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There was a grand old house in Greenmount called ‘Wandu’. A teenage girl accidentally shot the surveyor-general there in 1915. Katharine Susannah Prichard rented it in 1919. Then, for decades, it was a guest-house and social hub for the district. I wrote a piece on it for my monthly KSP Writers’ Centre column; I’d love to uncover a photo of it.
UPDATE 11 OCTOBER 2017
I’ve uncovered a photograph, under the alternative spelling ‘Wandoo’. It’s not quite as grand looking as I imagined, but here’s a 1931 ad for the house Katharine and Hugo lived in when they first moved to Perth.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38528565
West Australian 4 Mar 1933
WANDU Guest House, Greenmount. Under new
.management. Terms reasonable. .Week-ends.
Lunches, afternoon teas, tennis, golf, excellent
table. Charabanc passes. ‘ ‘Phone Blackboy 1.
I was looking to see if there was any connection to the guest house/convalescent home run by Mollie Skinner – Perth writer and collaborator with DH Lawrence, but none that I can see.
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Yes, I assume Wandu was competition with Mollie’s joint in the neighbouring settlement!
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See photo Trove Sunday Times 20 Aug 1939 page 22. The address was probably 44 Old York Road in Greenmount.
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