Warders' Terrace

Statement of Significance

Refer to Heritage Council of Western Australia's Register of Heritage Places - Register and Assessment Documentation.

Physical Description

Refer to Heritage Council of Western Australia's Register of Heritage Places - Register and Assessment Documentation.

History

Refer to Heritage Council of Western Australia's Register of Heritage Places - Register and Assessment Documentation.

Warders' Terraces, 3-11 Holdsworth Street is a row of four single storey, five-roomed terraced cottages constructed in 1897 to provide additional accommodation/warders' quarters for the prison. In 1850, Captain E.Y.W. Henderson, Comptroller General of the Convict Establishment, had brought the first boatload of convicts to a colony which was totally unprepared for its arrival. The small port of Fremantle had to absorb not only the first 75 convicts, but also their warders and their families and the Pensioner Guards and theirs. Accommodation was stretched to the limit. Rents were high and Henderson wrote to the London superiors seeking to remedy the situation. Under these circumstances the need for extra housing for the staff of the prison was pressing. As a result, Henderson embarked on a project to increase accommodation which included the construction of two sets of warders' cottages. By November 1851 the first surviving block of warders' cottages had been built at 19-29 Henderson Street. By 1853 the second surviving block of cottages was built at 31-41 Henderson Street. The third surviving block was constructed in 1858 at 7-17 Henderson Street. As mentioned, it was not until 1897, that the fourth surviving block at Holdsworth Street was constructed. Warders' Terraces, as the latest of the cottages built, shows a standard of architecture and quality of craftsmanship that demonstrates that there was a greater availability of skilled labour and a better managed administration of the Establishment at the time of their construction. These cottages provided reasonably comfortable living space for each family. After the Commission of Inquiry into the Prison in 1899, £400 was spent on providing kitchens and widening the verandahs. In 1916, the quarters were connected to the sewer.
This place received a Conservation Incentives Award in 1994.

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