Museum of Perth

Piano bar in the Blue Note Tavern, 160 Colin Street, West Perth, 2 September 1981.

Courtesy State Library of Western Australia (329132PD)

Come and grab a bargain at Bon Marche Bargain Books.

Monday to Saturday 10am - 4pm. 80
Barrack Street Perth.

All proceeds support the Museum of Perth.

If you’d like to volunteer, or to donate some pre-lived books, email [email protected]

Christmas Day, Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia.
Walker, Edgar.

Photograph | 1930.

Courtesy State Library WA (110446PD)

The Museum of Perth’s gallery is closed today as we undergo relocation and installation at our new HQ at Bon Marche Arcade, 80 Barrack Street a perth.

Our new bookshop - Bon Marche Bargain Books is open for business with Volunteer Robert manning the shop! Come and say hi!

Bon Marche Bargain Books is open for business!

Our volunteer Robert is in the shop today, at Bon Marche Arcade, Barrack Street. 10am - 4pm.

❤️📚

It's a bittersweet day today as we bid farewell to our home for the last 7 or so years - the Atlas Building.

In exciting news the building will be undergoing a complete heritage restoration by its owners very shortly - which is a brilliant and long-awaited outcome! The Building is in very safe hands with its long-standing owner who is passionate about the building, its history, and its future! We have been very fortunate to be custodians for a time.

Since moving in we have poured our love and energy into restoration, activation and many exhibitions and research projects which have seen tens of thousands of visitors through the doors.

We are moving our gallery to an exciting new location in Bon Marche Arcade, back to Barrack Street where our story began. We are also opening up another second hand bookshop Bon Marche Arcade Books next door, a sister to London Court Books.

Our first exhibition at Bon Marche will be Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili - Our Story on Paper - a celebration of the 31 Aboriginal place names of the central city - which will open on Saturday. Visit us at 80 Barrack Street Perth.

Our various research, restoration and gardening projects are still underway at the Bassendean Pensioner Guard Cottage, as well as Sloans Farm & Cottage, Wilkinson Homestead and our Midland Workers Cottages.

Our sincere thanks to the State Library of Western Australia, and to our many volunteers, friends and supporters for their help over recent weeks, months and years!

To support the continuation of our good work, please head to: www.museumofperth.com.au/support
..or donate books to one of our bookshops - by emailing [email protected]

❤️ from the team at Museum of Perth.

BON MARCHE ARCADE - Second Hand Bookshop!
We are very proud to announce that later this week we will open Bon Marche Arcade Books on the ground floor at 80 Barrack Street Perth. We think more bookshops is exactly what Perth City needs - and where better than this historic jewel of a building!

A sister to London Court Books, we are looking for immediate donations of second hand books.

If you need to make some space on your shelves for new books before Christmas then we have a solution for you!

Books can be delivered, by arrangement, to 80 Barrack Street Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm or to the porch of a nearby staff-member’s home in Perth City.

To make a donation of books, or a financial contribution to our initiative, please email [email protected]

Bon Marche Arcade Books is a volunteer-run shop, and if you’d like to join the team - please email us at [email protected]

❤️📚

A bit of history:

“ The building subsequently known as Bon Marché Arcade was designed by architect H. J. Prockter and built by builder Arthur Nelson - completed in 1901 it was named Brookman’s Buildings, after its owner, W. G. Brookman (M. L. C., and Mayor of Perth, at his zenith).

Constructed in brick, with stucco decoration and an iron roof, Bon Marché Arcade is a fine example of the advances in building construction in Western Australia at the turn of the twentieth century, being the first four-storey commercial building in Barrack Street and one of the first commercial buildings in the State to be more than two storeys high.

From 1920, the place was part of the oldest established drapery business in the State, Bon Marché, becoming known as Bon Marché Buildings in which the central arcade was known as Bon Marché Arcade. The place is now known as Bon Marché Arcade, which identifies the whole of the building.

Information sourced from the Heritage Council of Western Australia - Places Database:
Place No: 1954 - Name: Bon Marche Arcade”

INDI PAC
'My plan was to ride for 15 hours a day, stuff around for two hours and sleep for seven hours. Which I thought was sustainable. Providing I could eat enough.'

Perth Physical Education teacher Colin Ottaway was first to finish the 2022 IndiPac.

'You pull in at a roadhouse to get some food and people look around and ask 'What are you doing? You've obviously ridden a fair way.' I say we're going from Freo, we're heading to Sydney, and that's all I've got. I can't remember the roadhouse, but I do remember some kid who was so blown away, at the whole idea and concept.

It's a sense of achievement and accomplishment. Right across the country. In 17 days. And you meet some people. You share this bond; you're an overlander and you've
ridden across the country.'

The IndiPac, as it became known, was the brainchild of Melbourne bike builder and winner of the 2015 Trans America Bike Race, Jesse Carlsson. It was designed to reanimate the overlander spirit and celebrate cycling at its simplest, purest form — rider, bicycle and road.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: Colin Ottaway

TOWN HALL
There was a time when a man with a telescope in King's Park could tell the time by the Town Hall clock. For years the tall red-brick clock tower was the city's outstanding landmark, but post-war Perth, growing upwards rather than outwards, has mushroomed all round until all that a man with a telescope could see from King's Park now to remind him of colonial days might be a flag flapping between the tall offices, at about sixth-floor level.
Designed-as were so many of Perth's major buildings- by Richard Jewell, the Town Hall was built in 1870 in the attractive Flemish bond brickwork which is the outstanding characteristic of our early colonial architecture. It occurs here at the Town Hall, in Government House, the Cloisters, and the Barracks, as well as in minor buildings of the period.
According to popular belief the hall was built entirely by convicts, but in fact convict labour was responsible for portions only of the work.
As was fitting for a town hall it became the focal point for the city's activities and it has seen everything in its time, from Victorian rout to Georgian riot. It was from the undercroft (removed in 1924 to make a shopping arcade) that Premier Sir John Forrest announced the relief of Mafeking, and it was from the counter of the old State bank here that a later premier, Sir James Mitchell, tried to stem a panic-stricken rush on the bank in the depression years of the early 'thirties.
Visitors are always shown the arrow-shaped windows in the four turrets of the clock tower and given the picturesque explanation that these are the broadarrow trademarks of the convicts who fashioned them. It makes a good story, but, in fact, the arrow shape is a common one in the Tudor style.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

1989 AROUND OZ
Rod Evans commenced 'long distance' cycling the week he started primary school. Rod's school was 1.6 km from his home on the family farm. Aged 4, on his first day, his father Peter drove him to school. On his second day at school, Peter took him to the end of the driveway, pointed him in the right direction and left him to ride.
The bike? A chain driven trike with solid rubber wheels and a lunch box wired to the back of the seat.

At 12 Rod started riding, now on two wheels, to high school at The Geelong College, 17 km from home. At 16 he used the Easter break to ride from Adelaide to Geelong, a 780 km journey, covering over 200 km a day despite being weighed down with heavy panniers and a backpack.

Rod was inspired to competitive cycling by Geelong College alum Russell Mockridge's book, My World on Wheels. Before his death in a bike race Mockridge had been a world champion and dual Olympic gold medalist.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: G Wright, Herald (Melbourne)

ST GEORGE'S CATHEDRAL
Mirrored a hundred times in the great glass honeycomb of Council House is the little red-brick church of St George, cathedral of the Anglican See in Perth. Between these two symbols of a century of civic development, like a river in flood, runs the traffic of St George's Terrace.
The city, in its second colonial phase-became a predomin- antly red-brick settlement, with a uniformity of Gothic-Tudor style architecture all the way from the Barracks, at the western boundary, to Government House and the cathedral towards the eastern end. Everywhere the brickwork has matured like autumn leaves.
After prolonged ecclesiastical disagreement a committee to inquire into the possibility of building a cathedral was set up in 1875 by Bishop Parry. Eventually it was decided to start work. The designer was Edmund Blacket, architect of Sydney University's Great Hall, St Andrew's cathedral, and St Mark's at Darling Point, but, oddly enough, Blacket never saw St George's, in fact, never came to Western Australia. He died in 1883, three years after the laying of the foundation stone. The work was completed by his son, and the church finally consecrated in 1888.
St George's, small as cathedral churches go, nevertheless achieves great dignity. It somehow escaped old buildings' usual fate of being re-roofed as quickly and as cheaply as possible with ugly corrugated iron. Instead, it has been tiled in perfect taste so that the roof blends with the fabric of the church in a lasting reproof to iconoclasts and iron.
Inside, are the roofing timbers and pews which gave one of the first demonstrations that Western Australian jarrah could be used as effectively as teak.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

1975 REVENGE IS SWEET
In the mid 1970's Bruce Hunt was in the prime of his cycling career. Often riding off scratch he set fastest times in the 1974 and '75 Beverley-to-Perth race and
impressed in the Australian Professional Road Titles held in Victoria.

Encouraged by race organisers to compete in the 1974 Sun Tour, he was taken aback when the Victorian League of Wheelman rejected his application because they felt he was unlikely to stand up to the rigours of the race.

Having 'trained his guts out' in anticipation, Bruce wondered what to do. "I know what, I'll have a dash at the Perth-to-Sydney record!'

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: Bruce Hunt

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE
Everyone was sure that Tom Molloy-a great citizen of his day--had really let his fanciful notions go too far when he commissioned architect William Wolf to build His Majesty's Theatre in Hay Street on the site of Ye Olde English Fair.
After all, the Theatre Royal, right in the heart of the city and a minute's walk from the Town Hall, was already flourishing, and Perth was a very small city. But Molloy went right ahead, and on Christmas Eve 1904 His Majesty's opened with a bang with "the grand spectacular The Forty Thieves, starring Mr Alf Stephens and Miss Alice Pollard." The bang that opened the theatre was caused by sledge- hammers and pick-axes wielded by labourers, for, in the excitement of the opening, the key to the wrought iron gates in the foyer-which were to have been unlocked by Miss Sylvia Forrest had been lost.
The woodwork-doors and so on-of the theatre was a rich shade of Pompeian red, the proscenium was embellished with gold panelling, and large pictures representing Night and Morning flanked the stage.
Citizens of 1966, irritated by restrictive liquor licensing laws sigh for 1904 when, in the north-east corner of the building, the famous Circle Bar, frequented by the wit and beauty of the town, as well as by famous visiting artists, was open until II p.m. In the basement there was a restaurant and bar with a special licence for after-show patrons.
The rival Theatre Royal has long ago succumbed to movies, but His Majesty's, now owned by Westralian Wheat Buildings Ltd, still survives.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

1951 JUBILEE COURIERS
1951 was the Commonwealth of Australia's 50th birthday. After battling through a depression, two world wars and facing the rising spectre of communism the Menzies
government decided 1951 would be a year to unite the nation and reaffirm all citizens' allegiance to the Commonwealth and Crown. All facets of Australian society were
involved. Cycling was represented in the sporting division, chaired by Hubert Opperman MP, arguably Australia's greatest cyclist, and by now the federal member for Corio.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: Ray Fenton Collection

Our little bookshop London Court Books is currently having its BIG CHRISTMAS SALE!!! all second-hand books are 50%! off come on in to be greeted by our friendly volunteers and find a great read!
In-store only.
London Court Books, St George’s Tce end of London Court, Perth.

THE BIG CHRISTMAS SALE!!!
50% off all second hand books in store, don't miss out on this chance for either gift giving or a book for yourself!
This sale is In store only - While stocks last.

THE BARRACKS
Richard Roach Jewell who for more than thirty years designed major Perth buildings, definitely had an eye for good site. This was particularly obvious when in 1863 he drew up the plans for the barracks which were to house the Enrolled Pensioner Force. He placed it at the foot of the hill which decisively separates city from suburb so that its battlemented Tudor gateway faced eastwards down the broad vista of St George's Terrace.
At the word "pensioner," we usually have an image of some doddering old warrior creaking across the road on a stick, or quavering on about ancient battles. But these pensioners of 1863 were active troops who had been granted pensions for service in the Crime\a and elsewhere. They had come out from England as guards for the convicts, and remained on duty only until relieved by the next batch of guards, when they became free settlers with a 10 land grant and a call upon convict labour.
Almost inevitably the old barracks, as significant a link with Perth's colonial antecedents as one could find, has been declared an intolerable stumbling block to the planners. Behind and above it, on the hill, stands Parliament House, part way through a somewhat grandiose building programme. Parliamentarians are yearning for the day when an admiring city will have an unobstructed view of the House, with its staircases and balustrades yet to be built upon the hillside. They claim that even the gateway, a prime example of colonial brickwork, and all that remains of the old barracks (demolished in 1966) will spoil the view.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

1938 LUCAS GIRLS
Vera Harding's hairdresser wages wouldn't go far toward allowing her to see more of Australia. Hiking cost money and only got her so far. Sponsorship from bicycle maker
Malvern Star achieved a meandering solo 2200km ride from Mt Palmer to Perth.

Vera's yen for travel found new expression in a plan to ride across Australia. Her companion was to be Anna Keenan, adventurous daughter of Russian émigrés.

Bill Lucas, director of Lucas Cycles, had a nose and talent for publicity. Approached for the loan of a secondhand tandem by the pair he instead offered them a new
lightweight machine for their crossing.

So on Saturday the 17th of September 1938, a rousing send off from a huge crowd in Forrest Place started Vera and Anna on their 9500km odyssey to Sydney and return. They wore Lucas 'team' uniforms, the brown and gold reflecting the colours of their tandem, nicknamed 'Miss Westralia'. The bike, festooned with canvas bags, carried nearly all the girls' needs.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: Aub Melrose Collection courtesy Tony Humphry (grandson)

CLOCK TOWER-WINTHROP HALL, CRAWLEY
Where the Swan River curves into a wide blue bay at Crawley the shoreline scene becomes suddenly Mediterranean: from a vast complex of Florentine buildings dotted with dark cypress trees rises an Italian campanile.
This landmark is the 150-ft clock tower of Winthrop Hall, the central hall of the University of Western Australia, which was built in 1932 after a prolonged, world-wide competition had been conducted to determine its design.
Local comment when the winning design was announced in the late 'twenties was scathing. One newspaper, which had apparently hoped for something much more conventional described it as having "a higgledy-piggledy aspect, happily not attributable to any West Australian architect. . . ."-a possibly sour reference to the fact that the competition had been won by Melbourne architects, Rodney Alsop and Conrad Sayce, who had beaten fifty other competitors including many from the United States and Great Britain.
However, as the university has grown up around the tower in a superb series of gardens, lawns, and gracious cloistered buildings, the skill and wisdom of those Melburnians in choosing exactly the right style for the river site and the equable climate has become increasingly apparent.
It was by the Pool of Reflection below the clock tower that the Royal Ball was held during the first visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Western Australia.
Mosaics over the Great Gate are by Melbourne designer Napier Waller, and the Aboriginal motifs on the ceiling of Winthrop Hall are by George Benson.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

We were thrilled to receive a visit from Denise Hefron at the Gallery last week. She is the granddaughter of Robert Lennie, one of the cyclists who crossed the Nullarbor Plain in 1907. She came to admire the exhibition “Nullarbor Crossings - A History of Challenge”, which showcases the feats and struggles of those who dared to ride across the vast desert. If you’re interested in learning more about the Nullarbor Crossings and the amazing people who accomplished them, don’t miss this exhibition at the Museum of Perth Gallery, located at 8-10 The Esplanade in Perth.

CARETAKER NEEDED
A unique opportunity for the right person.
The Museum of Perth is undertaking a restoration project in Midland in partnership with the City of Swan to restore these two federation-era workers cottages and establish a large productive vegetable garden at the rear - run by local volunteers and training participants.

We are on the hunt for a live-in caretaker to help us refurbish (mainly painting and general maintenance) and manage the gardens at both properties in return for free rent. A part time employment opportunity also exists for a candidate who can manage our garden training program. Someone with maintenance or gardening experience would be ideal.

The cottage is three bedrooms with a large rear yard and onsite parking, located in the centre of Midland. Both properties have had full asbestos replacement / remediation by a professional company commissioned by the Council before handing over to us.

Over the coming years these houses will be restored and beautiful productive gardens established run by local volunteers and trainees.

To express interest in this unique role - with an immediate start - write to [email protected]

It was great to host a wonderful community celebration last night for the City of Kwinana at Sloans Farm & Cottage with Mayor Peter Feasey.

We’ve loved restoring the place and establishing a large productive vege garden. It’s a beautiful and historic site, much-loved by local residents.

Some history here: www.museumofperth.com.au/sloans-cottage

1937 - DRIVING FORCE
The proprietor of Malvern Star Cycles, Bruce Small, had one central promotional device; the record breaking rider Hubert 'Oppy' Opperman. In 1936 Oppy and Small were planning their assault on Billy Read's 18 day 18 hour Fremantle to Sydney Record. The Eyre Highway was yet to be built and the seemingly unknowable west to east crossing retained an air of mystery and apprehension.

The support team found their navigator and mechanic in Aubrey Melrose; 'a talented master mechanic, motor cycle racer, car trial champion and surf lifesaver.'

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: Aub Melrose Collection, Tony Humphry (grandson)

ASYLUM, FREMANTLE
When the organizers of the Festival of Perth considered the possibility of staging a Son et Lumière production there was some doubt as to whether any building in Perth or Fremantle was old enough and big enough. After all, Son et Lumière in Athens had been done at the Acropolis, in Versailles at the palace, in the Rhine Valley on the ancient castles. What could Western Australia's meagre history provide?
Then somebody remembered the vast empty and decaying building in Fremantle which had first been an asylum for the criminally insane, then an old women's home, and, during World War II, a headquarters for U.S. forces. As soon as the old place became vacant it attracted the attention of the bulldozer brigade who had conceived the noble notion of razing it and using the area for playing fields. Horrified historians sought the opinion of Lord Euston-adviser to the British Government on the preservation of ancient buildings -who was quite decided in his opinion. "This is the most distinguished group of buildings I have seen in Australia,' he said.
Constructed of local limestone, it is believed to have been designed by Captain Wray of the Royal Engineers, and it is notable particularly for Dutch gables and Gothic cloisters.
To their great credit the members of the Fremantle City Council have now rescued the Asylum and undertaken to preserve it and convert it to a maritime museum.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

We’re at Government House today!
This weekend only - our exhibition, Gnarla Boodja Mili Mili is on display for the Government House Open Day. Today and tomorrow, 10am-3pm.

Info: https://govhouse.wa.gov.au/government-house-tours-events/open-days/

Visit our spooky little bookshop this weekend! 👻
London Court Books, St George’s Tce end of London Court, Perth.

1933 - BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO
Towering Toodyay cyclist Vic Waltham had posted a record Sydney to Perth time of 26 days 3 hours 8 minutes in 1927. With little improvement to the roads in the
following years, prospects of reducing it further must have seemed dim. Innovation was found in the form of a tandem.

Compared to a conventional bicycle, a tandem has double the pedalling power with only slightly more weight and frictional loss to the drivetrain. Critically it has
about the same wind resistance as a conventional bicycle. On flat terrain and downhill, as most of the power produced by cyclists is used to overcome wind resistance,
tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: State Library of NSW

THE DEANERY
The Deanery has always been regarded by Perth people as a symbol of the gracious days of the city. So when, in about 1950, the Anglican church decided to replace the Dean's residence with something more modern the public were thoroughly roused. In fact it was only their vigorous protest that saved the English cottage from the sledge-hammers of the demolition men. Badly needed repairs were done by the current Dean of Perth, the Very Rev. John Bell at his own
expense.
The clerical residence, at the corner of St George's Terrace and Pier Street was built about 1859 for the first Dean. The Archives are not clear about who designed it. One report gives the credit to the first Dean himself, the Rev. George Purvis Pownall, who was a Cambridge graduate. But it is also claimed that it was one of the many early colonial buildings designed and supervised by Mr R. R. Jewell, the Colonial Clerk of Works. Whoever is responsible, the building-incorporating the best features of the beautifully gabled romantic English cottage style-remains today the only one of its kind in the metropolitan area.
Built before the present cathedral, The Deanery, in whose grounds the town stocks once stood, was originally part of the block which included the first Church of St George. Now St George's Cathedral and the Burt Memorial Hall occupy most of the grounds.
The National Trust of Australia (W.A.) Incorporated lists The Deanery among the 232 buildings in the State which they consider of major historic importance . . . "to be "to be pre- served on the site at all cost."

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

1907 - TRAVELLING LIGHT
Neither adventurers or travellers, Arthur Warren and Robert Lennie were Coolgardie road racers who simply wanted to set a new Perth-to-Sydney record, a distance of
3,050 miles. Amid cheers from the large crowd of onlookers, they departed Coolgardie on February 18th 1907 for a three day ride to Perth.

The conventional overlander bike was a heavy-duty, high-riding roadster of British origin, designed to carry the rider and a load of clothes, blankets and supplies
across rough tracks and rocky roads. Many would carry a gun for hunting food, doubling as defence from potentially hostile first nations people.

Racers at heart, Warren and Lennie took a different approach. They headed to the Davies-Franklin agency in Perth to collect low, lightweight, Ballarat made path racers
straight off the showroom floor. Fitted with Australian-made Dunlop canvas tyres, their equipment was kept light and minimal, the biggest concession being canvas frame bags containing 1½ gallon water tanks.

Our current exhibition: Nullabor Crossings A History of Challenge, Curated by the Western Australian Historical Cycle Club is open Monday to Saturday from 10am - 4pm, for more information visit us at 8-10 The Esplanade Perth 6000.
Image Courtesy: WA Museum

ST GEORGE'S HALL
At the "other end of town," just beyond the city stores and business offices in Hay Street east, stands a unique city building-probably noticed less than many that are architecturally inferior. It is the only building in Perth with a classical Greek façade of Doric columns and pediment, but unfortunately the columns stand so close to the footpath that most of their lofting effect is lost. St George's Hall, its proper title, would be unfamiliar to most Western Australian people, though they would readily recognize it as the offices of the Child Welfare Department.
The hall, a business venture by the legal firm of Stone and Burt, was built as a theatre in 1879, on a block of land ad- joining the firm's offices between Pier and Irwin Streets. It opened on 4 December of that year with a gala performance of The Colleen Baun, an Irish play presented by one of the earliest "little theatre" groups.
For the next twenty years, St George's Hall was a centre of public entertainment and a highspot of the night life of the '80s and '90s. It lost its glamour at the end of the century when a new theatre, admirable in size, splendour, and siting was built in central Hay Street. This was T. G. A. Molloy's Theatre Royal. The original theatre was bought by the State Government, and the government lithographer with his staff became the first occupants.
About 1920, the Child Welfare Department took over the front section of the building, and a portion of the W.A. Government Tramways Department squeezed into the rear. Since then the Tramways Department has shifted, and the building has been the home of the Department which works in close cooperation with the Perth Children's Court opposite.

Book: Perth Sketchbook
Text: Kirwan Ward
Drawings: Paul Rigby

As we all eagerly await the results of today’s referendum, a look back 123 years to the Federal Poll of 31 July 1900, to ascertain whether Western Australians wished to join the Federation.

This image published in the Western Mail 11 Aug. 1900, p.26 with the caption: The Referendum - the West Australian results board and some of the federal leaders. From left: J. Rendell, G.F. Pearce (President Trades and Labour Council), J.W. Croft, L.A. Woolf, E.A. Harney, N.K. Ewing MLA (standing), J. Phair (President Australian Natives' Association), H.A. Corbett, J.W. Hackett MLC, F. Wilson MLA, J. Gardiner QC (President of the West Australian Federal League), J.M. Fowler (Hon. General Secretary of the League), F. Illingworth MLA (Leader of the Opposition), W. James MLA, H. Briggs MLC, J.P. Doheny, A. Short, J. Marshall (Hon. Organising Secretary for the league), E.H. Zollner (formerly Hon. Secretary of the League).

Courtesy State Library of Western Australia (1035b)