by Jenny Golding
Interview with Jock Johnston in the 1980s
Updated: 15 February 2025
Dardanup’s Taunton Vale property was originally one mile square but with the building of a railway line and road across the land, was reduced to 590 acres. The home, built on Taunton Vale by George Rich in 1885, was made from bricks using clay from the property, the bricks set in Flemish bond style.
Inside were large halls and rooms with lofty ceilings, open fireplaces, and expansive windows. Following George Rich ‘s death, the property was run by his daughter Mary and her husband, Charles Reynolds. They sold the property and it was eventually bought by Mrs Nichols and her son James, who renamed it Peron Park after their south-west property.
Charles Heppingstone bought the property and returned the name to Taunton Vale. and, with his sister Lily, split the property into 304 acres which remained under the original name and 280 acres which became Coplestone. This happened about 1940-1941.
Charles’ brother-in-law, and sister, Doctor and Mrs Dodwell Browne, lived there, followed by the Hubert Heppingstones.
In 1949 Mr and Mrs Harold Johnston bought the property. Their son Jock married Marion and they restored the home and established a beautiful garden, often holding open days to raise money for charity and particularly to support St Mary’s Anglican Church in Dardanup.
Jock said that stone in the fireplaces came from their Ferguson property Brookfield, originally owned by Mr and Mrs Charles Flynn.
He added: “A round table in the dining room is the only piece of furniture remaining in the home from 1885: The brass and iron bedheads in one bedroom came from Brookfield and two old kerosine lamps, hanging in the hall, came from St Mary’s Church in Dardanup.
In the dining room is a magnificent sideboard, originally belonging to Jock’s grandparents, Mr and Mrs Piesse, early settlers in Wagin. The clock on the mantlepiece was brought from England by Marshall Waller Clifton to the Australind settlement. The samovar was one of the original pieces at Clifton’s home, Upton House at Australind. Two old ship’s chairs in the room came to Australind on the ship, the Parkfield.
A grandfather clock was built about 1800.
Jock said that George Rich changed the natural course of the river, closing what had been the usual direction across the property which had been the flood basin. The coming of the railway tended to act as a big levy, causing flooding in the area. For that reason, the old road into Dardanup from Picton, (Venn Road) was changed and this meant that the house was then facing in the wrong direction.”
He also said that there was an old house on the property which was useful for workers when the big home was being built. It was of wattle and daub and wide face cuts. “It consisted of one large room with a fireplace at one end and a passage led from a door in the centre of the long back wall to a room on either side, each of these rooms wrapping around its respective side of the back and side of the house (l-shape rooms). Across the front of the old house was a veranda.”
Images:
- Both images of Taunton Vale provided by Lyn Tyler
Dardanup Heritage Collective 