January's Past

The Greenough Pioneer Museum has a large collection of original documents including letters, store orders, account books etc that were found in Maley’s Store. These documents are too fragile to be on permanent display, so the aim is to eventually scan them and so make them available to the public digitally.

In celebration of New Year's Day, here are 2 letters from January's past.

Greenough January
Mr J S Maley
Sir please send me one gallon of Brandy and oblige
Yours
J C Bone
Letter received by John S. Maley on 2 January 1869 from his brother-in-law, Henry Waldeck.

Dear John
Will you please send me a Bag of Sugar or if you cannot spare a Bag a half a one will do I haven’t got a bit to give to the men to take in the bush
Yours Truly
Henry Waldeck

Wishing you a Happy Christmas

A Christmas Card from the museum collection (GHOB0368).

This card was sent by Mr & Mrs George Maley, Lewis Street, Kalgoorlie to Mr & Mrs Charles Thomas of Three Springs in December 1945.

Pioneer Museum Book

Greenough Pioneer Museum By Gary Martin & Peter Dameon

This book was compiled in acknowledgment of the Greenough Pioneer Museum’s 40th birthday. The museum which is operated by the Geraldton Historical Society opened in September 1966 in the former Maley homestead at Greenough and is the oldest museum in the mid-west region of WA.

The book contains a brief overview of European discovery and settlement at Greenough. It then examines the Maley family background and the life of the original owners of Home Cottage (as the house was first known), John Stephen Maley and his wife Elizabeth (nee Waldeck). John came to Greenough in 1860 to oversee the construction of a flour mill. Though from a very humble background, through his entrepreneurial skills John was eventually to become one became one of the leading business men in the locality and was referred to as the “King of the Greenough Flats.” John and Elizabeth’s 14 children were also to play influential roles in the development of WA and details of their achievements are included. There are also articles on the construction of Home Cottage, the importance of the gardens, life at Home Cottage, occupancy by the Rudduck family between 1932 and 1968 and the establishment of the museum by the Geraldton Historical Society.
The book is illustrated with over 50 historic and contemporary photographs in B/W and colour.
The 60 page book costs only $15.00 (which includes GST + Australia wide postage). Payable by cheque or money order made out to:-
Two Fish Drowning
PO Box 1325
Geraldton WA 6531

Howzat - Amy Maley's letter on show

There is a contribution from the Greenough Pioneer Museum in the "Howzat" Cricket exhibition currently on display at the Western Australian Museum Geraldton.

The object is a copy of a section of a letter written by Amy Maley in July 1885 to her teacher Miss Millward asking that the students be allowed to play cricket again.

The complete letter is shown below.

Unidentified People

In our collection we have photographs of unidentified people. The four photographs below are said to be of people who lived on the Greenough Flats in the 1870-80s.

If you recognise anyone could you please contact us.

From Grave to Garden

Last summer, whilst walking through the old Greenough Cemetery, I noticed a lush green plant growing at the head of George Maley's grave (George was the oldest son of John Maley and died aged 16 on 29 July 1879. He had succumbed to pulmonary consumption). Any plant that could grow so prolifically in such a desolute environment deserves attention, so I took a rootlet back to the museum and planted it in the front garden.

The plant is, as I later discovered, Indian Millet, and as you can see is flourishing and providing a very decorative feature.