Albany Historical Society Inc - Western Australia

LONDON HOTEL, EST. 1909
The Chusan Hotel was the original hotel built on this site on Stirling Terrace in 1849 and then later was rebuilt in 1871. At the turn of the century, the London Hotel was built in 1909 for the sum of £7,000 by the proprietor Harry C. Sims. Mr Sims remained the proprietor until 1918.

The London Hotel is a substantial two-storey brick built hotel with a large spacious ground and first floor balcony, commanded views of Princess Royal Harbour and was reminiscent of an English manor with full length verandah and upstairs balcony. The hotel had a drawing room, dining room and public bar located on the ground floor.​

In 1920 the London Hotel was renovated with an elaborate fretwork façade on both the downstairs verandah and the upstairs balcony, this was removed completely in the 1960s and the present entrance being a few stairs under a covered archway. The inscription ‘LONDON HOTEL 1909’ remains at the top of the building.

Today the London Hotel is occupied by Liberte, a Parisian inspired bar inside blending much of the historic London Hotel grand features.
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CAMP QUARANUP || QUARANTINE STATION
The Quarantine Station located on the Vancouver Peninsular was established in 1874. The necessity for a quarantine station arose after the number of ships arriving at Albany increased. This lead to demands for a quarantine station to be built close to the port. The station original consisted of two small buildings, which became inadequate and in 1897-8 a larger station was established. Many American servicemen lodged at the station for rest and recuperation and during World War II, the facility operated as a submarine base. The station was used to deal with various epidemics such as influenza, smallpox and typhoid diseases until 1930. The station was decommissioned in 1956 and the Wheeler family leased the land and that same year changed the name to Camp Quaranup.

We are closed tomorrow - 24 July 2024 due to Western Power maintenance.
We apologise for any inconvenience.

FEATURE ARTICLE || A MEETING OF TWO WORLDS
A fascinating and enlightening in-depth discovery of the extraordinary Menang Noongar people. With diplomacy, tact and loyal to their country, culture and human-kind. **MUST READ**

Wow! Thank you to everyone that has been reaching out and adding to the Albany Pictorial Collection as part of the Albany 2026 Bicentenary.

Have a photo worthy of being added to the AHS Albany Pictorial Collection?
We are on a mission to create the largest photograph collection and to make this accessible to our community. We want to ensure that our history is shared and preserved for future generations.
Contact us by emailing, [email protected] or pop into the AHS office located at 37 Duke Street, Albany and we can scan the photo(s) and give back the original.

Our brand new top of the range colour, brochure folding, book making, hole punching and staple enabled office assistant arrived this afternoon. After my tutorial with the guys from Best Office Systems Albany, I have found the only thing it can’t do is make coffee. So I've decided that I will stay home and make my own coffee, and I will let the machine run the office. 😀 On a serious note, our sincerest thanks to Craig, and his team at Best Office Albany. We are truly grateful for your continued support and the generosity that you have always given to the AHS. 🙏

STRAWBERRY HILL FARM || FIRST COLONIAL GOVERNMENT FARM
Strawberry Hill Farm was initially established in 1827 and was the first colonial government farm and the first wheat, maize and barley crops on the west coast. Major Edmund Lockyer, Dr Alexander Collie and John Morley selected the site with the guidance and knowledge of the Menang People. Captain Wakefield, Lieutenant Sleeman and Captain Collet Barker followed Lockyer's plan of continuing to develop the farm. The original cottage on the farm was built at the request of Governor Stirling and his wife, who stayed for the summer in Albany in 1831 and shortly after Dr Alexander Collie was appointed as the first Government Resident of Albany and moved into a small cottage situated on the farm. It is believed that Dr Collie named the farm Strawberry Hill after his crop of strawberries he had planted earlier, where producing adequate fruit. Sir Richard Spencer was appointed as the second Government Resident in 1833, he acquired the farm and additional land and built the existing building where he resided with his wife, Ann, nine children and their eleven servants.

KGS ART GALLERY
King George Sound, Richard Atherton Ffarington, 1840.
Ffarington produced revealing example of unfamiliar landscape of Albany and the South West of Western Australia between 1843 and 1847. Ffarington was aware that these landscapes would not be comprehensible to the British audience. Detailing works that demonstrated cohabitants with the custodians of the country and proudly living in harmony with the natural environment.

TOC H || MARK 1 || THE LANDING OF THE ANZACS
A copy from the original picture by British painter Charles Dixon which at the time this was copied was in the National Art Gallery in Sydney. This print was presented to the Australian Commonwealth Government and then gifted to TOC H, Mark I Albany.
This picture hung in the Albany Mark known as Edward House, now known as Norman House and was dedicated to the fallen soldiers. This home was a mecca of everything including development, culture, social services, a living war memorial and a place which those returned soldiers could find some relief from their traumas of war.

AHS looks forward to hanging this picture back on the wall of Norman House and sharing the history with our community and to the many people who have contacted us, we look forward to working with you in the future.

*** LAST DAYS ***
CONVICT KIDS CORNER || OPEN DAILY 10AM TO 4PM || 29 JUNE TO 14 JULY 2024
ESCAPE TO THE ALBANY CONVICT GAOL THIS SCHOOL HOLIDAY'S
There's heaps to discover at the Albany Convict Gaol this school holidays.
Visit the Convict Kids Corner and grab your fact finder and explore the Gaol to find the answers. Dress up as a Convict or Warden. Take a photo behind bars and grab your convict colouring pages and puzzles to complete.
For more information, please visit: www.historicalbany.com.au

MEET THE AHS TEAM || JOHN LLOYD
John is the Co-ordinator of Patrick Taylor Cottage Museum and is a Life Member of AHS. John has been with AHS since 2013 and is passionate about sharing the history of the Museum and its some 2,000 artefacts. Many visitors regularly comment on John’s exceptional history telling and his warm nature including being accommodating to any questions our visitors may have. Thank you John for your dedication, outstanding service and contribution to AHS.

With Amazing Albany WA – we just got recognised as one of their rising fans! 🎉

DID YOU KNOW? || THE RESIDENCY BUILDING
In March 1852, work commenced on building a convict hiring depot which consisted of a cell block and warders' quarters. The following year the remaining buildings to support the depot were constructed. This included a commissariat store and an administration block. Following the closure of the hiring depot in 1872, renovations were undertaken and the commissariat store was converted into a home for the Government Residents and Resident Magistrates, known as ‘The Residency’. The Residency' then served as a school hostel, a naval depot and training facility. In 1975 the Residency was opened as a branch of the Western Australian Museum.

Thank you for being a top engager and making it on to our weekly engagement list! 🎉

Delma Witham, Peter Johnson, Margaret Youngs, John Dobson, Carol Ellen

Taken at the front of the White Hart Hotel (now known as White Star Hotel) c.1906-1910 are the lovely ladies of the British Red Cross and not forgetting the dogs.

Albany Foreshore || c.1853
A retouched photo by George Chester of the Albany Foreshore, c.1853. Middle left of Belle-Vue, home of George and Grace Cheyne, now know as Norman House.

Have a photo worthy of being added to the AHS Albany photographic collection?
We are on a mission to create the largest photograph collection and to make this accessible to our community. We want to ensure that our history is shared and preserved for future generations.

Contact us by emailing, [email protected] or pop into the AHS office located at 37 Duke Street, Albany and we can scan the photo(s) and give back the original.

PATRICK TAYLOR COTTAGE MUSEUM || OPEN DAILY 11am to 3pm
Come and visit Albany's first Museum and the oldest surviving dwelling in Western Australia, having been built by the Morley Brothers in1832, when the town was a military outpost.

Dazzling white sand, sparkling water, endless horizon and history at every turn. Albany, you're a dream come true.

Albany Advertiser || Printing Workers, 1911
The Albany Advertiser is the oldest non metropolitan newspaper of Western Australia and was first published in 1888 and are still in circulation today.
This photograph was taken on the 4 February 1911 and is of the printing workers and staff, standing on York Street in front of the Advertiser print works building.

CONVICT KIDS CORNER || ESCAPE TO THE ALBANY CONVICT GAOL THIS SCHOOL HOLIDAY'S || OPEN DAILY 10AM TO 4PM || 29 JUNE TO 14 JULY 2024
There's heaps to discover at the Albany Convict Gaol this school holidays.
Visit the Convict Kids Corner and grab your fact finder and explore the Gaol to find the answers. Dress up as a Convict or Warden. Take a photo behind bars and grab your convict colouring pages and puzzles to complete.
For more information, please visit: www.historicalbany.com.au

Steam Locomotive in Shunting Yard || 1887

We spend all day looking at thousands of old photographs of Albany. Fascinated by the subjects and people, that all had a hand in building this fantastic city.
This photo is one of our favourites of old Albany. Look at the 2 gentlemen standing sternly with a young boy and the railway workers laidback on the loco and crates for the photo to be taken.

CONVICT KIDS CORNER || ESCAPE TO THE ALBANY CONVICT GAOL THIS SCHOOL HOLIDAY'S || OPEN DAILY 10AM TO 4PM || 29 JUNE TO 14 JULY 2024
There's heaps to discover at the Albany Convict Gaol this school holidays.
Visit the Convict Kids Corner and grab your fact finder and explore the Gaol to find the answers. Dress up as a Convict or Warden with Victorian costumes available. Take a photo behind bars and grab your convict colouring pages and puzzles to complete.
For more information, please visit: www.historicalbany.com.au

Just off Vancouver Peninsula, Mistaken Island also known as Rabbit Island was the first quarantine station. After an outcry by Government officials of having to live in tents with basic ratios and no toilets, the Quarantine Station at Camp Quaranup was built in 1875.

If anyone knows Rabbit Island and the surrounding area you would know that fishing is superb with Skippy's, bull herring and King George Whiting both on shore and off. The beach is a popular spot for tourists and locals including dog walkers and combing the shore for sea shells.

THE LIFE OF BESSY FLOWER
Read how a Menang girl, Bessy Flower became the school's best known student.
At the age of 13, Bessy was awarded a certificate of proficiency and Bishop Hale, who took a special interest in the Camfield School and its students and arranged for Bessy to attend a Church of England Model School in Sydney, as a result. Students there studied English, history, geography and arithmetic, as well as learning art and music.

Link to latest article: https://www.historicalbany.com.au/bessy-flower-menang

CHEYNE'S STABLES
George Cheyne, (b. 1790) arrived in Fremantle on board the Sterling, with his wife Grace (b.1797). The Sterling departed from Sweden with 23 passengers onboard, arriving at the Swan River Colony on the 4 June, 1831. When George and Grace arrived at King George's Sound in November 1831, he was one of around 15 settlers in the town.

Cheyne's Stables is quite possibly the oldest surviving building in Albany and was home to one of the city’s and state's most prominent first settlers. At the front of Cheyne's Stables is the home George and Grace built between 1852 -1858, a two story residence (on Stirling Terrace) and George named it Belle-Vue - a beautiful view

ALBANY CONVICT GAOL MUSEUM || OPEN DAILY 10AM TO 4PM
This weekend pop down to the Albany Convict Gaol and explore the fascinating convict past as you wander the cell block and gaol.

ROYALTY AND THE BRIG AMITY ||1977
The late Queen Elizabeth II, Albany Mayor Harold Smith, Mrs Smith and HRH Prince Phillip, disembarking from Brig Amity in 1977, as part of the sesquicentenary.