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Hamel Hall
Located about 110 kilometres south of Perth, the small farming settlement of Hamel owes its existence to the subdivision of the former estate of politician, solicitor and newspaper proprietor Lancel Victor de Hamel. Although the town itself is small, it played an important role in Western Australia's early agricultural development and was home to one of the State's earliest prison reform experiments, its oldest surviving State nursery and one of the district's oldest community halls.
Lancel Victor de Hamel
Born in London in 1849, Lancel Victor de Hamel came from a family of solicitors whose ancestors had fled France during the French Revolution. After training in law, he worked for the Board of Trade in Newcastle upon Tyne, specialising in shipping and wreck inquiries. He was also heavily involved in Conservative politics, helped establish the Newcastle Conservative Club and served as a captain in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. During the early 1880s, he even led an unsuccessful expedition in search of buried treasure on a Pacific island.
Suffering from poor health, de Hamel emigrated to Albany in 1886 following the death of his father. Although financially secure, he quickly became involved in local politics and public affairs. Believing Albany was being disadvantaged by the Perth-centred colonial government, particularly over the Great Southern Railway and access to Albany's foreshore, he founded the Australian Advertiser in May 1888 after finding little support from the existing local newspaper. The publication later became the Albany Advertiser, which remains Western Australia's oldest continuously published regional newspaper.
The newspaper helped raise de Hamel's public profile and in November 1888 he was elected Mayor of Albany. The following year he entered the Legislative Council before winning the seat of Albany in Western Australia's first Legislative Assembly in 1890. He became one of Premier Sir John Forrest's strongest parliamentary opponents and by 1893, was regarded as the informal leader of the opposition. Although often critical of the Government, he played an important role in pushing for voting rights.
In around 1892 he established a legal practice with James Montgomery Speed in Perth, however personal tragedy soon followed. His wife Marion Eugenie and one of their twin children died in Albany in 1891, leaving him to raise three young children. After unsuccessfully contesting the goldfields seat of Yilgarn in 1894, he contracted typhoid and died at Coolgardie on 25 November 1894, aged just 45.
The beginning of Hamel
Following de Hamel's death, his estate was sold in September 1897 to George Thomas Simpson M.L.A., before being purchased by the Government for £650. The land, described as rich potato country despite requiring extensive drainage, was selected as the site for a new State Nursery and agricultural settlement.
The estate was subdivided into small farming blocks by the Department of Lands and Surveys to encourage closer settlement. Many of the early settlers were Irish and Italian migrants, who established potato farms while also finding employment at the Government Experimental Farm and Arboretum, commonly known as the State Nursery.
The townsite of Hamel was officially gazetted in 1899. The railway, which had reached the district several years earlier, became vital to the settlement, allowing farmers to send potatoes, dairy produce and other goods to the Perth markets while also providing passenger services. Hamel Railway Station remained in operation until its closure in 1977.
May 2024
Hamel Park Information Boards
State Nursery and Experimental Farm
The State Nursery quickly became one of Western Australia's most important horticultural centres. Millions of trees and plants were propagated there for distribution throughout the State, including to Kings Park, Rottnest Island, Perth Zoo and numerous public reserves, schools and government projects.
Alongside the nursery, the Agricultural Department established experimental plots under the supervision of horticulturist Louis Berthoud. For more than a decade he carried out extensive trials with grasses, fodder crops, cereals and potatoes, introducing or improving many varieties suited to Western Australian conditions. New pasture species such as paspalum, Rhodes grass and African Wonder Grass (Para Grass) were propagated and distributed to farmers, while wheat varieties including Alpha were developed through cross-breeding before being grown throughout the State.
The Experimental Farm also became well known for its agricultural displays at country shows and exhibitions, earning several awards, including gold medals at the Franco-British Exhibition in London.
The Hamel Prison Depot
In 1902, the Government established the Hamel Prison Depot as Western Australia's first rural outstation of Fremantle Prison. The idea formed part of an early prison reform program introduced by Lands Minister Dr Jameson, who believed selected prisoners would benefit from useful outdoor work rather than remaining inside prison walls.
Unlike a conventional prison, Hamel only accommodated carefully selected inmates transferred from Fremantle Prison. They were generally first offenders, well-behaved prisoners or men nearing the end of their sentences. Prisoners were never sentenced directly to Hamel, with the depot remaining administratively part of Fremantle Prison throughout its operation.
Initially housing around 25 to 30 prisoners, the depot included a large jarrah dormitory, warder's cottage (now Hamel Hall) and other supporting buildings. Prisoners helped clear land, dig drainage channels, construct roads and fences, work at the State Nursery and Experimental Farm and develop the surrounding Crown land. Although the depot cost more to operate than Fremantle Prison, prison officials considered the experiment successful because it separated less serious offenders from hardened criminals, provided education and trade instruction and prepared prisoners for employment following their release.
The depot operated until 1907 and during that time made a significant contribution to the early development of Hamel.
May 2024
Hamel Park Painted Picnic Tables
Hamel Agricultural Hall
One of the prison depot's main buildings, the former prisoners' barracks, was retained after the depot closed. The internal partitions were removed, creating a large open hall which the Government presented to local residents as an Agricultural Hall.
The hall officially opened on 19 February 1908, with Minister for Agriculture Thomas Walker Mitchell declaring it open during a visit that also showcased the district's agricultural development. Community leaders welcomed the building, describing it as essential for the education, recreation and social life of the growing settlement. The official opening included farm inspections, public speeches, a banquet and dancing.
Around 1919, approximately £80 was allocated to move the building about 730 metres to its present site on Cornucopia Street. According to local tradition, it was transported on jarrah rollers and pulled by horse over several months before being reopened in its new location.
In the years that followed, the hall became the centre of community life in Hamel. It hosted school concerts, Christmas celebrations, public meetings, lectures, agricultural discussions, dances, wedding receptions, fundraising events and later, picture shows. Fortnightly dances became particularly popular during the 1920s, helping raise money to reduce debts carried by the Hall Committee, while neighbouring districts deliberately avoided holding competing functions on the same evenings.
During the Depression, the hall’s trustees struggled to meet running costs and at one stage, asked the Drakesbrook Road Board to take over ownership because there was insufficient income to even cover fire insurance. In 1931, a lengthy debate took place over whether the Road Board should improve Hamel Hall rather than construct a new memorial hall at Waroona, although the proposal was ultimately unsuccessful.
The hall remained an important community asset throughout the following decades. In 1938 management passed to the Hamel Parents' and Citizens' Association, while in 1947 residents unanimously rejected an offer to sell the building, choosing instead to retain it for community use. Electricity was installed in 1954, although the building was by then suffering from termite damage. Rather than allowing it to deteriorate, local residents volunteered their labour while the Road Board contributed funds towards repairs.
May 2024
In 2005, local children decorated the picnic tables with paintings representing what Hamel meant to them.
Hamel School Site
The Hamel School
As the settlement grew, the need for a local school quickly became apparent. Hamel School opened on 10 November 1905 in a simple one-room timber building with a corrugated iron roof on Fawcett Road. Around 40 children initially enrolled, including some from nearby Waroona.
Like most country schools of the period, children of all ages were taught together in the same classroom by a single teacher. One of the school's teachers was John Tonkin, who later became Premier of Western Australia from 1971 to 1974.
During the Second World War, an air raid shelter was built at the school as a precaution during the threat of Japanese attacks on Australia.
Declining enrolments eventually led to the school's closure in 1944. The remaining students transferred to Waroona, travelling each day by stock truck.
Hamel Hall today
Although much has changed since Hamel was first established, its early history can still be seen throughout the district. Hamel Hall remains one of the few surviving buildings from the former prison depot, while the State Nursery and surrounding plantation areas stem from the settlement's agricultural beginnings.
May 2024
