We both found our hosts a trifle cool, and later when they joined us for dinner it transpired that they were 'over it', and had been trying to sell the place for some time. They spent most of the evening recounting endless tedious anecdotes about their search for a suitable retirement home, although fortunately we managed to escape to bed before they could get started on their search for a grave plot :(
We awoke to a beautiful misty morning. It was a pleasant enough little farmlet with chooks and sheep and miniature horses but we were too intent on getting going to stop and say hello to the animals as we would normally have done.
The country became dryer and more gravelly as we approached New Norcia. We were too early for the Spring wildflower season but still the sides of the road had abundant wattles in flower and we were struck, like all visitors, by the beautiful blue of the leschenaultia.
We noted that the farmers obviously had a soft spot for the grasstrees - when land was cleared they left these intact in addition to leaving a few shade trees.
In fact we did not see many properties in WA that were completely cleared, as is only too common in Victoria. Perhaps in their hotter climate the value of shade to stock was more obvious - or their State Government less idiotic in its insistence on total clearing of the land before title was granted.
New Norcia is a Benedictine town in the Victoria Plains area North of Perth, originally founded in the 1860's, and now sadly diminished to 8 monks and 22,000 acres. About 30 heritage buildings remain, mostly in a reasonable state of repair, and the monks employ around 60 secular staff to run the pub, petrol station, art gallery, bakery etc. and cater to the tourists.
The monastery itself, at left, contains the 'cells' in which the monks live their rather austere life of prayer and contemplation. It is off limits to general tourists, but it is possible to visit, quietly, the chapels and some of the other rooms in the building during the course of a guided tour, which we did.
The old monastery chapel is richly decorated, although at some stage it was decided to wallpaper the walls, thus covering (and possibly preserving for posterity), various ornate frescos. The pews with very upright backs in the front rows were reserved for novices, deliberately uncomfortable to keep them awake; first prayer is around 5.30 a.m. The more senior monks were provided with kneeling cushions at the rear.
Nowadays the new chapel is preferred - it has heating and a modern organ whose keyboard, curiously, has reversed white and black keys. Visitors are welcome in the chapels at prayer times, but they are expected to show some interest by picking up at the door an explanatory leaflet with music. If you don't, the monks stop their chanting and go and get you one, which is very embarrassing.
There is another fine organ in the public church, which also features the tomb of the founder in white marble. At some time in the past the walls, also completely covered in fine frescos, have displeased the reigning Abbot, and were painted over with white paint.
A small area over the doors on each side has been stripped back to expose some of this original work, and it is hoped that sufficient funds can be secured to complete the restoration.
The Abbots obviously had free reign to decorate the buildings according to their taste and preferences. The front part of the same church had new frescos commissioned in the early 1970's, using the difficult and almost-lost technique of sgraffito and a contemporary 'art-naif' style - note the inclusion of an astronaut, heroic figure of the 60's, in the right-hand picture.
The Australian Nativity scene is charming, but it remains to be seen if these frescos will stand the test of time or if they too will disappear under a coat of paint, only to be lovingly restored in the distant future.
The Boys' College also has a fine chapel, complete with choir balcony and an imposing barrel-vault roof.
Neither this nor the adjacent Girls' College are suitable for the demands of modern education, and are now only used for occasional seminars, weekend music schools and the like.
The Order does not yet appear to have been accused of the sexual abuse once prevalent in such institutions, indeed anecdotes displayed in their museum from former pupils, many of whom were aborigines, are largely positive although it is obvious that hard work and the strict discipline of the times were expected and enforced.
The girls' chapel architecture, though gothic in style, seems softer, especially the decoration. Strict segregation of the sexes was enforced, with both colleges being walled and locked at night, although no doubt former pupils may have other tales to tell.
The Benedictines seem to have been fairly enlightened in their educational policies, for example they believed in teaching aboriginal children mainly subjects in which they had some interest or aptitude, such as painting and music. This is very different from the Government schools of the day, which employed a policy of enforced assimilation and uniform education.
On the other hand all the work of the town, including milling and baking bread, gardening and growing food, laundry and maintenance was carried out by the inmates, and pupils at the school were not exempt.
Unfortunately in latter years maintenance has been neglected, sometimes almost wilfully - see these brick walls deeply eroded by allowing lawn sprinklers to play on them - and many of the buildings are now in need of major restoration and repair.
The rather forbidding Orphanage building (wide-angle lens distorted) is now used as an art gallery and museum.
Photographing the artworks is deprecated (nothing much seems to be 'forbidden' in New Norcia) because of a robbery about 20 years ago, when a large number of valuable religious artworks were crudely hacked from their frames by a gang of thieves, who apparently intended to sell the pictures in the Philippines.
Fortunately they were a particularly inept bunch, conveniently hiring a getaway car in their own names with their own drivers licence details. The police had little trouble locating them, and all but one picture were recovered, unfortunately most still needing repair.
There are many other treasures, architectural and otherwise, scattered around the town awaiting or undergoing restoration.
One of my favourites, found in in a shed full of vintage farm machinery, was a Lanz Bulldog tractor.
This powerful German machine, with one huge single cylinder, was widely used in Australia until comparatively recent times. It was started by inserting an explosive charge into the cast-iron housing seen on the front of the crankshaft, and belting the firing pin with a big hammer.
Life in New Norcia is not only about religion however, and in common with other Benedictines around the world, the Order produces a range of fine wines from its own vineyards.
These and others are on sale in the splendid New Norcia Hotel (pub) shown at left, a focal point for patrons from many miles around as well as tourists. It is said that so much care was lavished on the building architecture in the hope of inducing the Queen of Spain to visit, although this never eventuated.
There is also a traditional wood-fired bakery producing lovely crusty, handmade breads and other New Norcia specialties such as a type of chocolate panforte.
We were reluctant to leave, but had a few hundred km to travel yet. We loaded ourselves up with bread and treats for lunch, and headed off South towards Perth.