JENNENE Riggs and Karli Florisson grew up in Esperance, and both their childhoods were peppered with stories of the historic homesteads dotted around the close-knit region and the families who once inhabited them.
Almost none of the homes are still occupied - many are in a significant state of disrepair - but their presence still echoes adventurous lives well lived, in what was a tough and remote location.
Now some of the buildings - and the stories of the families connected to them - are being preserved on film, as part of a new documentary series.
Ms Riggs and Ms Florisson plan to feature, "in a kind of love letter'' to the place they grew up in, at least seven of the many of historic homes scattered through the region, starting with Dempster homestead and Lynburn station.
Moir Homestead, Israelite Bay Telegraph Station, Balbinya, Deralinya, and Nanambinia stations and others are also on their list.
"These seven homesteads correspond to seven different stories of different families that lived in the area in the early days of European settlement,'' said Ms Florisson, who added some of the pioneering families' stories intersected and intertwined across several sites.
For the two women, like most who grew up in the region, the folklore of the homesteads is part of their DNA and they share a sense of common ownership of the properties and what they represent.
"In Esperance, there is a real sense of ownership of these sites, we all grew up hearing snippets of the stories and knowing about these places, at least a little bit,'' Ms Florisson said.
"I think many people feel that these homes are a part of our shared history and the community has been so supportive and excited about this series.''
Ms Florisson recalls hearing some of the stories "when I was a kid'' on family camping trips, Ms Riggs likewise grew up hearing the tales.
"It's always been something in our background,'' Ms Florisson said.
"But there isn't a lot of information available on these homesteads, especially in an easily accessible format.
"I think that is what drew me to the project, they are such fascinating stories and they really deserve a wider audience.
"But unless you are prepared to read all these old books, which are pretty inaccessible, or dig through museum archives, you are not going to find them.''
The duo bring separate but complementary talents to the project, being created under the auspices of Ms Riggs' film company, Riggs Australia.
She has been making documentary films, mostly around WA, for more than 20 years - most are natural history and wildlife-based, but many also have a strong social history element.
Writer and local historian Ms Florisson is well-known for her long contributed regular short histories for The Esperance Tide magazine.
Both have lived and worked away, but having been drawn back to Esperance, and with their mutual love of history, they were keen to explore and showcase the region's stories.
So it was an easy decision to team up.
"It seemed like a natural progression to start working about a series on our hometown and the history of it,'' Ms Riggs said.
She said they were both fascinated with the people who built the homes and what their lives were like.
"It is just fascinating to understand who has lived in them over the years and what state they are in today," Ms Riggs said.
The first episode features Dempster Homestead, in the centre of town, which has been lovingly restored over the years and is one of only two homesteads featured in the series which is still occupied.
"It's a beautiful family home,'' Ms Riggs said.
Deralinya station, which sits on the other end of the refurbishment scale, offers local stonemason Roger Robertson basic, but equally poignant, digs.
Mr Robertson, a former stonemason and keen local knowledge-holder, has made the building habitable, for example, by rigging up a new solar power system.
"But he is living in a very old building, it doesn't have running water, it is very basic,'' Ms Florrison said.
"It would be quite similar to what it would have been like back in the day, I think.''
The women have been developing the project for about 18 months, including researching and writing each episode and sourcing the funding to get them into production.
The first two episodes were posted in June on the Esperance Historic Homestead's playlist, on the Riggs Australia YouTube channel which can be found at youtube.com/@riggsaustralia.
With those episodes under their belt, and the majority of funding for the rest of the films now secured, the women said the production process would become more efficient and a new installment should be posted about every three months.
For the project, Riggs Australia partnered with the Mt Burdett Foundation, which was set up in 2019 by Esperance farmer Chris Reichstein, who was looking to return some of his good fortune to the community and encourage others to do the same.
Mr Reichstein died of cancer in July 2021.
The documentary project has also received financial support from the Shire of Esperance, Esperance Bay Rotary Club and the Heritage Council of WA.
The Esperance Museum and the Esperance Bay Historical Society have opened their archives and help the pair source old photographs.
Ms Florisson has also spent many hours, days and weeks combing archives in the State Library.
"There has been a lot of fact-checking, as often you come across conflicting information from different sources and you have to work out which is the most reliable,'' she said.
As well as diving into the records, the pair interviewed descendants of families connected to the sites and local indigenous families, who supported and worked for them.
"Some of the stories have been so fascinating,'' Ms Florisson said.
"My favourite story from the first episodes, was from Lynburn station.
"There were a couple of young ladies living out there with their family, the Chopin family.
"They used to make their own ball dresses, roll them up and put them in their saddle bags and ride to Esperance, which took them a couple of days, to go to a dance.
"They would have a fantastic time, then put the ball dresses back in their saddle bags and ride back home to Lynburn.
"It is such a great glimpse into their isolation, but they were also so keen to socialise and be a part of things.
"And it shows their absolute capability to be able to ride out on their own, camp, make their own dresses.
"They had so many skills."
In researching and filming the series, the women said it was stories of the original families which most struck them.
"It was their trials and tribulations and what life would have been like for them, with the extreme remoteness and the lack of facilities and company and communication,'' Ms Riggs said.
"A lot of these homesteads were built before the telegraph line went through.
"So communication was via writing letters and waiting for a mail ship to come by every few weeks, or it could have been months sometimes."
Ms Riggs said they were also very mindful to consult and include stories from the local native title groups - which included some difficult conversations and tough stories of ancestors who were affected by the Europeans' arrival.
"We are grateful to the local elders who have talked to us and told us their families histories,'' Ms Riggs said.
"Even though these European settlers faced a lot of difficulties and were really successful, despite these difficulties, none of what they did would have been possible without local Aboriginal people,'' Ms Florisson said.
"They had Aboriginal people who acted as guides, who helped them to find water and the best sources of grassland for their sheep.
"Some of the stations employed dozens of local Aboriginal people as shepherds and stockmen.
"At the time there were no fences, so the only way they could keep the sheep safe was with pretty intensive shepherding,''
Sadly, as the years have passed and the original farming families shifted to newer homes or other farms, most of the original station homesteads were left empty and slowly decayed.
"I think Esperance is quite unique in that there are a lot of these old homesteads around, which are pretty untouched,'' Ms Florisson said.
"They are similar to what they would have been like or they are starting to disintegrate and they are being propped up by bits of wood here and there.
"It is fascinating to see what state they are in today."
Lynburn homestead, for example, is no longer inhabitable, although the station on which it stands is still an operating farm.
It lost its thatched roof to a fire in the 1960s.
"It has had a roof put on it which has stopped it deteriorating, but inside it is just crumbling walls, no floor and very rough,'' Ms Florisson said.
"It has been left to sit for decades, since the last lot of people lived in it.''
The Israelite Bay Telegraph Station was abandoned when the line was shut down.
"It has just been left as it was,'' Ms Florisson said.
One of the aims of the project is to renew interest in the buildings, with the hope that their historic value will be more widely recognised and a few more places may be preserved in some way.
"There is a possiblity of that, but no matter what happens I think it is great that we have this snapshot, on film, of what they are like right now,'' Ms Florisson said.
"Whether they end up being restored or if they deteriorate further, at least we have this moment in time preserved for future generations."
