Heritage listing for K S Pritchard's house

24/4/94

The former home of one of Western Australia's most celebrated writers and political activists is to be listed on the State Government's register of heritage places.

Heritage Minister Richard Lewis said today Katherine Susannah Pritchard's House in Greenmount deserved the full protection of the State's heritage laws.

Built in 1896, the single-storey weatherboard building with an adjoining workroom was bought by the writer and her husband, Gallipoli veteran Captain Jim Throssell in 1919.

In the first ten years of their residence, Katherine Susannah wrote and published the works that established her reputation as a major Australian writer.

These included 'Working Bullocks' (1926), 'Brumby Innes' (1927) and 'Coonardoo' (1928), perhaps her most widely acclaimed work.

A founding member of the Australian Communist Party, Katherine Susannah helped establish the Western Australian branch and she and Throssell soon found widespread notoriety and fame.

"Katherine Susannah Pritchard was undoubtedly one of Western Australia's most colourful and influential figures, both in the world of politics and literature," Mr Lewis said.

"Her former home is held in high esteem by the local community and in particular by the literary community.

"The adjoining writer's workroom, which she built from the Bulletin prize money for her novel Coonardoo, is an example of the solitude and need for separation which is part of a writer's life."

Despite the death of Captain Throssell - the first Western Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross - in 1933, Katherine Susannah continued to live and write in the house until her passing in 1969.

The house is currently owned by the Shire of Mundaring and is leased to the Katherine Susannah Pritchard Foundation.

The house has been placed on the Heritage Council's register for 12 months, during which time it will be considered for permanent listing.

Media contact:  Paul Plowman (09) 222 9595