The Western Australian Herbarium & Herbarium Garden

Statement of Significance

• The place has aesthetic value as a largely intact example of post war international style executed in brick and tile.
• The place has historic value for its association with the long established practice of collection and study of the plants of Western Australia.
• The place has historic value for its association with the unification of several significant collections of plant specimens in one place in a dedicated space by the state government.
• The place has research value as any remaining evidence of former techniques and practices of research within the building may provide information about past

Physical Description

The Western Australian Herbarium (Former) building is located on the edge of the former Collier Pine Plantation, directly adjacent to land occupied by the Western Australian Agriculture Department and the Department of Parks and Wildlife. The building was in a bushland setting planted out with native species, known as the Herbarium Garden. The building is not easily seen from the road and is approached via a bitumen driveway. An area of bushland setting was enclosed with link mesh fencing.

The Western Australian Herbarium (Former) building complex is part single-, part two- and part three-storey reinforced concrete framed building with a flat roof. The plan concept is based on the hexagon.

The walling includes red face brick mostly on the upper floor with exposed aggregate. Some areas of Spandeck profile colorbonded corrugated sheet metal cladding are evident. Three linked hexagonal plan units form a single level building, one roofed and the others enclosures, with perforated brick screen walls, comprise a detached structure to the east of the main building.

History

The Western Australian Herbarium was established in 1928, when Mr C A Gardner was appointed to the new position of Government Botanist and Curator of the State Herbarium. The separate herbaria of the Department of Agriculture and the Forestry Department came under his control. The idea of amalgamating those two collections with that of the Western Australian Museum to produce a single State Herbarium was first suggested in 1923 by Dr G L Sutton, Director of Agriculture. The concept was supported by the 1926 Perth meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, and by Dr A W Hill, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. The amalgamation of all three collections was not completed until 1958, when the State Herbarium moved from the Old Observatory building in West Perth, to the new Department of Agriculture buildings in South Perth. The Department of Agriculture resolved to build a dedicated space for the collection and this site within the Collier Pine Plantation was chosen.

The Collier Pine Plantation was one of several pine plantations in the outer metropolitan area which were established in the late 1920s with the goal of supporting the timber industry and provide relief work for the unemployed during the period of economic depression. It was proposed that the mature trees would be a valuable resource which the government would profit from when cut down in the 1960s, and that the land would then be used for public purposes. It was in 1957 that the first public facility, Ngala Mothercraft Centre now the Ngala Early Learning and Development Centre, was built on land within the former pine plantation. Other government facilities built within the former pine plantation include Bentley High School, Rowethorpe Retirement Village, Swan Cottages, Como High School, Western Australian Institute of Technology (later Curtin University), Penrhos College, government housing at Karawara, the City’s Collier Park Retirement Village, South Perth Lawn Tennis Club, and the Collier Park Golf Club. The Forestry Department and the Department of Agriculture were allocated a large portion of land for new premises on the north of the plantation alongside Baron Hay Court and construction began in the late 1950s.

The Western Australian Herbarium (fmr) building was designed and built by the Public Works Department of Western Australia, the Architect in Charge of the project being Alex Doepel and was opened in March 1970. The site chosen for the facility was some distance from the other buildings of the Department of Agriculture. The facility provided for the first time, ideal storage conditions for the State’s collection of plants, and adequate facilities to enable botanists to study them. From 1970 until the construction of a new herbarium in 2010 the building housed several unique collections of plants, an extensive research library and database.

Since the construction of the new Herbarium in 2010 (Keiran MCNamara Conservation Science Centre) the collections have been relocated to the new premises. The Western Australian Herbarium (fmr) continues to be used by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (the subsequent organisation of the Department of Parks and Wildlife) for administration purposes.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate / 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.