GROUP SETTLEMENT
The Group Settlement Scheme attracted English migrants with the promise of a better life in Australia – the ‘land of milk and honey’. Of the 768 families to settle in the south-west, only 383 remained on the land by 1924. By 1926, many of the 700 farms which had been created had amalgamated in order to be sustainable.
On the termination of the Scheme there were successful stories, but for many there were not. The conditions were challenging and the isolation was wearing, but the group settlers became hardworking and resilient people responsible for establishing the south-west’s thriving dairy industry.
With a vision to increase population and production in the State, Sir James Mitchell proposed the Group Settlement Scheme with a plan to bring new settlers to the region by allocating blocks of land to create small dairy farms. At a time when post-war Britain was experiencing a struggling economy and high unemployment, an agreement was made between the State, Commonwealth and British Governments to provide nearly 100,000 British migrants free and assisted passage to Western Australia. Mostly ex-servicemen and unskilled civilians, about 6,000 of these immigrants relocated to the other side of the world, tempted by the promise of owning their own property in idyllic Western Australia.
The blocks of land were positioned in groups, the first established in the forests around Manjimup in March 1921, and later that year extending into the Busselton district.
The settlers - known as ‘Groupies’ - endured great hardship. Many of the holdings were unviable and the stock of poor quality. Of the 6,000 farms planned under the Scheme, only about 2,400 farms were ever established. Around 700 of those were later abandoned, with settlers relocating or returning to Britain. Despite the setbacks, the present dairy industry is a testament to their hard work, tenacity and optimistic spirit.
It was the responsibility of the new settlers to construct their own shelters called ‘humpies’, which would act as temporary shelters until more permanent housing was built. Humpies were made using saplings as upright posts, corrugated tin as walls and dirt for the floors. Long pieces of hessian acted as doors and to divide the space into rooms.
Group Settlement houses replaced humpies and it is thought that about 580 were erected in the Busselton region during the 1920s.
Our Group Settlement collection includes a replica group settler’s humpy (c1920), a restored Cow Shed, a restored Pan Lavatory, and an original Group House (c1930) which is fully furnished and displaying many items from the period.