Capturing Our Historic Homesteads

KARLI FLORISSON

The Esperance Historic Homesteads documentary project started with a simple conversation. I was interviewing documentary filmmaker Jennene Riggs about a project she was working on and in the process, we discovered a mutual fascination with Esperance history, in particular the historic buildings that are scattered around our region. Jennene mentioned that she was thinking about creating a series of documentaries featuring these historic sites. Would I be interested in working together with her on such a project? An opportunity like that doesn’t come along every day, so I enthusiastically said yes.

My love of Esperance history partly began with my interest in Sarah Brooks, a naturalist and artist who lived in the remote wilds of Israelite Bay and then Balbinia Station from 1874 onwards. After years spent studying big historical events at university, examining wars, religions, revolutions, and the rise and fall of empires, I grew fascinated with the smaller stories from my own hometown. Writing about local history for the Tide gave me a wonderful outlet while I was also working on writing Sarah’s life story. Jennene’s career in documentary filmmaking began working for National Geographic and, since that time, she has focussed on natural history documentaries. She and husband Dave Riggs founded production company Riggs Australia, and have created some fantastic documentaries, such as The Search for the Ocean’s Super Predator , and Secrets at Sunrise

Esperance has a wealth of historic sites that date back to the first days of European pastoralists moving into this area. These sites were built by wealthy colonists, poor settlers, and former convicts alike, scratching out a living from the land with the help of the First Nations people, whose guidance and wisdom was indispensable. Many of these sites are difficult to access, and several are located on private property, such as the beautiful Dempster

Homestead. Some are accessible only on rough, 4WD-only tracks in remote parts of our region, such as the Israelite Bay Telegraph Station. Some, such as Moir’s Homestead, are sadly deteriorating over time. As well as telling the stories that relate to these sites, we intend to give viewers a rare glimpse inside the buildings. The documentary will also serve as a time capsule, showing what these sites look like at this time for future generations. With the abundance of sites in the area, it was difficult to whittle it down, but we chose seven different sites relating to stories of significant families and people.

We’ve been developing the series for almost 18 months, and even with the expertise and enthusiasm that Jennene and I both bring to the project, documentaries are time consuming and expensive to produce. We want to make the episodes freely accessible online, as a resource for anyone who is interested in viewing them. So, in order to make this series a reality, we had to find funding. We waded through reams of paperwork, applying for the few grants that were suitable for such a project. We were excited and grateful to receive the first grant that we applied for, from the Heritage Council of Western Australia. Then, following a few fruitless and discouraging applications, we received the incredible news that our application to the Mt Burdett Foundation was successful. This very generous funding, along with funds kindly provided by the Esperance Bay Rotary Club, means that we now have the first five episodes of the series fully funded. We are optimistic that we’ll be able to fund the remaining two episodes.

Jennene and I have also been very grateful to the many people in the Esperance community who have been so willing to give their time for this project. Staff from the Esperance Museum and the Shire of Esperance have helped with sourcing documents and old photographs. The Esperance Bay Historical Society has also helped with several parts of the project. One of the most rewarding aspects of the project has been speaking to people with connections to the homesteads, many of whom have generously given their time to tell us their stories. Jennene has been conducting interviews with people who are descendants of those who lived or worked in the homesteads, including Aboriginal Elders from the community who have told how their ancestors’ lives intersected with the new arrivals. We’re also lucky to have the skills of Dave Riggs, contributing animated maps for the project, and Jennene’s brother Dan Paris, wielding both a film and still camera, adding immeasurably to the project. Both Dave and Dan are also capturing drone imagery of the sites and surrounding landscapes.

Significant work goes into each documentary episode. We begin with meticulous research, and then face the challenge of distilling this research down to a story that can be told in 30 minutes. We then visit the various sites, taking footage, and interviewing people who have connections to these stories.

Jennene takes that footage back to the editing suite, where she spends countless hours creating the finished product, incorporating photographs and historic documents. We’ve also assembled a small team of knowledgeable local researchers who have generously given their time to fact check the stories. The resulting documentary episodes will be both informative and, we hope, will connect with the deep affection that many locals have for these stories and historic places. With the release of the series trailer, we have seen a buzz of anticipation in the local community, and we can’t wait to release the finished episodes soon.

W Atch The Trailer Now

The theatrical trailer for Esperance Historic Homesteads is available online via the Riggs Australia channel on YouTube. Stay tuned for the release of the first two episodes, featuring Dempster Homestead and Lynburn Station, in the coming months.