Swanleigh Precinct

Child Places

• 02496 St Mary's Church and Graveyard

Statement of Significance

The site is rare for its continued use as residential facilities for children from 1836 to the present (2005), including 84 years continual use as an orphanage (1876-1960);

The place is rare in Western Australia as a surviving nineteenth century institution for the care of destitute and orphaned children, one of only a small number to have been constructed in Western Australia prior to the Gold Boom;

The place is the site of the earliest recorded facilities in the State providing institutional care for indigenous children, having been developed from an 1836 Mission Grant;

The buildings and associated landscape elements, including mature plantings, remnant natural bushland, watercourses, paddocks and wetlands, form an attractive, cohesive precinct;

The place is valued by former residents and staff, their families and the wider community, for its role in the provision of care for children, and its long survival as a partly charity-funded institution provides evidence of its social value; and

The place was part of a network of institutions across Australia to accommodate, care for and train British child migrants from the late 1940s until the program ceased in the 1960s.

Physical Description

Precinct of buildings: playing fields & open areas which comprise Swanleigh Hostel. Cornwell House is a simple example of the Victorian Georgian style used for a small institutional residence, with Federation period additions; Chaplain's Cottage is an existing three-roomed building dates from since 1850 and has been altered; Brown House is a two storey brick and iron residential building built in 1874 to house the boys of the Swanleigh Anglican Orphanage. The building has Gothic influences; Waylen House is a well proportioned building of the Federation period; Birch Memorial Workshops are of brick and iron; Lee Steere House is a two-storey brick and tile residential building; Alfred Guy Memorial Hall is a simple example of the Inter-War Georgian Revival style; Freeman House are brick and tile residential buildings; Hamilton House is a single-storey brick and tile residential building; Stanton House is a two-storey brick and tile building; Mary Peterkin House is a single-storey brick and tile building.

History

Swanleigh is located on the original 'Mission Grant' site. In 1836 an Aboriginal missions house was established by Dr Giustiniani. In 1874 Archdeacon James Brown was appointed Rector of the Swan and he arranged the transfer of the boy's section of the Perth Anglican orphanage to the site. Brown House was built in 1874 and Waylen House in 1904 with the help of a legacy kept by Dr Waylen's widow. Other buildings were built subsequently. The orphanage was disbanded in 1960 and the buildings became a hostel for country children attending high school; Cornwell House was the Aboriginal section of the Swanleigh Boy's Orphanage established in 1874. Earliest section of the building dates from that time; Chaplain's Cottage Swanleigh believed to stand on or near the original Mission House established by Dr Louis Giustiniani; Brown House is believed to have been designed by Richard Roach Jewell; Waylen House was constructed in 1904-05 as an addition to the Swanleigh Boys Orphanage with money donated by Dr Waylen's widow; Birch Memorial Workshop was built in 1941 by the boys of Swanleigh as part of their training programmes. A.M. Birch was the Manager and J. Carrick the Supervisor.

The foundation stone was laid by James Joseph Kenneally, Chairman of the WA Lotteries Commission, 26 April 1941; Lee Steere House was built in 1948 and the foundation stone was laid by Sir Ernest Lee Steere on 2 October 1948; Alfred Guy Memorial Hall was built in 1954. The foundation stone was laid by Archbishop of Perth Rev. H Fanu, 19 October 1954; Freeman House was built in 1954. The foundation stone was laid by His Excellency Sir Charles Gardiner, Governor of WA, 12 December 1954; Hamilton House was built in 1957 and opened by Elizabeth Hamilton and blessed by Archbishop Molino, 21 September 1957; Stanton House was built in 1969 to celebrate the centenary of Swanleigh, 1868-1968; Swanleigh is located on the original 'Mission Grant' site.

In 1836 an Aboriginal missions house was established by Dr Giustiniani. In 1874 Archdeacon James Brown was appointed Rector of the Swan and he arranged the transfer of the boy's section of the Perth Anglican orphanage to the site.

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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.