Paisley Centre

Statement of Significance

The Government Boy's School (fmr) has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:

the place defines the corner of Arthur and Stephen Streets. It is an unusual and interesting element in the townscape relative to the city centre and it is a competent and confident example of educational architecture in the Victorian Rustic Gothic style;

the place was the first substantial school building on the site. It is now the last remaining evidence of nineteenth century state education in Bunbury;

the place demonstrates, in fabric form, a pattern of educational growth and improvement in amenity over the period 1886 to 1914. The place has a close association with the development of education in Bunbury and demonstrates the importance of Bunbury as a regional educational centre;

the place is recognised by the community for its contribution to the sense of place and historical identity in the community; and,

the place is representative of a small number of substantial school buildings of its time.

Today, it maintains high social significance as a venue serving recreational, community and commercial uses.

Physical Description

The Government Boy's School (fmr) (also known as the Paisley Centre) is a single storey building of red brick constructed in 1886 to a George Temple Poole plan dated November 1885, designed in the Victorian Rustic Gothic style comprising a school hall, and a wing containing classrooms. It was built for the Public Works Department on part of land that was originally the Convict Depot.

The Paisley Centre is typical of many schools built in Western Australia between 1850 and 1900. The basic building - the school hall and the central westward extending wing - exhibits the accepted official approach to school architecture of the period - a fairly austere rendering of the symbolically appropriate Gothic revival style, characterised by tall masonry walls, lancet windows with stone quoining, a steeply pitched roof, prominent gables, strongly modelled chimneys, and irregular roof massing.

Materials employed were those easily produced locally: brick walls, timber floors, timber framed double sash windows, timber frame roof and sheoak shingle cladding. The roof, carried by timber trusses, was originally of shingles, later covered by corrugated iron and then, later again, by corrugated asbestos sheeting.

After 1890, the influence of the Gothic style in educational architecture waned, and the additions to Paisley Centre from 1894 onwards take on a more simple style.

Within the building, the remains of the school hall still allow a sense of how the focal point of the school would have appeared in its earliest period of development. Of particular interest is the upper wall, corbels, timber and steel arched roof trusses and timber lined ceiling, together with high level windows.

The Paisley Centre has a dominant massing of sharply pitched roofs, gables and chimneys together with interesting Arthur Street elevations which reflect both the earliest and latest period of development of the building. The remaining lancet windows combined with the steeply pitched gables survive and typify the earliest period of the building's design.

In 1984, subsequent to the leasing of the place to the Bunbury Musical Comedy Group Inc., the building underwent extensive physical change to accommodate theatre requirements, including major internal changes affecting many walls and internal features. The external fabric, apart from the intrusion of one door on the south side and the removal of windows and addition of two doors to the north side remained reasonably intact. Some other minor modifications affected the northernmost entry porch on the west elevation.
In 1974, the land was vested in the City of Bunbury as a B class reserve. By 1990, most of the associated school buildings had been demolished and car parks surrounded the building, substantially altering the physical and historical context of the building.

In 2010 the place is located adjacent to a shopping centre and its associated carparks. A cafe operates from the rear portion of the building. The place is included in the Heritage Council of Western Australia's State Register of Heritage Places. The Register Documentation can be accessed at www.heritage.wa.gov.au.

History

The building known as the Paisley Centre was built as the Bunbury State School in 1886. After the school closed in 1962 it was renamed the Paisley Centre in honour of T W Paisley, who was headmaster from 1894 to 1914 and a member of the school board from 1914 to 1921.

A school room was established in Bunbury in 1850 with 16 boys and by 1855, girls were also being taught. By 1885, the building was proving inadequate and the Public Works Department drew up plans for a new school. Builder G W Floyd commenced construction in 1886 and the building was completed in November of that year. The new building was a vast improvement, and as student numbers increased in the following years, additional buildings were constructed on the site.

By 1893, the school was in need of further expansion. In 1894, a contract was let to Robinson, Spicer and Thompson for major works, including the construction of a school hall. Part of the school was designated a girls’ school and W T Paisley was appointed headmaster of the Boys’ School.

Further developments over the years included the addition of sheds, toilet blocks, a home economics room and minor buildings. In 1917, the Girls’ School was converted for use as a High School.

Until 1919, the Bunbury State School was the only Government education facility in Bunbury. It was also the administrative centre for all board-governed schools in the district.

With other schools opening in Bunbury and a diminishing number of students the school was closed in 1962. Some of the buildings were demolished., including the girl’s school, home economic buildings and sheds.

In the same year the school was taken over by the Bunbury Technical College to provide full time tertiary education. The technical college had been using the classrooms for evening classes since 1942 and continued to use the place until 1972 when they relocated elsewhere.

The buildings were then acquired by the Bunbury Town Council and renamed the Paisley Centre. The Paisley Centre became a dance school and the Bunbury Tourist Office. From 1973 to May 1984 the place was leased to the Bunbury Musical Comedy Inc and converted to a theatre. The place has also been used as a coffee shop.

Thomas William Paisley was born in Bermuda and came to Western Australia in 1863 aboard the Merchantman, a convict transport. He worked as a pupil teacher in Fremantle and in 1881 was appointed master at Bunbury Government School in Arthur Street. He was also a justice of the peace, an Anglican lay preacher, a foundation committee member of “Sailors’ Rest”, and a member of the Bunbury Tennis Club and the District Nursing Association. He was the first secretary of the Bunbury Building Society, a prominent Freemason and became a town councillor after his retirement (1914-1926). Paisley married Martha McGregor, who was founding settler John Scott’s stepdaughter, and they had six children. W T Paisley died in 1928.

This history is based on Heritage Council of Western Australia, ‘Register of Heritage Places: Paisley Centre, Bunbury’, 1994 (no author attributed).

Integrity/Authenticity

The fabric remains largely intact. Integrity of the exterior is good while the interior is impaired through remodelling for other purposes. Conversion to a theatre required internal changes and modification/removal of doors and windows. Some associated school buildings have been demolished and the land claimed for commercial use; Council Car Park; and recently, the Centrepoint Shopping Centre.

Condition

Exterior timber repainted and reroofed in mid 1997. See: Heritage Assessment by Considine & Griffiths for the City of Bunbury dated 1991.

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.