Heritage listing for Mt Barker's historic police stn and gaol complex

12/7/97

The historic former police station and gaol complex in Mount Barker has been placed on the interim heritage register, Heritage Minister Graham Kierath said.

Lovingly restored and now used as a museum, the complex is a Mount Barker landmark.

Mr Kierath said relatively few buildings of this type still existed in Western Australia.

"The complex is closely linked to the establishment of law and order in the Plantagenet district and is a good example of convict built public works," he said.

"The buildings are also fine examples of colonial architecture of the Victorian Georgian style.

"The recent landscaping and restoration work has given the complex a picturesque quality."

The former police station includes the first of three police stations built on the site over a 100-year period.

In 1867, a party of convicts from the Albany depot were sent to Mount Barker to build a residence for the local policeman as well as a coach house and stables.

The convicts used local materials, including ironstone for the walls, timber for the flooring and shingle roof.

In 1879, the police station took on additional significance when the Government mail was established and the need for fresh horses saw the station as a staging post between Albany and Perth.

"While the Government postal service retained horses at Mount Barker, it was not the only form of transport," Mr Kierath said.

"Constable West, who took over the station in 1900, added a bicycle to the list of station equipment.

"He was so keen to prove the worth of the bicycle, he went on patrols of up to 27 miles a day on the bike."

Work began on a new, bigger station in 1908 and in 1919 a courtroom was added. A third police station was built in 1957.

In the 1960s, the Plantagenet Historical Society began restoration of the building and a local sawmiller donated boards sawn from railway sleepers to replace missing floorboards and a stonemason repaired the ironstone walls and plasterwork.

The building was opened in 1971 as a museum, celebrating the history of early police in the area and concentrating on the period 1888 to 1900 when Constable John Wall was in charge.

Items donated by Wall's family and members of the local community and police force feature prominently at the museum.

In 1978, Cyclone Alby destroyed some of the pines at the site which were believed to have been planted more than a century before.

In 1984 the Shire of Plantagenet gained National Estate funding for further restoration work.

Mr Kierath said the former police station and gaol complex contributed greatly to the community's sense of place. "The amount of restoration work carried out shows the local community pride in the building," he said.

"It is an important reminder of a bygone way of life and deserves State heritage law protection."

Media contact: Steve Manchee 9481 2133