12 Preston Street
The house at 12 Preston Street is a single-storey timber and iron house constructed in the Victorian Georgian style of Architecture in 1883. When the property was entered into the State Inherit database it was recorded that a windmill was evident on the property, which would have been a rare surviving example of early domestic water supply in Bunbury. The windmill was one of few original windmills remaining within the City of Bunbury and is located to the side of the house, most likely in its original position. It is unclear if the windmill remains as the structure is not visible on the current birds eye view Google map. The house is located next to the former St Patrick’s Anglican Church.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was common for householders to have a windmill in their yard. The windmill converted the energy of wind to rotational motion using vanes (called sails). Domestic windmills provide power to wind pumps to lift water from an underground reservoir.
The house at 12 Preston Street was one of the original farmhouses in the Rathmines area and is the former home of Edward Henry Withers, son of Reverend Joseph Henry Withers.
Edward Henry Withers was born on 10 February 1856 in England, United Kingdom. Ted Withers had arrived in Western Australia with his brother, Frederick, his parents and cousin on the Dalhousie in January 1864. His father was the Reverend Joseph Withers, who served as chaplain on Dalhousie, a convict transport.
In February 1896, the family moved to Bunbury, where Reverend Withers was the chaplain from 1864 to 1880 and again from 1889 to 1893. The other years were spent at Williams.
Between 1872 and 1883, Reverend Withers purchased Portion 11 of Location 16. Withers subdivided the land in 1895. The area was called Rathmines after the Withers’ hometown in Ireland. 12 Preston Street had been built for Ted Withers by this time and was originally a farmhouse.
Edward (Ted) started work on the wharves at the age of 15 and later drove the mail out to Pinjarra. He wrote a series of memoirs for the Western Mail under the pseudonym “Old Bunbury” or E H W (reference; reference; reference). Ted maintained that he was a personal friend of the bushranger Moondyne Joe (Joseph Bolitho Johns) had met with him on several occasions. He married a local girl, Esther Blythe, on 11 October 1876 in Bunbury. Edward and Esther had six children; George Edward (1877-), Sarah Ann (1879-), Frederick James (1881-), Ada May (1885-), Charles Henry (1888-), Flora Ellen (1893-), Comfort Esther (1893-) and Cora Matilda (1896) (reference). Edward died on 27 September 1942, in Picton Junction at 86 years old (reference).
Residents of 12 Preston Street
1883 Edward Henry Withers
Researched by Erin Phillips for the Streets of Bunbury project
Information retrieved from Inherit with permission.