at Windy. To this day, swimming lessons are held in this area. This photo was taken on a very cold day, but that doesn't stop the fishermen!
From just near the point looking over to Cathedral Rocks underneath the cliff:
The children move pretty quickly here:
Our cousins also had a hut down there, and we would catch up with all the friends from the families that were regulars. We had a built in social life....
The folks never knew where we were. It was ultimate freedom and we loved every minute of it.... But really, they had the same thing... It must have been great for them as well...
Mum had a trademark at Windy Harbour- silly hats. I will try to find as many as I can, but here's a sample.
The boys with their catches- Uncle Mal, Dad and Graeme....
Preparations for celebrations are in hand, as they always were with Graeme...
The cliff area has now been redeveloped at Windy Harbour so that the tour buses can go there. Previously they used to drive through the settlement and gawk at us through the windows, so although it is sad that such development has happened, at least we have some privacy. From the cliffs you can see the whales migrating, but also explore the area via the wonderful walking tracks- a much safer way than we used to do!
There is so much wildlife in the area- kangaroos are plentiful and often have right of way on the roads. They are all over the settlement at night, and come right up to the doors. Rabbits and emus equally roam about, and fairy penguins come over to the beach from the island near the cliff. Seals come by to sun-bake, and kangaroos have been known to come hopping down the beach at sunset as well.
Everyone loves Windy... All the grandkids (and here are the first of all of them- Aaron on Dad's lap and Glenn on Mum's) and all the dogs....
I am sure I can find other photos to post, and as I locate I will add them to this one!
