The Oak Tree

Oak Tree Court, off Spencer Road in Langford is named for the 150-year-old oak tree planted there as an acorn by John Spencer and his daughter Sarah around 1870.  

Brass plaques and a granite memorial commemorating the Spencer family were erected by the Spencer family in 1979.  Over the years the plaques have gone missing and have now been replaced by the City of Gosnells.

Visit the park to read about the Spencer family and take time to reflect on what life would have been like on 'the Canning' in the 1800's.

Charles & Elizabeth Spencer

Charles & Elizabeth (nee Weston) Spencer arrived at Cockburn Sound on 5 August 1829 aboard the Barque Calista with their two children, Elizabeth, who was born in London (c1825), and John (c1829) who had been born at sea.

They built their first home at Lot 229 The Cantonment Fremantle before settling on the Canning River in 1832, where they raised their large family.

Charles took up land near Serpentine Falls in 1852 and was Postmaster there for a short time.

Charles died at Serpentine on 13 December 1872.  He is buried at the Serpentine Cemetery.  Elizabeth returned to the Canning and died there on 5 January 1884.  She is buried at the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetery.

The Calista, with 73 passengers, was only the fourth ship to arrive in the Swan River Colony having left Portsmouth on 5 March 1829.

Elizabeth Spencer

By twelve years of age, Charles & Elizabeth’s first child, Elizabeth (b1825), was working as a servant on John Phillips’ farm to supplement the family income, while her brother John was employed as a stock-keeper.

In 1843 Elizabeth married James Gallop from West Sussex at St Georges Church, Perth and they farmed at ‘Dalkeith’ on the banks of the Swan River, where Gallop House now stands.

Elizabeth died on 22 November 1872 of consumption after a long & severe illness.  James died on 21 January 1880 aged 68 and they are buried in a double grave at the East Perth Cemeteries.

 

John Spencer

John Spencer, born at sea on 27 July 1829 just days before landing, was a sawyer and farmer who built his homestead of wattle, daub and thatch on this site around 1860.  The land originally formed part of Location 19 and stretched to the river where fish and wildfowl were plentiful.  John worked the river flats and grew a fine market garden, vineyard and orchard.

Charles Spencer travelled to the Swan River Colony as an indentured servant to Lionel Samson.  He was released from his contract in 1831 and moved to the Canning to work for Thomas Hester.  In 1844, Hester gave 209 acres of his land grant on Location 19 to Spencer’s two oldest children John and Elizabeth.  By 1900 John had built up his landholding to over 1000 acres.

John married Jane Hannah Willey (born 3 September 1836) at St Georges Church, Perth in 1857.  Jane was an accoucheuse (midwife) who rode side-saddle to her patients on a bay pony named ‘Lincoln’.

Four little boys died in infancy – two when the doctor could not be reached owing to the swollen & flooded river.  They lie buried in unmarked graves not from far from the great English Oak Quercus robur which John and daughter Sarah planted as an acorn around 1870.

John died on 22 May 1910 followed by Jane on 10 June 1915.  They are both buried at the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetery.

Spencer Road, which runs from Nicholson Road south to Fremantle Road, was name for John Spencer who, at the time of his death in 1910, owned over 1000 acres in the vicinity of Oak Tree Park.

Joshua Spencer

Joshua, Charles and Elizabeth’s second son, was born on ‘the Canning’ in 1833.  He married Mary Ann Moore at the Wesleyan Chapel, Perth on 6 July 1859.  Mary Ann (b1838) was an Irish immigrant lass from Dublin who arrived on the Emily Jean in 1858.

Joshua and Mary Ann pioneered at Serpentine and built a cottage where their children were born and raised.  The house was known as ‘The House of a Thousand Shingles’ and still stands today amongst ancient fruit trees in a picturesque setting, above the falls at the junction of the Serpentine River, Gooralong and Curralong Brooks.

Joshua died in 1913 at the age of 80.  Mary Ann died in 1917.  Both are buried at the Serpentine Cemetery.

The house built by Joshua and Mary Ann is included in the State Register of Heritage Places as a rare example of an early colonial farm associated with the settlement of the Serpentine district and for its association with the Spencer family who played an important role in the history of Gosnells, Jarrahdale and Serpentine.

Rhodia (Rhoda) Spencer

Rhodia, known as Rhoda, the fourth daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Spencer, was born on the Canning on 21 December 1837.  Rhoda married Walter Scrivenor (Scrivener) on 11 October 1855 in Fremantle.

Convict records describe Walter as being 5ft 6 inches in height with light hair, blue eyes, a round face with a fresh complexion and a heathy appearance.  He arrived on board the convict ship Marion on 31 January 1852.  He had been convicted for stealing letter and sentenced to 10 years transportation.  Walter received a conditional pardon in July 1855, allowing him to marry Rhoda later that year.

Walter sailed for South Australia on the CW Bradley on 10 March 1857.

After the sad death of her six-month old son William, Rhoda and her daughter Frances Rose also left Fremantle, sailing on the Estrella da Norte to join her husband in New South Wales.  The family moved to Victoria some 10 years later.

Rhoda died in Victoria on 19 January 1914 aged 77.

Emily Spencer

John Pengelly Jnr was a babe of barely 12 months when he arrived in Western Australia with his parents John & Mary nee Hailbeau aboard the Gilmore in December 1829.

After Peel confiscated his property following the disastrous Peel Settlement Scheme, the family went to Fremantle where his father worked as a carpenter and his mother ran a school and was the Mistress of the government school at Fremantle for Girls and Infants from 1854-1863.

John married Emily Spencer in Fremantle in 1857.  The family moved to the Geraldton area prior between 1864 and 1867.

John died in 1902 in Geraldton and Emily died in Claremont in 1917 aged 81.

Mary Spencer

Charles and Elizabeth’s daughter Mary was born in 1840 on the Canning

Mary married Richard Tonkin in Fremantle in 1864 and their eldest son Charles Philip was born in 1865.

Richard was a carpenter in Fremantle before moving to Serpentine where he was granted a lease on land on the banks of the Serpentine River where he became an orchardist.

Mary died in 1892 at Serpentine.  Richard later married Elizabeth Mead.

Alice Spencer

Alice, the youngest child of Charles and Elizabeth Spencer was born at the original homestead, Canning River on 8 April 1845.

On 11 September 1861, Alice married James Brown, a master mariner from Aylsham, Norfolk and shortly afterwards returned to that place where they had a family of eight children.

The family returned to Sydney aboard the Lochee on 19-5-1883.

James died six weeks later.  Alice remained unmarried and worked as a midwife and seamstress to support her children.

She died on 5 November1915 aged 70 years.

 

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