Several streets in the new Cowamarup Country development have been named in memory of ANZAC veteran and early settler, Roy Earl. Norueil Circuit, Villiers Street and Bretonneux Turn are all named after towns close to where Mr Earl won his military medals.
Other streets will be named in honour of the early settlers, who in 1922, cleared forest and erected tin humpies in this area.
But is there another story from this time?
Treeton Estate got its name from the road that runs past our gate and because the name describes our tree-lined surroundings so perfectly. And Treeton Road takes its name from Treeton, a small village in Yorkshire (UK). According to Treeton’s local history group:
Referred to in the Domesday Book as Trectone, the name changed through Trectone, Tretone, Treton and Tretthon to the present-day Treeton. In the UK, virtually all of the place names decided on up to around the 14th Century were due to the environment of the area. In Celtic Terms ( 800BC – 400 AD )- Tre meant a hamlet, village, or town. The Saxon Terms ( 350AD – 1000AD) Ton meant a house or a farm.
In 1922, many of the new Group Settlement Scheme settlers in Cowaramup were soldiers who had served with the British forces in France. And there is a story that many of the roads built at this time were given names designed to appeal to these men and their famlies. Fearful over traveling so far across the world to a place about which they new so little, names like Treeton may have represented a beacon of hope that their destination was ‘just like home’.
Truth or myth?
How many of our other local road names date from the 1920′s settler expansion?
The Internet seems empty of an answer and I would love to hear from anyone who can fill in any gaps in the story.
John Simmonds
Hi John
I read your post. I suppose you have a copy of the “History Of Cowaramup” by Pip Blonde? and also the “Light of the Leeuwin”.
Some of the other names in the estate are named after the first group settlers who lived on the site of what is now “Cowaramup Country”.
One of the classes at Cowaramup Primary School are keen to track down the family history behind these names. Amongst the street names are: Nillson Lane, Hocking Lane, Abberton Lane and Hockin Lane. It will be interesting to find out the history and keep a record of it.
Like the blog!
Katie
Hi Katie
Yes, I do have the Pip Blonde book, thank you. I have been in communication with the Historical Society at Treeton (UK) and plan to write up the latest findings on names when I return to Australia next week. Am currently in Africa and communications are not always so easy. Thanks for the positive comment on the blog
john
Hi Katie. There has been some progress on the research into the naming of Treeton Road. Shirley Parent – Canada resident but born in Treeton, UK – has picked up the research baton and managed to get a short ‘request for information’ into last Monday’s West Australian. I have copied the note into the Treeton Estate blog site.