Subiaco Primary School

Child Places

• 24121 Subiaco Children's Centre

Statement of Significance

Refer to HCWA's Assessment Documentation of Places for Entry in the Register of Heritage Places.

Physical Description

Brick and corrugated iron building. Decorative name over the main entrance, and turned timber eaves struts. For more detail refer to HCWA's Assessment Documentation of Places for Entry in the Register of Heritage Places. (Ref: HCWA & AHC assessment documentation.)

History

Built as part of the expansion of community facilities which accompanied the gold boom of the 1890s. The plan form, including central assembly hall, is a reflection of the prevailing education methods of the time. Design attributed to George Temple Poole, PWD Chief Architect. Opened 12 May 1897, with an enrolment of 390 children. A month later a fire gutted the new building. It was rebuilt and additions were carried out soon after and again in 1912. For more detail refer to HCWA's Assessment Documentation of Places for Entry in the Register of Heritage Places. (Ref: HCWA & AHC assessment documentation.)
George Temple Poole was Chief Architect of the Department of Works and Buildings (later Public Works Department and now Contract and Management Services) between 1885 and 1897. Temple Poole was born 29th May 1856, and grew up in England. He studied architecture and engineering, and worked in England and Ceylon before the Secretary for the Colonies appointed him Superintendent of Public Works of the Imperial Service in Western Australia. In the first years of office, Temple Poole travelled around the state to inspect the colony's works, labour resources and building materials. The overland telegraph had been built in 1875, and the first railway line in Perth by 1881, connecting to major country towns by 1885. Therefore some of the first works Temple Poole oversaw were post offices, railway stations and associated residences. The discovery of gold in 1885 led to gold rushes in the 1890s in WA, and Temple Poole oversaw the construction of many public buildings built to accommodate the growing population. His works extend from Roebourne to Albany. In 1897, Temple Poole resigned from the public service. He returned to the PWD in 1900 as architect for the quarters of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme until 1902, when C Y O'Connor died. Later Poole was a public lecturer, and also returned to private practice. He retired in 1930. He died in 1934, aged seventy seven. In his lifetime, Poole was a Justice of the Peace, a founding member and first President of the WA Institute of Architects, and a member of the WA Society of Arts, Civil Service Association, the Weld Club, the Kings Park Board and the Freemasons. (Ref: Oldham, Ray and John, 'George Temple-Poole: Architect of the Golden Years 1885-1897,' Western Heritage Part 2, UWA Press, 1980; and Dr. Van Bremen, Ingrid, H., 'The New Architecture of the Gold Boom in Western Australia Government Buildings Under the Direction of G. T. Poole, 1885-1897,' Ph. D. Theses, UWA,1990.)
The civic square is in the heart of Subiaco, bounded by Rokeby, Hamersley, Hensman and Bagot Roads. The eastern portion of the civic square has been used for civic purposes since 1899 when the first council chambers was built next to the original post office and library on the corner of Bagot and Rokeby Roads. It also housed the Literary Institute. Sir John Forrest opened the Council Chambers on 3.11.1900. The space was soon inadequate and a foundation stone was laid in 1909 for a larger chambers and hall next to it. The old chambers became the Mechanics' Institute. The present Council Chambers was built in 1968 and the 1909 chambers was demolished in 1971. The present library was built in 1970. The civic area also contains the primary school (1897), the Uniting Church, the City Hall (1957), and is marked by the War Memorial clock tower on the corner, built in 1922, and the Norfolk Pines planted in 1899 for the original Municipal gardens.
(Ref: Spillman, Ken, Identity Prized: A History of Subiaco, City of Subiaco, UWA Press, 1985, pp. 121-2, 305-7.)

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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.