My wife Anne and I live at 12 Ind St., Lesmurdie, near Perth in Western Australia. Perth is the State capital and lies on the coastal plain on the Swan river. (So named because of the huge number of black swans which used to inhabit the river). Perth is named after the home town, Perth in Scotland, of the first governor of WA. Lesmurdie is in the shire of Kalamunda which is situated on the Darling range escarpment which rises quite steeply from the coastal plain. The range runs about 100 miles north and south and consists mainly of Laterite and Granite with lots of fertile little valleys which are ideal for orchards. A lot of wine grapes are grown on the plain and bouquet wines are produced in abundance in smaller areas. (It leaves the French stuff for dead!!).      It`s a very young State this. First settled at Albany on the south west tip in 1827 then the Swan river colony was settled in 1829. Anne`s great, great grandfather emigrated to here in 1840 from the Lambeth district on the river Thames in London during the English industrial revolution. He probably wondered what the blazes he had let himself in for. He was an architect, surveyor and had come to fill a position but when he arrived his prospective employer had shot through to South Australia and old Frederick Sherwood had to grab any employment he could since he had a wife and 3 nippers to keep. He started the very first Swan brewery and also had a team of men manufacturing condensors for the eastern goldfields because water was at a premium out there and the supplies were far too salty to consume. The WA gold field stories are something else and if you can get any material on them it makes captivating reading. Good for your long American winter nights.      Oh.... By the way... In case you are wondering... I TEACH the bagpipes!!

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