The Springs Homestead - WA

The homestead was on one of the early pastoral leases in the Pilbara, taken up by Henry H Hicks in the 1860s. It was a key point in the route between the coast and the Tablelands and was also used as a stop over by mail carters and others who were travelling the road.

The ruins are situated on the banks of a creek and spring, a short distance from the old road. Local stone was used extensively in building the homestead, out buildings, paved areas, walls, tank stand and well. Evidence of garden beds marked out with corrugated iron is still evident at the front of the house. Small humpies or hides are located along the edge of a stone ridge, possible for itinerant workers or Aboriginal residents. They overlook the substantial ruined stone yards and paved wool shed that would have been used for shearing and possible storage of the fleece. In the river bed stone walls were used either to keep stock away from the river or to water them.

There is a significant amount of rock art at the site on the low outcrop of stone that divides the homestead from the sheep yards.

The site is an excellent archaeological record of the station organisation, which appears to involve distinct areas for the homestead, different areas for types of residents, working areas, execution of rock art, and animal management. The rock art is important as a tool for communicating and recording the colonial-era for Aboriginal people. The art depicts horses, new European costume such as women’s dresses, and the earliest known depiction of a European – the smithy.