Home of writer Joseph Furphy (Tom Collins' House) entered on heritage register

26/10/99
The home of writer Joseph Furphy, better known as Tom Collins, who wrote the classic Such Is Life, has been entered in the Register of Heritage Places at its new home.
Heritage Minister Graham Kierath said Tom Collins' House was regarded as one of Australia's leading literary museums and the Swanbourne cottage had been home to Western Australia's foremost literary association for 50 years.
Mr Kierath said the house had national heritage significance and was a memorial to Furphy's life and work.
"Joseph Furphy built the house himself in 1907 and spent the remaining five years of his life there," he said.
"It is considered by the literary community to be unique in Australia as a place built by a writer which has evolved into a significant literary museum and place of tribute.
"Tom Collins' House is highly valued not just by the literary world, but by the WA community.
"It was relocated from its original site in Servetus Street to a park in Wood Street to preserve its heritage values."
Mr Kierath said Furphy and his wife Leonie arrived in WA in January 1905 to join their sons Felix and Samuel and their families.
Furphy had two years earlier penned the Australian classic Such Is Life, under the pen name Tom Collins.
In 1907, when Furphy built the family home, Servetus Street was little more than a dirt track with few other houses in the vicinity.
The simple, weatherboard home was typical of the working man's cottages built during the first decade of the twentieth century in Perth.
It originally consisted of four rooms and included Joseph's writing den, which he erected in the back garden and from which he could see the 'bright flush of the Rottnest light'.
Mr Kierath said Joseph planted vegetables, grapevines, trees and shrubs in the garden. It was here, tending his garden, that he collapsed and died.
"In 1949, Joseph's son Sam moved back to Victoria but established the Joseph Furphy (Tom Collins) bequest with the University of WA as a way of honouring his father's memory," he said.
"The house was passed to the WA branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers to be used as its headquarters. The fellowship began to acquire many significant items which were added to the collection of Joseph Furphy memorabilia, including the typewriter he used to write Such Is Life.
"Over the years, Servetus Street became a major road linking up with West Coast Highway and, with the proposed reclamation of homes on the western side of the street, the future of Tom Collins' House was placed in doubt.
"In 1996 the house was moved to Allen Park in Swanbourne and conservation work began. The official opening of the Tom Collins' House Writers' Centre was performed by Professor John Barnes, a recognised authority on Furphy, on March 29 last year."
Mr Kierath said Tom Collins' House was in excellent condition.
Media contact: Steve Manchee (08) 9213 6400