Residence - 361 Cockburn Road

Statement of Significance

The place is a good representative example of a weatherboard and iron Federation Bungalow residence, notable for its association with the historical use of the area as an explosives reserve. The place may be rare as one of few surviving permanent structures erected as part of the Royal Australian Navy’s attempt to establish a strategic Commonwealth naval base at Woodman Point in the lead-up to WWI.

Values

• The place is one of few surviving permanent structures erected as part of the Royal Australian Navy’s attempt to establish a strategic Commonwealth naval base at Woodman Point in the lead-up to WWI.
• The place is associated with the naval base foreman, E.P Henshaw (b.1870-d.1950), who also served as Member for Collie in the Legislative Assembly from June 1904 to October 1905.
• The place is associated with the historical use of the area as a reserve for explosives and munitions storage.
• The place is good representative example of an early twentieth century weatherboard and iron Federation Bungalow style residence.

Physical Description

A single storey timber and iron residence located on a rise at the northern end of a fenced work compound in an area of remnant Tuart Woodland near the eastern edge of Woodman Point Regional Park. Other buildings in the compound include a second timber and iron former residence (P16996 Residence, 377 Cockburn Road, Coogee), a large modern steel-framed carport, a large modern prefabricated steel shed, and some steel shipping containers.
The place is of raised timber framed weatherboard construction and has a steeply pitched hipped gable roof, sheeted in corrugated galvanised iron. There are broken back verandahs on the eastern and western sides and a prominent gable wing projection on the northern side. Verandahs are supported on stop-chamfered posts and have natural Jarrah floors. Rafter ends are exposed and there are no gutters or downpipes. Two red brick corbelled chimneys rise from the main roof on the northern and southern sides. A full height box bay window defines the main entrance, from the verandah, on the eastern side, and there is a second box bay window on the southern side. Windows are painted timber, fitted with either casements or double hung sliding sashes. Bay windows feature stopped ovolo moulded details and patterned coloured toplights.
Internally, there are six main rooms, which have carpeted timber floors, painted plasterboard or horizontal beaded tongue and groove timber wall linings and painted beaded tongue and groove ceiling linings. Walls have plasterboard or vertically planked beaded tongue and groove wainscot panelling. Other interior features include decorative ceiling roses, timber mantles and fireplace surrounds, built-in timber seating and decorative timber fretwork to box bay windows, and a cast iron Metters No. 2 wood stove in the Kitchen.
The place is in poor condition, with extensive termite damage to timber trims and linings. On the southern side, some window sashes have dislodged from their openings and the southern box bay window has partially collapsed. Asbestos-containing linings have recently been removed from verandah walls, ceilings and balustrades, leaving substrates exposed.

History

The Aboriginal group of the Cockburn area are the Beeliar Nyoongar, part of the Whadjuk Aboriginal people of the Perth metropolitan area. Traditionally they lived alongside the area’s fresh water lake and wetland system, establishing semi-permanent campsites, trails and trade activity routes in the area. Woodman Point and Cockburn Road are among several culturally significant Aboriginal heritage sites recorded in the vicinity of P16995 Residence, 361 Cockburn Road, Coogee.
The Beeliar Nyoongar way of life was disrupted from 1829, with the arrival of British colonists to the Swan River colony. The first settlements were established at Fremantle, Guildford and Perth, followed by Clarence south of Fremantle, in December 1829. The Clarence settlement failed to thrive and by November 1830 the original camp settlement was virtually deserted.
The 1836 gazettal of Clarence townsite captured most of the Woodman Point peninsular including the future site of Residence, 361 Cockburn Road, Coogee. During the nineteenth century the place remained isolated from settled areas and underwent minimal development.
By 1903/04 the place was captured within Reserve 8907, a 327-acre land parcel set aside for the State Department of Mines as a Reserve for Explosives. One fifth of the reserve was allocated for future use and the remainder enclosed by an 8ft high galvanised iron fence. A timber jetty was constructed (P10183 Munitions Jetty) and, within the enclosure, sites were laid out for explosives storage magazines and detonator magazines. The existing railway main line was extended southwards to the reserve, with parallel spurs constructed within the enclosure to service the magazine sites.
Around 1910, British Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson was invited by the Commonwealth Government to visit Australia and provide advice on naval defence and infrastructure . In his report to the Commonwealth, issued on 1 March 1911, Henderson emphasised the strategic importance of Fremantle (Cockburn Sound) as the Western Fleet Primary Base , outlining special requirements for immediate dredging, surveying and land reservation works as part of the Initial Stage (1911-1918) to establish the base.
On 20 January 1913 naval base foreman, Mr Henshaw, was appointed and on 28 December 1916, Reserve 8907 was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth Government for defence purposes.
Ernest Percival Henshaw (b.1870, d.1950) arrived in Western Australia from Victoria around 1894. The son of a cabinet maker, he settled in Subiaco, working as a carpenter and joiner. Active in the labour movement, he held numerous official positions in the Australian Labor Party, including a seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from June 1904 to October 1905. Prior to his appointment as the naval base foreman, Henshaw supervised construction works for the new Trades Hall building (P08783 Perth Trades Hall), completed in 1912.
By 1913, preliminary work on the naval base was already “…well advanced, and six square miles of sea and land have been thoroughly surveyed” and on 7 May 1913 the State Minister for Defence, Senator G.F. Pearce, performed an opening ceremony, formally naming it Henderson Fleet Base .
By August 1913, construction of Residence, 361 Cockburn Road, Coogee and a second residence (P16996 Residence 377 Cockburn Road, Coogee) had commenced. An illustrated newspaper article provides the following description:
"A little bit up the hill….there is a scene of activity, for here two fine residences are being built, and the carpenters of the Base seem to have been all concentrated on this work. The nearest house to the Base is a six-roomed jarrah and iron house, with Bungalow verandah on two sides. This is the naval foreman (a billet at present filled by Mr Henshaw). The other is a larger house, having eight rooms and a kitchen, and this is for the engineer-in-charge (Mr Walkenden). There is nothing of a temporary nature about these buildings…and notwithstanding that other work has been stopped, the erection of these buildings (which is purely and simply for the comfort of the officers) is apparently being treated as a matter of urgency. The vicinity of these buildings is the centre of the greatest activity on the whole Base..”
A short time later WWI intervened, halting further construction on the naval base until the project was officially abandoned by the Commonwealth in 1923. On 13 October 1927 Reserve 8907 was transferred back to the State.
Between the wars, the two houses were used as private residences . During WWII, Woodman Point came under the control of the Naval Department of the Commonwealth Government, with no civilian access to the site. In 1941, three brick ‘standard design cordite and ammunition magazines’ were constructed within the reserve (P4626 Munitions Magazines (fmr) Woodman Point) and the houses were used as naval officers’ quarters during this period.
On 15 October 1945, Woodman Point passed back into the control of the State government, who re-established an explosives storage depot within the reserve. The depot continued to operate from the Woodman Point site until its relocation to a new facility in Baldivis in 1984. During this time the houses were used as private residences for explosives magazine watchmen.
From 1984 the reserve came under an interim management arrangement before being formally vested with the National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority (now the Conservation Commission of Western Australia) after 1997 as part Woodman Point Regional Park. Up until the late 1990s, the houses were used as private residences for park rangers, after which Residence, 361 Cockburn Road, Coogee was vacated and the southern residence (P16996 Residence, 377 Cockburn Road, Coogee) adapted for use as a regional park office.
In August 2021, both houses are managed by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) as part of a Parks and Wildlife work centre, with the southern residence still in use as an office and the subject place vacant.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High
Authenticity - Medium

Condition

Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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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.