Something very exciting is coming to Mundijong! It’s the new Mundi Estate, and it will be home to hundreds of families who are looking for a modern, affordable home close to where they want to be, in an area that embraces its semi-rural character and unique history. Set within the historic township of Mundijong, with its authentic main street and heritage listed railway station, it will be a place where families of all ages and stages can settle into a lifestyle that combines convenience, affordability and the freedom to live surrounded by wide open spaces, farmland and bushland.
So what do we know about the history of Mundijong? The town was established more than a century ago to service the needs of nearby timber mills. Originally known as Jarrahdale Junction, being at the junction of the Rockingham-Jarrahdale line and the government railway line from Perth to Bunbury, in 1893 the town was renamed Manjedal, which was thought to be the Aboriginal name of the area. In 1897 this was found to be incorrect, and the name was changed to Mundijong. The area has a strong sense of history, starting with the early Peel settlers in the mid-1890s, to the original farming and timber families, the group settlement families after the war, and their subsequent generations.
The first Mundijong school was founded at Manjedal on September 28, 1896, but shifted into the Mundijong township in 1897 and was renamed after the fledgling township. Many of the children who attended the school were the children of the railway gang stationed at the Watkins Street crossing. The role of this gang was to manually relay the railway tracks each time a timber train came down the hill from the Jarrahdale mills and had to cross over the Perth to Bunbury line on its way down to Rockingham. By 1903, the enrolment had grown sufficiently for the Government to build the first of the classrooms at the Paterson Road-Cockram Street T-junction. A further classroom was added in 1911. In 1972, the school shifted onto its present site on Livesey Street.
Of course, every town needed its own pub! In 1897 Antoni Szczecinski, a skilled carpenter, built the Mundijong Hotel (now known as the Mundijong Tavern). The hotel replaced the former hotel, known as The Serpentine Hotel, also built and operated by Antoni. He constructed the Mundijong Hotel from bricks he had made and fired on his property, and built stables at the rear for customers' horses and a large wine cellar where the beer kegs were kept. It had a saloon bar, a public bar, and a magnificent staircase built by Antoni and which still exists today. In 1939 the hotel was fully refurbished by the then proprietor, J Spencer Kerbey, and two tennis courts added for the pleasure of weekend visitors. The original iron lacework on the verandah was replaced by solid panels. Sadly, the verandah fell off during the 1968 Meckering earthquake and was never replaced.
With its good soils and access to markets, the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale was a stable farming and orchard area.This is still the case today, and the area has a reputation as a flourishing ‘food bowl’. Other industry includes timber processing based on local forest product, and brickworks based on local shale and clay. Today, the region is experiencing significant growth and is the fastest growing local government in WA, with a diverse economy and employment base.
Mundi Estate will celebrate all this wonderful history and more, embracing the rural heritage and character of the region along with its exciting future. If you’d like to be part of this future, contact our sales team today.
