kieranblakewriter

Lesbian House is like no other. It is a house steeped in a mystery revealed only through its perplexing story.

Lesbian House lies abandoned on a hill top outside the remote town of Halls Creek in the east Kimberley region of Western Australia. It stands alone off Duncan Road which leads to a well-known local swimming hole and serves as the alternative route to Kununurra. A long way from town, Duncan Road meets Gordon Downs Road, but this is only used to reach a mine or a remote Aboriginal community. Travelling towards Halls Creek, the property is essentially hidden from view.

An Australian couple wanted to build a house in this region. They loved the topography of the local area and one day summited the hill which they would later choose as the location for their dream home. They soaked in the beautiful 360-degree view of the rolling hills of the east Kimberleys and imagined waking up to such a vista ever day.

Only a 20-minute drive from Halls Creek, the site also provided the couple with access to a supermarket, post office, service station, hospital and other essential services, including a pub. Somewhat ironically, the trip to Halls Creek is now even shorter because the dirt road is currently being sealed.

Permission from relevant authorities was required before design and construction on the house could begin. Local council approved, so permission was then needed from the local Indigenous people, the Jaru, who are the traditional owners of much of the land in this region.

Following various meetings and discussions, permission was granted by the Jaru people and construction began.

One can only imagine the challenges of transporting building materials along a rough, narrow dirt track which kicks up dust in the dry and is impassable in the wet. Work progressed, however, and the foundations of the house were laid and later built upon.

Steel frames turned into distinctive rooms, and balconies and windows were strategically placed to maximise the impressive views. It is easy to imagine a spectacular Kimberley storm rolling over the hills during the wet season. Kitchen cabinets were installed, internal walls were constructed – and then disaster struck.

Permission was withdrawn.

The Jaru people apparently withdrew their support for the project.

Why?

Was it encroaching on sacred land? Was it damaging the ecology of the local area? Was the dwelling deviating from its original design?

No.

According to local legend, the problem was the owners.

The owners were lesbians. That’s right. The couple creating their dream home were two women who planned to live in this home together, and this was a problem for some influential people who held deeply conservative, religious views and objected to a same-sex couple building and living on their land.

Many of the Indigenous people in this area, especially the Elders, are devout Catholics.

As a result, building was ordered to stop. The site lay dormant for a long period of time while more meetings and discussions were held, and during that time locals who knew about the house on the hill decided to help themselves to some of the building materials and installations.

Graffiti inevitably covered the walls, and windows and walls were smashed, along with the couple’s dream. Eventually, the local conservatives either withdrew their support for the project completely and ordered it to be terminated, or the deliberation process took so long that the house became destroyed to such an extent that completing it was too complicated, expensive or stressful.

Either way, Lesbian House now sits abandoned and trashed on a hill top outside Halls Creek.

Is this story true?

It depends who you ask.

Either way, its an enticing tale which explains why an incomplete house sits abandoned on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere.