At a place called Barmup, meaning “place of tall trees” in the Menang language, is a picturesque stone cottage that bears the mantle of WA’s first colonial farmhouse.

Established in 1826 as a government farm, it was later developed as the family property of one of Albany’s earliest residents, Sir Richard Spencer, and named Strawberry Hill — as it is still known.

The place demonstrates many firsts for WA: first farm, first farmhouse, and first two-storey building.

But before earning those titles, it was something else entirely, the boodja (land) of Mullett, the mother of Wandinyil, or King Tommy as he was later known, and her brothers Nakina, Tallipan, Mollian and Mokare.

Barmup was used as their traditional campsite and meeting place that provided the family with shelter with its granite outcrops and tall trees, and a reliable supply of fresh water and fertile soil.

It’s likely the latter two factors, and its proximity to the townsite, were the reason the site was commandeered by colonists as a farm to supply occupants of the new military outpost with fresh fruit and vegetables.

It was the first time wheat, maize and barley crops were planted on the west coast of Australia.

Structures were initially limited to two simple wooden huts for the workers, before a fine cottage made of wattle and daub was built in 1831 for the first visit of the Swan River Colony’s first governor, Captain James Stirling, who stayed in Albany for the summer.

Albany’s first government resident, Dr Alexander Collie, moved into the cottage shortly afterwards, and named the farm Strawberry Hill after the crop of the fruit he had planted began to flower.

It was then acquired by the region’s government resident Sir Richard Spencer and his wife Anne in 1833, who transformed the property into a “gentleman’s residence” with English-style gardens that included some exotic plants.

Norfolk Island pines, Sparrmannia flowers, and according to legend, a clipping of willow tree that hung above the window of Napoleon’s tomb in St Helena, were planted on the grounds, and the two-storey home was built in 1836.

Costing the mighty price of £100, the home was built of granite stone with a slate roof, and designed with a unique asymmetrical structure in the Old Colonial Georgian style.

One of the house’s most famed visitors was the father of evolutionary theory himself, Charles Darwin, who during his eight-day stop in Albany in 1836 described the place as a “small and neat farm in what is the only cultivated ground in the district”.

Sir Richard lived in the house with his wife, nine children, and 11 servants until he died in 1839, and the property remained in the Spencer family until 1889, when the deteriorating buildings and grounds were leased as a market garden and slaughterhouse.

The land was subdivided in 1888, and the 7.5ha plot containing the historic buildings were bought by architect Francis Bird who, along with his wife Augusta, renamed it The Old Farm and restored the buildings to become a hub of the Albany social scene, where many weddings and parties were hosted.

The property became overgrown again following the Birds’ death, and was in danger of becoming derelict until it was vested to the National Trust — its present owner — which renovated the grounds and opened it to the public in 1966, later installing a visitor hub.

Conservation works are under way on the two-storey home and cottage — which has been repainted a bold pink — and Menang cultural interpretation works are being installed, along with a map painted by elders, and revegetation of endemic bush tucker species.

The site is closed while the works take place, but is expected to be ready to welcome visitors again by September.