SITE OF STATE ENGINEERING WORKS

Parent Place or Precinct

22385 North Fremantle Precinct

Statement of Significance

Site of State Engineering Works, demolished 1988, has historic significance as the main site for State structural and mechanical engineering for the port and harbour, and later the agricultural and mining industries. It has social significance as a major employer, particularly during the Depression and WWII; the site has possible archeological potential.

Physical Description

Demolished 1988. Land has been redeveloped and subdivided into residential lots.

History

Thompson Road was named for George Thompson (1838-1874), Fremantle's first town clerk (1871-73). The street is mainly residential, with some commercial development at the northern end between Alfred Road and McCabe Road. The majority of the houses were built c. 1900. Only a few lots on the street remained vacant in the 1920s.

The State Engineering and Implement Works was one of a number of trading concerns established by the Scadden Labor Government in the early 1900s in a bid to stimulate the local economy. Over the years, the name was shortened to State Engineering Works.

The State Engineering and Implement Works was established in 1912 and absorbed the existing Harbour Workshops, which had been operating under the Public Works Department at Rous Head since 1908. In 1912, the Harbour Works employed about 150 men, who were primarily engaged in fabricating floating plant for harbour use and custom made castings for water supply work.

Work on the State Engineering and Harbour Works site at Rocky Bay commenced on 1 July 1913, on land previously quarried by the Public Works Department. Components for the works, which employed 618 men when it opened on 23 March 1914, came in via a rail spur line off Stirling Highway. The same line took finished products out for agricultural and other customers.

The many shops of the Works included a foundry and steel fabrication, pattern making, woodworking, machining, fitting and blacksmithing departments. Staff also offered other services such as research, drawing and estimating.

Description of Works under 1917 Trading Concerns Act:
General engineering and jobbing work, manufacturing, sale of agricultural and farm machinery, accessories and spare parts; purchase and sale of imported agricultural and farming machinery and spare parts, oil, twine and general farming and agricultural sundries and the carrying on of any business appertaining or incidental to the above, including the purchase of stores and raw material required; establishing of Agencies, or Commissions, etc.

In the 1920s and the 1930s, the Works manufactured equipment to replace overseas imports, such as oil engines, harvesters, seed drills, chaff cutters, binders and cultivators. They also made windmills, irrigation equipment and water well drilling machines. The Work's research department developed an improved version of the stump jump plough in 1926. (When the Government sold the patent to a private manufacturer the following year, there was a public outcry.)

The Works drifted away from agricultural engineering and into structural and mechanical engineering. Government Departments such as State Shipping and the PWD and power generating authorities were major clients. They also did extensive work for private clients, being the only firm in WA capable of manufacturing steel castings.

Men worked on 12 hour shifts during World War II, thanks to the needs of the Allied military forces. The Works fabricated bren gun carriers, submarine propeller shafts and floating docks, and made emergency repairs for hospitals, airfields and harbours. The rapid agricultural expansion following the war saw sustained demand for the Works' products continued.

The Works were threatened by the 1959 Brand Coalition Government, which sought to curtail the Works' activities as part of its policy to remove government from enterprise. After it was realised that a similar service was not offered by the private sector, the Works remained opened, but not before some men lost their jobs.

The Works continued to operate until the late 1980s, concentrating on supplying import replacements and manufacturing equipment for the mining industry. A new foundry was completed in 1981, but by this time, the other shops were outdated and inadequate. In 1983, the Works manufactured the famed secret winged keel for America's Cup challenger, Australia II.

The Works closed in 1987 and the following year, the City of Fremantle rezoned the land from industrial to residential. The Government announced its plans to sell the site and accepted Jimwa's proposal for a staged residential development. By 1992, the site had been cleared of contaminants to the satisfaction of the authorities, and the first lots were auctioned in May of that year.

The administration block, built in 1969 on the other side of Thompson Road, was to be converted for use as a community centre. According to a newspaper article, the developer undertook to upgrade the building and hand it over to Fremantle City Council. However, later it was claimed that it would be too costly to restore the building and the developers sought to swap it for the public open space on the foreshore (10% required under the terms of the development). The City of Fremantle refused this proposal and the building was subsequently demolished.

Archaeology

The site has archeological potential.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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