EST 1932
About … The farm was purchased in June 1932 by my grandfather-in-law, Robert Bruce Leiper, and his wife Marion Ellen (née Dempster) from Esperance.
Robert immigrated from Scotland at the age of 25. He was a “lumper” at the Esperance wharf before turning his eye towards Cowaramup — the Great Depression meant group settlers were walking off their land… Here was an opportunity to start a life of farming.
Robert was described as a selfless and tireless support to the Cowaramup community, writing letters for any neighbours applying for “susso” (sustenance, or the dole — the 1930s version of Centrelink payments), and pitching in with land-clearing or other such work. (There’s a plaque acknowledging his services to the community up at the Gracetown lookout.)
My father-in-law, William (Bill) Edward, was just 6 months old at the time of relocating to Cowaramup. The young family settled on this land and begun the hard slog of clearing it and forging a living.
Bill was 7 years old when the time WWII started, and remembers his mother was one of the most skilled milkers around — she could hand-milk 60 cows a day, with the help of four others.
Bill and his wife Marian, still live on their farm which neighbours this one.
Gavin, one of their sons, owns this particular piece of the 2000 acres the couple acquired during their marriage. Our daughter Phoebe is the fourth-generation Leiper to live on the land.
Written by Anita Revel, curator and Superhost of the AirBnB properties at @MRHeartland