Strawberry Hill at Barmup

Strawberry Hill at Barmup sits on Menang Noongar Country at a place called Barmup, meaning ‘place of tall trees’. For many thousands of years, Barmup was an important campsite and place of shelter for Menang people, situated along a well-worn walking track with a ready supply of fresh water. It was on this site in 1826 when the British established a military outpost at King George Sound (later Albany) that the first farm in Western Australia was established, and likely the state’s first fences. In 1833 the new Government Resident at King George Sound, Sir Richard Spencer, purchased the Government Farm, then known as Strawberry Hill. He lived here with his wife, Lady Anne, and their ten children. After a period of neglect, in 1889 Francis and Augusta Maud Bird purchased and restored the house and farmed the land. Transferred to the National Trust in 1964, the place is being conserved to appropriately reflect its significance. The owners have been working hard over recent years to undertake consultation with the Menang people to tell the shared history of this cultural landscape. Start your visit in the award-winning Visitor Hub, explore the new interpretation in the 1836 house and take one of the self-guided tours of the grounds to appreciate the surrounding cultural landscape.