Homesteads & Houses – Eaton

by Janice Calcei
Updated: 6 February 2024

If you have information and photographs of other homesteads or houses of interest in Eaton, built up until 1950, please let us know by using the Contact Us page.

Glen Huon
James and Elizabeth (nee Hulland) Hough arrived aboard the Parkfield on 18 March1841, with the Clifton family, to help establish the Australind settlement. James is described in Louisa Clifton’s diary as a thatcher, a labourer rather than a settler, so would have had a free passage under the conditions of migration. Accompanying the couple were two children from James’ first marriage, James and Samuel, and their own children, Joseph and Mary.

It is said James conducted the first Congregational Church service at Australind Church, the tiny St Nicholas’ Church, originally the residence of James Narroway and given for use as a chapel to that church in 1860.

The Australind settlement ultimately failed and James purchased land in Ferguson; Wellington Location Nos. 74 in 1851 (30 acres) and 123 in 1852 (20 acres), then known as Ebenezer Farm, later to become Carlaminda. He purchased further land just to the south; Location Nos. 146 in 1856 (10 acres) , 157 in 1857 (10 acres), and 169 in 1858 (20 acres). 

Joseph Hough, James’ second child with Elizabeth Hulland, was born in 1840 and married Bethiah Gardiner, daughter of Jesse and Jane Gardiner, on 24 April 1861. They had 17 children. Bethiah died in 1891 after an asthma attack. Joseph remarried to Elizabeth Delaney and the couple went on to have another seven children.

James opened a butchering business in Bunbury and Joseph took over the Ferguson farm. Joseph purchased his own land at Ferguson adjacent to his father’s blocks; Location No. 292 in 1868 (40 acres).

James passed away on 2 April 1874, and in his will, among other assets, left Ebenezer Farm to four of the children he had with Elizabeth, and his son-in-law (married to the fifth child), in equal shares. 

Like his father, Joseph also began a butchering business in Bunbury and sold the Ferguson property to Mr H Stanley, the founder of the legal firm of Bath, Eastman and Jenour. 

In 1898, Joseph then purchased a farm on the Collie River which would become Glen Huon. This is now the Eaton area. The farm had passed through several hands before being acquired by Joseph. It is not known if the homestead existed at that time. Joseph originally grew potatoes on the land.

According to Joseph and Elizabeth’s grandson, Doug Hough, the farm got its name around 1920 when his grandparents still lived on the farm. A policeman collecting statistics for the government rode onto the 255 acre property which didn’t have a name. The policeman suggested Glen Huon and Elizabeth Hough agreed.

Joseph’s eldest son by his second marriage, Colville “Peter” Hough, was born in 1897 and married Marguerita “Max” Florence Becker in Bunbury in 1925. Peter had served as a Private in the 4th Australian Machine Gun Battalion in World War I, enlisting in 1916 and returning to Australia in 1918. Peter and Max took over the Glen Huon farm from Joseph and Elizabeth. During the Depression Peter worked on the nearby irrigation scheme to earn extra income, leaving his brother to do the milking and maintain the farm.

By 1935 enough land had been cleared to run 100 milking cows. Marguerita and their son Doug ran the farm through the war while Peter served in World War II. At the time of his death in 1969, Peter Hough had farmed Glen Huon for about 50 years, over time growing potatoes and tobacco, then running sheep, dairy cows and finally beef. 

His son, Peter William Hough, also farmed at Glen Huon. Glen Huon was eventually sold for development in 1997.

The homestead is now a ruin but is noted in the Dardanup Shire’s 2023 Local Heritage Survey as a Federation Bungalow:

“Although in poor condition, the place has social value as a demonstration of the type
of home built for wealthy landowners and their families in the late 19th century”.

The Glen Huon Tree, in Glen Huon Boulevard, was dedicated in 1993 as a memorial to the Hough family. The tree was incorporated into the public park, named ‘Gromark Park’ which was part of the new subdivision.

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