Claremont Museum listed on heritage register

3/12/96

One of Claremont's most historic buildings has been granted the protection of the State's heritage laws.

Claremont Museum, built in 1861 as a school for the children of the Pensioner Guards, has been listed on the Heritage Council of Western Australia's interim register of heritage places.

Heritage Minister Richard Lewis said the listing recognised the building's important links to the history of the area and its high value to the local community.

"The Claremont Museum is significant for the variety of uses to which it has been put throughout its long history," he said.

"It is part of the streetscape of Victoria Avenue and, with its current use as a museum, gives us a greater understanding of the cultural history of the area."

Mr Lewis said the museum was one of the oldest buildings in the Perth metropolitan area.

He said the community of Freshwater Bay was formed in 1850 by the Pensioner Guards, who were pensioned soldiers serving as guards to the convicts during and after their transportation to Western Australia.

The land to the west of the museum was divided into half-acre lots for the pensioners, who also received a larger block at Lake Claremont for cultivation purposes. The original name of Victoria Avenue was Pensioner's Row.

The community at Freshwater Bay was the only centre of population between Fremantle and Perth at the time.

After a decade of requests by the local residents, erection of the school building, which doubled as a church, began in 1861.

A single-storey, stone-walled building with hipped corrugated iron roof, it has links with the early convict days of WA.

"The free men of the community undertook the construction work voluntarily, while stone for the building was quarried by convicts," Mr Lewis said.

"It was completed by 1862 and opened as a school for the children of the Pensioner Guards and other residents, while on Sundays the schoolroom was used as a church.

"It was finally replaced by the State School in Bay View Terrace in 1892 and the erection of Christ Church, Claremont, a year later.

"The building was then used as a boarding house for young men and became known as the 'Appy 'Ome. By the turn of the century it had been bought by the Police Department as a residence for its officers."

Mr Lewis said the cottage was vested with the Claremont Town Council in 1972. With the co-operation of the WA Museum and the WA Craft Council, it was renovated and opened as a museum in 1975.

The building was rare because of its links with the Pensioner Guards and because it was a surviving example of a school from the 1860s.

"The museum is in very good condition and the surrounding grounds and adjacent park are well maintained," the Minister said.

"It has high levels of integrity and authenticity and deserves protection."

Media contact : Bronwyn Hillman 222 9595, 221 1377