St Georges College inc Cork Oak Tree

Child Places

• 18730 St Georges College Garden

Values

· The place demonstrates the development of tertiary education in Western Australia, and was the first residential college associated with the University of Western Australia.
· The place has aesthetic value as an imposing ‘Oxbridge’ style college building in the Inter-War Gothic style, in a traditional setting that includes a cloistered quadrangle, landscaped gardens and mature plantings.
· The places demonstrates the role of the Anglican Church of Australia in providing tertiary education in Western Australia.
· The place is associated with the architectural firms of Hobbs, Smith and Forbes, in particular Sir J.J Talbot Hobbs.
· Together with its sweeping landscaped forecourt, St George’s College is an imposing building that is a significant landmark on Mounts Bay Road.

Physical Description

The main college building is a substantial three storey brick building in the Inter-War Gothic style with a gable roof. The place features gable ends to the entrance wing and a central four storey tower, which leads to the rear sunken courtyard at ground floor level. The main building is u-shaped and encloses this courtyard. The chapel is located to the rear of the sunken courtyard, overlooking this space. The chapel is an Inter-War Gothic ecclesiastical style brick building with a gable roof and two crenelated turrets to either side of the main entry on the south elevation. The south wall has a large stained glass gothic style window. Internally, the building has a distinct checkerboard tile marble floor. Cottage The Cottage is located at the south-east corner of the site and comprises a single storey Inter-War Gothic style brick and tile building, constructed in 1931. This building was originally designed as the gardener’s cottage and in recent times has been used as a student residence. There are crenelated parapets across the top of the western entry arcade. The Cork Oak Tree (Quercus suber) is a mature oak tree located on the front lawn area east of the Sub Warden’s House, and is one of several mature trees that include a Norfolk Pine (Araucaria heterophylla), an Illawarra Flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) and a mature English Oak (Quercus robur).

History

The University of Western Australia was established in 1913 under the auspices of the University Act of 1911. Due to the impact of World War I, its initial development was slow, dramatically increasing in the 1920s and 1930s. It was during this time that Crawley was chosen as the permanent site for the University and, in the 1920s, the move from the temporary buildings at Irwin Street, in Perth to the new campus began. This relocation was complete in 1932. In 1923 a committee was appointed to investigate and report on the establishment of residential colleges at the new campus. In this year St John’s University Hostel made an application for the construction of a college, and by 1925 so had the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist Churches as well as the Young Women’s Christian Association. The University Colleges Act of 1926 allowed for an allocation of approximately five acres to each applicant, including the Church of England. It in turn founded the Council of St George’s College for the purpose of developing the first residential college. In 1927, the Council commissioned Hobbs, Smith and Forbes to design the college in a style traditional to Oxford and Cambridge. Plans for the College were approved in 1927 and the foundation stone for the main building was laid in May 1929. It was officially opened in 1931. The first building campaign included the erection of the chapel. St George's College opened in 1931 and was the first permanent residential college built on the Crawley site. The Foundation Stone of the chapel was laid by the first Archbishop of Perth, Charles Owen Leaver Riley, in 1928. The front doors of the Chapel are called the 'west doors'. Most churches are located east-west, but the College Chapel runs north-south. On the exterior of the 'west' wall are the five 'blazons' of the five dioceses to which Crawley has belonged: Canterbury, Calcutta, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.1 The kitchen, a sub-warden’s house and a new residential wing were added in 1962. In 1968 a second residential wing to the north was also added. Both were designed by Hobbs, Winning and Leighton. In 1981, St Georges College celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and a collection of essays on the historical development of the College was published. This was also the first year that women undergraduates were admitted to residence. During the 1980s, many improvements were made to the original buildings including re-wiring, modification of bathrooms and of student rooms to enable each student to have their own room rather than sharing accommodation. In 1996, the College Council endorsed a project to protect and record the heritage of St George’s. This included undertaking oral histories of students and staff, identifying heritage material and developing archival policies. In 2002, the College commissioned a Conservation Management Plan to record the existing fabric and guide any new development.

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