Two Houses

Statement of Significance

The place is a representative example of Federation Bungalow architecture, common vernacular architecture between c. 1890 and c. 1915. The place, for its building form and characteristics of its class, makes a positive contribution to the streetscape and townscape of Kalgoorlie. The place was the residence of Claude de Bernales, a famous mining entrepreneur in the early 1900s.

Physical Description

The residence is built in the 'Federation Bungalow style', a term used to describe vernacular architecture between c. 1890 and c. 1915. Of the Federation Bungalow style, the Asymmetrical Front is typical of this style of vernacular architecture. The style has dominant characteristics of a projecting bay with a gable roof; carved timber barge boards; tall, slender and rendered brick chimneys; bay windows; and double-hung sash windows.

History

: This place was the Kalgoorlie residence of Claude de Bernales. Claude Albo de Bernales was born in 1876 in Brixton, London and came to Western Australia in 1897 (Webb, 1993: 285). By 1930, at the peak of his career, he was described as one of the most prominent and influential men in Western Australia's gold industry (Webb, 1993: 631). He was also described as 'infamous', and was much reported in the English and Australian press (Webb, 1993: 638). In 1911, with his money gained through gold mining, De Bernales bought the grand Cottesloe mansion Overton Lodge and transformed it into a Spanish style mansion. In contrast, his Kalgoorlie residence in George Street was typical middle-class Federation design of its time; in good taste and well-appointed and with servants' quarters at the rear, but not strikingly the home of a very rich man. In 1949, Cottosloe Municipal Council bought de Bernales' Spanish mansion and transformed it again into the impressive Cottosloe Civic Centre. De Bernales also built London Court, a mock-Tudor half-timbered style shopping arcade with the quaint clock at its north end, between Hay Street and St George's Terrace, Perth, in 1939 (Webb, 1993: 634). According to Webb, de Bernales was a man of contradictions in his background, his private and public business persona, and in people's opinions of him. Men today say, 'No one was close to de Bernales'; or 'I knew of him but my father did not like him'; or 'There is no doubt about it, he brought money and work into the goldfields when they were needed'; and 'Isn't he the man who carried spare celluloid collars and cuffs when he cycled round the goldfields - so that he could change out of the dusty ones when he went to meet the mine managers?'. His charm and good looks have given him protection against criticism that few are prepared to challenge (1993: 640). "Arriving on the goldfields in 1897, ten years passed before de Bernales emerged into the public arena, with mining interests near Coolgardie and at Wiluna. He had put together a 2 mile long string of neighbouring leases, and formed the Wiluna Gold Mines company, with Henry Urquhart in May 1910, and owned the Kalgoorlie Foundry at Boulder Road, registered January 1911. In 1912, W. T. O. Liddell was his partner in this, which led to his ownership of Hoskins Foundry in Fremantle. Urquhart was his engineer, and an association of the three men began which lasted many years. The Memorandum of the Association of the Kalgoorlie Foundry described its object as 'the exploration, development, purchase, and selling of mining leases, trade in financial transactions, shareholding, and the usual work of the foundry. Those few words sum up de Bernales' operations, the 'usual work of the foundry' appearing as almost an afterthought" (Webb, 1993: 640). During the 1920s, de Bernales and his men had combed the goldfields for second-hand machinery from the failing gold mines. Through his company Australian Machinery and Investment, deals were done all over the fields in buying and selling, in a favourable buyers' market. De Bernales also floated many mines at the time, some say over 40, of which Yellowdine was probably the best (Webb, 1993: 642). In June 1930, de Bernales was Chairman of a committee that went east to Canberra to lobby the Federal Government for a Federal gold bonus to assist the gold industry, and he and his committee came home with Federal agreement to the bonus. The debate on the bonus raised questions of ethics and principle in the gold industry far beyond workers' wages in Kalgoorlie, and not everyone was in favour of it, even within the mining industry (Webb, 1993: 640).

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High Authenticity: High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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