Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr)

Parent Place or Precinct

00172 Burt Street Precinct

Child Places

• 00209 Boulder Police Station (fmr)
• 00209 Boulder Police Station (fmr)

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is a discontiguous precinct comprising the single-storey timber and corrugated iron former Police Station and Quarters (1898) and the single-storey masonry and corrugated iron Federation Free Classical style former Court House (1900; 1905), both designed by the Public Works Department to provide law and order services in Boulder.

Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):
- The form and fabric of the Boulder Police Station and Quarters (fmr) comprising a single-sotrey vernacular building of timber-framed construction with corrugated iron cladding to the walls and roof (1898)
- The form and fabric of the Boulder Court House (fmr) comprising the single-storey brick and stone Court House (1900) in the Federation Free Classical architectural style and brick former Goldfields Water Supply Office and Savings Bank additions (1905).

The brick ablutions block (c.1961), timber-framed ancillary buildings (post-1963), pre-fabricated building extension (post-1963), contemporary fencing and gates, and peppercorn tree to the rear of the Boulder Court House do not contribute to the significance of the place. The infill cladding enclosing the rear verandah, steel-framed shed to the rear (c.2007), ablutions block (c.2007), and contemporary garrison fencing to the Boulder Police Station and Quarters, do not contribute to the significance of the place.

How is it significant?

The place is of historic, scientific, rarity, social and aesthetic value and satisfies the following factors relevant to cultural heritage significance:
A. importance in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Western Australia’s history;
B. importance in demonstrating rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Western Australia’s heritage;
C. potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Western Australia’s history;
D. importance in demonstrating the characteristics of a broader class of places;
E. strong or special meaning it has for any group or community because of social, cultural or spiritual associations;
F. importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by any group or community;
G. special association it has with the life or work of a person, group or organisation of importance in Western Australia’s history.

Why is it significant?

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is of historic and rarity value, demonstrating the evolution of civic buildings on the goldfields of Western Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in which temporary or insubstantial buildings were usually replaced with permanent brick and stone structures as population increased. The place is an uncommon example of their type, representing these two phases of development (Factors A and B).

The Police Station and Quarters has rarity value as an extant example of a c.1890s timber-framed police station designed by the Public Works Department as a standard transportable police station in the late nineteenth century, that included climatic adaptations suitable for the eastern goldfields (Factor B).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is of historic value, representing the growth of Boulder and its subsequent population increase in the 1890s spurred on by the gold rush, which required improved and permanent law enforcement and justice facilities to address growing crime, along with other public offices, that were provided by the Public Works Department (Factors A and G).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is of historic and scientific value, containing two key elements of maintaining law and order in society, and has the potential to contribute to a wider understanding of the operations of the justice system in regional Western Australia, particularly with regard to the provision of services established in the goldfields in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Factors C and D).

Values

10(a) Importance in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Western Australia’s history;

Together the timber-framed corrugated iron clad Boulder Police Station and Quarters and the substantial masonry Court House, demonstrate the evolution of civic buildings on the goldfields of Western Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with temporary or insubstantial buildings typically replaced with permanent brick and stone structures as populations increased and towns developed (historic value).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) demonstrates the development of Boulder and its subsequent population increase in the 1890s spurred on by the gold rush, which necessitated improved and permanent law enforcement and justice facilities to address growing crime, as well as other public offices (historic value).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) reflects the work of the Public Works Department, namely John Grainger and Hillson Beasley, in providing public services throughout the state, in this case policing, justice and banking facilities and water supply to the eastern goldfields (historic value).

The Boulder Court House (fmr), with its 1905 extension to accommodate the Post Office Savings Bank, is associated with the provision of banking services in regional areas, and provided these services until c.2010, by which time it was known as the Commonwealth Bank. These additions are reflective of the Western Australian government practice of reusing and adapting civic buildings for other purposes (historic value).

Boulder Court House (fmr) is associated with the administration and maintenance of the Goldfields Water Supply in Boulder in the early twentieth century, a significant scheme that was of fundamental importance to the mining industry in the eastern goldfields (historic value).

10(b) Importance in demonstrating rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Western Australia’s heritage;

Initially conceived as a temporary solution to law and order demands in Boulder, the former Boulder Police Station is a rare extant example of a c.1890s timber-framed police station building constructed by the Public Works Department as a standard transportable building designed with adaptations for the climatic conditions of the eastern goldfields (rarity value).

Together the timber-framed corrugated iron clad Boulder Police Station and Quarters and the substantial masonry Court House are a rare extant example of what was a once common progression from temporary timber or canvas structures to substantial brick or stone as populations increased and goldfields developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (rarity vale).

10(c) Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Western Australia’s history;

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) has potential to contribute to a wider understanding of the operations of the justice system in regional Western Australia, particularly regarding the provision of law and order services in the goldfields (scientific value).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) provides information on the development and use of standard plans for government buildings, including police and judicial facilities, by the Public Works Department across the state, with both being relatively intact examples of their type and in this case designed with consideration of the eastern goldfield’s climatic conditions (scientific value).

10(d) Its importance in demonstrating the characteristics of a broader class of places;

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) contains two key elements to maintain law and order in society and together represent the practices and physical elements that were established during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the eastern goldfields to address growing crime in the region, and the subsequent supply of other public services (historic value).

Boulder Police Station and Quarters (fmr) reflects the late nineteenth century practice of incorporating residential functions with public buildings, blending civic and residential scale architectural elements in a vernacular style (historic value).

10(e) Any strong or special meaning it may have for any group or community because of social, cultural or spiritual associations;

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) formed part of the civic centre in Boulder and delivered necessary facilities to residents, and as such provides a significant sense of place for the local and wider community (social value).

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is still valued by the local community being used as a meeting space for a variety of community groups, including the Goldfields Brass Band and the Eastern Goldfields Prospector’s Association (social value).

10(f) Its importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by any group or community;

Boulder Court House (fmr) is a fine example of a government building in the Federation Free Classical architectural style. The building forms an integral part of Burt Street, the main commercial street in Boulder, and with its distinct architectural expression and picturesque arrangement of gables and arched arcades, contributes to the community’s sense of place (aesthetic value).

Boulder Police Station and Quarters (fmr) demonstrates an austere simplicity in its architectural scale and form and expresses a vernacular aesthetic which is quite common in regional Western Australia (aesthetic value).

10(g) Any special association it may have with the life or work of a person, group or organisation of importance in Western Australia’s history;

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) are both examples of the work of John Grainger and Hillson Beasley, who were members of a notable group of architects in the Public Works Department responsible for a significant number of public buildings in the 1890s and 1900s, during a period of unprecedented development in Western Australia (historic value).

The former Court House, with its 1905 Goldfields Water Supply office addition, is associated with the administration and maintenance of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, which was integral to the development of the eastern goldfields, as well as the development of agricultural areas and towns along the Scheme’s route. The Court House (fmr) is also associated with the operations of the Post Office Savings Bank, later becoming the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, from 1905 to c.2010 (historic value).

Physical Description

Boulder Police Station, Quarters and Court House (fmr) is a discontiguous precinct comprising a single-storey timber and corrugated iron former Police Station building (1898) and a single-storey steel-framed shed (c.2007); and a single-storey masonry and corrugated iron Federation Free Classical style Court House building (1900; 1905), and associated outbuildings including a brick ablutions block (c.1961), a prefabricated extension (post-1963), and a shed (post-1963).

Condition

Boulder Police Station & Quarters (fmr) is in fair-good condition, with evidence of ongoing care and maintenance to the place, but with deterioration as can be expected for a building of this age and construction type. Some of the window glazing is broken, but openings are protected with infill material to prevent weather ingress. Internally, the fabric is generally in good condition. Boulder Court House (fmr) is in fair-good condition. The building has some significant rising damp issues throughout, with fretting and damage to external render and face brickwork evident, as well as damage to internal plaster finishes and timber joinery affected by damp.

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.