HOUSE (DEMOLISHED), 2 PASSMORE AVENUE

Parent Place or Precinct

22385 North Fremantle Precinct

Physical Description

DEMOLISHED. Retained on MHI for historical information only.

History

In 1891, Henry Passmore purchased two town lots along John Street with the aim of creating a small village, reminiscent of his birth place Raleigh, Barnstaple, in England. Over the next twenty years, he constructed seven timber cottages at the rear of these lots, each facing onto a central road area. The street ran along the boundary of the two lots from John Street in the manner of a formal entranceway, opening into a communal space between the houses. Originally called Raleigh Street, the internal street was renamed in 1934 to honour Henry Passmore. The entrance to John Street consisted of formal gardens, with decorative arches over the street. Beyond the cottages, to the north, were stables, and orchard, water tanks, a vegetable garden and a chicken run, representing the English village ‘common’.

Henry Passmore was born in England in 1840, and served in the British Navy from 1854 to 1962. In 1858, he married Mary Ellis of Plymouth, and they arrived in Fremantle in 1865, together with their family. Mary and Henry had eight children, one of whom died in infancy. Henry Passmore worked for the Convict Service from 1863 to 1872, and at Fremantle was in charge of convict public service works. He also farmed in the Swan District, and was one of the first officers of the Public Works Department (PWD), joining when there were only five men employed by the PWD. Passmore was apparently an innovative and reliable employee. He was involved at the Government Quarries at Greenmount, overseeing their transfer to steam power. Later he was given the task of turning the floundering Swan River steam dredge into a profitable endeavour, and it was renamed the Black Swan after he succeeded in this task. In the 1870s, he was sent to Albany to solve problems of sand drift in the harbour. While working in Albany, Passmore is reported to have constructed the first fixed telephone in the country, running it from Wannerup Inlet to Albany Pilot Station (and without the assistance of a surveyor). Back in Fremantle, Passmore worked with C.Y O’Connor in developing plans for Fremantle Harbour. Some sources claim that O’Connor credited Passmore with the idea of blasting the limestone from across the mouth of the Swan River. Passmore served nearly 40 years in the public service. He was also active locally in North Fremantle as a member of the Town Council.
In the early stages of development, the residences on Passmore Avenue were listed together as 4-6 John Street. It is therefore not possible to determine which of the seven cottages was constructed first, or who resided in each one. In 1892 Henry Passmore was resident in a three-room cottage. The following year, two four-room cottages were built and occupied by W.J. Findlay (Customs Officer) and John Phillip Passmore (Warder).
A photograph labelled ‘c.1892-1900’ shows the Sumner family on the front filigree verandah of a cottage at 2 Passmore Avenue. An 1897 map shows 1, 3 and 5 Passmore Avenue (then Raleigh Road) to the east, and 2, 4-6 and probably 8, with a small outbuilding on the site where 10 was later constructed. Number 8 was a single-room cottage abutting the north wall of number 6, which is difficult to identify in available plans and photographs. By 1910, a photograph shows cottages at 1, 3 and 5 to the east and 4-6 and 10 to the west, with the site of 2 unclear, and by 1913 all the residences are indicated on a PWD plan. Rate Books in 1921 list Henry Passmore as the owner of five four-room cottages at the site, which does not account for all the residences shown in photographs before and after this period. Numbers 4 and 6 were timber cottages separated by a limestone rubble party wall. Number 2 was the only stone cottage in the street. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Henry’s wife Mary Ann moved into the stone cottage in 1920 after his death, and that prior to this they both lived at number 5. Oral history sources recall the Taylor family at 1 Passmore Avenue and the Redfern family at number 3.

Following Henry Passmore’s death in 1920, the land was transferred in equal portions to five of his children, although it continued to be contained in one title. Portions were sold in 1938 (to Arthur Owen Cole, plumber, and his wife Ellen Elizabeth Alberta Cole) and 1946 (to John Keith Bickerdike, building contractor). In 1956 separate titles were issued. They did not correspond to property boundaries, but pertained to portions of the communal ownership of the entire street.
Passmore Street was communally owned on ‘purple title’ until 1994, following which a long-running dispute over the use of the gardens facing John Street was resolved, and the gardens were removed to allow for residential subdivision of this portion of the original two lots.

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