John Hughes Cottage

John Hughes Cottage later became known as Butlers Farm. Butlers Farm was once located on Butlers Reserve, Scarborough. It was one of the first dwellings built in the area by John Hughes, an Irish convict who arrived in Fremantle in 1853.

Hughes settled in this swampy valley to raise beef and dairy cattle, and to grow vegetables. According to an article published in The West Australian on 7 January 1933, he gradually cleared the land and completed building the small four-room cottage in either 1854 or 1855, but it was not until much later, in 1869, that he officially acquired the title to it. On 6 September 1869, Hughes purchased 40 acres of land from the Crown for 20 pounds. 

Hughes intended for his son and new daughter-in-law to take over the property, but they sadly drowned when their ship, which was destined for Fremantle, struck a rock and sank. Hughes was devastated by the loss and soon after the family tragedy, he vacated the property with his wife and daughter and for the next 30 years the cottage was used as a summer resort by the nuns of St. Brigid's Convent. 

John Hughes died aged 77 on 5 December 1880, and the property passed into the Corbet family when John's daughter, Miss Hughes married a north-west station owner, Paddy Corbet. After the First World War the cottage became part of the soldier settlement scheme, and was occupied by Mr C. Cornish, who was Chair of the Scarborough Progress Association. By the 1930s, the property was being run as a dairy farm by Mr Tom Butler, and the cottage was later demolished in the 1960s.

Although Hughes had officially named it "Ravensdale", the property was known by several names over the years, including "Bluebeard Farm" or "Blue Hole Farm", named after the first well that was sunk on the property revealed sandy soil with a bluish colour, then later "Wattle Valley" and "Scarborough Park". Now known as Butler’s Reserve, there is a heritage plaque to remember the cottage that once stood there.

The following description of the historic homestead and surrounding area appeared in an article published in The West Australian on 7 January 1933:

If one walks a distance of about a mile along the beach in a southerly direction from Scarborough proper, and then turns inland and walks a mile to the top of a rise, he will find himself looking down on one of the most delightful scenes that can be found in the State—a group of mellowed, stone farm buildings standing at the edge of a clearing, some 20 acres in extent, that takes up the lower levels of a saucer-shaped valley. The valley is hemmed in by dense bush to the north and east, and low scrub on the south and west extremities, the result being a truly delightful rural picture, the like of which one would hardly expect to find within many miles of the city.