Denmark's centennial milestone

Tough is an understatement when it comes to the conditions endured by early explorers who discovered the small coastal town of Denmark in 1829.

Picture: Early timber workers with a horse-drawn jinker in Denmark (circa 1897). Picture: Victoria Museum and DHS

Accompanied by two convicts, a soldier and local Noongar tribesman Mokare, Royal Navy doctor Thomas Braidwood Wilson pressed westward through dense woodland on foot from Albany, naming landmarks on the way.

Those included mounts Hallowell and Lindesay, the Kent and Hay rivers and the Denmark River, after his friend, colleague and Royal Naval surgeon Dr Alexander Denmark.

Originally built on a decade-long timber industry, the town was later opened for development by the State Government under the banner of Denmark Estate in 1910.

As agricultural settlers began to filter into the area, formation of numerous progress associations led to the town’s first local government authority, the Denmark Road Board, on September 22, 1911.

This week the Shire of Denmark celebrates its 100-year milestone with a festivity-filled program of events to mark the occasion.

Nobody knows the significance of the occasion better than Denmark Historical Society chairwoman Bev McGuinness and her husband Ross, having compiled 11 historical accounts of Denmark between them.

“It’s an important milestone in the fact the community has had control of its own destiny rather than being an appendage of Albany,” she said.

Alongside centenary celebrations co-ordinator Jen Langridge, Mrs McGuinness tracked down five-time great grandson of the town’s namesake, Jonathan Denmark, who is flying from the US to take part in celebrations.

Mrs McGuinness said the Los Angeles-based musician was turning out to be a major drawcard for events planned over the weekend.

Shire of Denmark president Ross Thornton, whose family has a 100-year affiliation to the town, said the milestone also presented a time to think about the future.

“It’s going to be an interesting next 100 years, especially in terms of population growth,” he said.

“I look back and say that today Denmark is a better place than yesterday or 100 years ago when there was only 300 people here.

“But we need to look to the future and what we’re going to make Denmark look and feel like in the next 20 and 100 years.”

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