Old Police Complex

Child Places

• 16184 Gaol (fmr)
• 16183 Police Station (fmr)
• 16185 Residence

Physical Description

The place is a group of single storey buildings comprising:
Lock Up – Building comprising 3 cells and an exercise yard. It is of CGI construction externally with timber lining internally.
Police Station/Office – Single roomed timber building with a CGI hipped roof which extends over the surrounding verandah. Windows and doors are timber.
Police Quarters – The place is a timber clad building raised on stumps with a verandah to three sides. The CGI hipped roof and brick chimneys.

History

Precinct comprising fmr gaol, police station and police sergeant's house.

As with the fmr Courthouse , the police station was relocated from Mt Margaret to Laverton in 1899 (Battye Libraray, Research Notes, 226, p. 1). The first policeman at Laverton was Constable Charles Harris who commence his duties, according to the Police Occurance Book, on 18th September 1899. (ibid). The first police precinct was temporary and comprised mainly of tents and the first prisoners were chained to a log (ibid). The community was soon petitioning for a more permanent structure, in particular a gaol.

Town Lots 47 and 48 were reserved for the police precinct on August 1900 (GG 03/08/1900, p 2,805). On 29th May 1901, almost a year later, Mr Mackesy accepted the tender of construction of the Laverton police station, police quarters and a gaol at a cost of 690 pounds. In November, when the wood and iron cell was ready for occupation there were two policemen at Laverton, Constables Ansell and Houston (Laverton Mercury 22/06/1901, p 2). In 1905, additions tot he police station amounted to 108 pounds (GG 16/05/1902, p 1,241). In 1908, a verandah costing 63/5/0 pounds was alson added (GG 11/12/1908, p 3,392).

Further additions and renovations were made to the police precinct over the decades until the new police quarters and office were built by Mr Ernest Best, in 1934, at a cost of 1,153 pounds (GG 20/04/1934, p 555).

Forty years later, Mr Julius Elischer, built an entirely new police precinct in the newly designed town of Laverton and the old buildings were relocated to different sites, (State Records Office, AN 7/21, Public Works Department, Acc 1608, No. 1550).

A $20,000 Tourism Development Grant has recently been received and the conservation of these buildings is in progress.

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.