Cockburn Historical Society
The Historical Society of Cockburn is a non-profit volunteer organisation open to all members of the public. The Society was formed in 1975 by a number of local residents concerned about the preservation and recording of the cultural heritage of the Town of Cockburn.
The Society assisted in the restoration of the Azelia Ley Homestead in Manning Park which opened in 1975, and continues its involvement as custodians of the museum, opening to the public every Sunday afternoon.
Members also maintain close contact with the community servicing people who live, work and visit the City of Cockburn planning and providing not only special events through the year that attract young and adult audiences but also acquiring and conserving the museum’s collection for the purpose of education and enjoyment.
Contact the Historical Society
Please contact the Museum for queries regarding the Historical Society on:
(08) 9418 6648 or via the Contact form.
Register For Our Pioneer Board
The Historical Society of Cockburn are calling for local families to register their family name on the Pioneer Board.
Historical Society commended at the 2015 WA Heritage Award
The Cockburn Historical Society were highly commended at the WA Heritage Awards 2015.
Historical Society win the 2014 WA Historical Society Award
The Cockburn Historical Society were winners at the WA Heritage Awards 2014.
Historical Society win 2013 WA Heritage Award
The Cockburn Historical Society were winners at the WA Heritage Awards 2013.
Bakers Square in Mortlock St has a sign which says it is “Named after Mr R. Baker former private in 34th Regiment”. This would be Robert Baker a pensioner guard who arrived in 1850 as a guard on board the Scindian, the first convict vessel to Western Australia. He remained in Western Australia for some 12 years before moving to South Australia.
I dispute any association of his name with this Square as he has no known association with this area.
A better claim can be made for two twin grandsons of James Baker, a convict on board that same ship.
In 1870 John and Catherine Dixon (who at that time had 8 sons) took into their care Joseph and Levi Baker, the twin sons of Joseph Baker the son of the above James Baker. By the mid 1880’s (amongst others) several of the sons of John and Catherine Dixon, that is James, Horace, Alfred and Henry Septimus, clashed with Lucius Manning over their right to the land then known as Hampton Hill Swamp (now the western part of Hamilton Hill)
In the late 1890’s Joseph and Levi Baker, then living with the Dixons at Hampton Hill Swap started a butcher business. In the 1900’s they set up a slaughter house in the area and brought up much of the surrounding CSL 10 land (being lot 3 from Henry Septimus Dixon, lot 5 from James Dixon, lot 6 from Horace Dixon, lot 7 from George King, lot 8 from Edward Miller and lot 9 from Edward Davies). This land stretched eastward from present day Dixon Reserve and would now have been bounded by Healy Rd, Carrington St, Forrest Rd and Rockingham Rd. Their slaughtering operations were a major employer in the area. However their operation ceased once the Western Australian government opened a meat works at Robb’s Jetty and made it unlawful to operate nearby slaughter houses. Joseph and Levi Baker then began to subdivide the land for housing, the land being known as Baker’s Estate. However sales were slow and eventually in August 1950 the remaining unsold land was resumed for State Housing.
I am Joe Baker, son of Joseph Baker and grandson of the above twin Joseph Baker and Charlotte Dixon, the daughter of the above named Horace Dixon.
Hi Joe,
I think you’ve got a very compelling case there. I’m happy to talk more about this to you if you ever want to get something written down about the Baker brothers, as they come up quite a lot when researching Cockburn history.
-Leah