A visit to the Mundawaddera historic woolshed on the 3rd of March was well attended. Hosted by the Walla Walla Historical Society, the event included a tour of the site where the original homestead once stood before the 1910 flood.
The Mundawaddera Woolshed
The shearing shed is a remarkable structure, a reminder of the scale of sheep farming in the past. Charles Moore Edgehill took up the land between 1840-1845, eventually reaching 63,000 acres. The first portion of the shed was built in the 1880s as a twenty-stand blade shed.
The second part of the shed was designed by HS Eldershaw and built in 1907 by Hardies of Wagga Wagga. It features Murray Pine sourced from the station, while the overhead beams are Oregon Pine imported from England. Interestingly, the shed remains standing today because attempts to dismantle it in the 1960s failed; the timber had been screwed together so securely it couldn't be taken apart.
Family Legacies
Matt Klemke, the fourth generation to farm in the area, shared the history of the station. In 1983, his parents Lester and Beris Klemke purchased Sinclair’s block and restored the shed for the Henty Centenary. The history of the land is intertwined with the Semler and Klemke families, who have cleared and farmed the area for generations.
Compiled by Fiona Beckett and Matt Klemke