Hugo Throssell Memorial

Statement of Significance

The Hugo Throssell Memorial has high social and historic significance in its commemoration of its namesake, it also has some aesthetic significance for its landmark value on Great Eastern Highway.

Physical Description

The Hugo Throssell Memorial is an octagonal gazebo at the edge of the Highway in Greenmount. It's enclosing, half height, grey granite walls, together with it's mottled orange 'Marseilles pattern terra-cotta tiled roof provides a shady retreat on the hot busy highway. The colour of the tiled roof does not sit all that comfortably with the blue/grey granite of the walls. One could question as to whether the tiled roof was a later replacement for corrugated iron introduced on the occasions when the memorial has been rebuilt or relocated.

History

The memorial to Hugo (Jim) Throssell VC, on the north-east corner of Great Eastern Highway and Old York Road, has had an interesting history. Captain Throssell, son of former State Premier George Throssell of Northam, received his Victora Cross for single-handed capture of a Turkish trench on 15th August 1915, during the ill-fated ANZAC Cove campaign. In 1917, while recovering in England from woundsd, he met Fijian born nurse and writer Katharine Susannah Pritchard. They married in Melbourne in 1919, and returned to the West soon afterwards, purchasing the property at Greenmount, part of which is known as Katharine's Place. In 1933, after some unwise land speculation , and failure of the "Lazy H Ranch", in Greenmount, Jim Throssell committed suicide while his wife was overseas.
The idea for the memorial to the man erroneously thought to be Western Australia's first VC winner came from his widow. The original concept for the memorial, as described in the "West Australian" of June 1937, was for a drinking fountain for pedestrians and a watering trough for Throssell's beloved horse. In 1939, Katharine transferred to the Mundaring Road Board land she owned at the corner of the new and old York Roads. Possibly due to the intervention of WWII, the memorial was not built and unveiled until February 1954. It then took the form of a rotunda or bus shelter with a rock edged garden. It has been suggested the the stones came from Coppin Road quarried and that the builder Egisto Simonelli numbered the stones to assist construction. Since then, it has been subjected to damage from runaway vehicles, and in the early 1980's it was moved to accommodate the widening of Great Eastern Highway.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.