First Municipal Roads Board Office

Statement of Significance

Aesthetic Value: The place has some aesthetic value as a modest but highly intact weatherboard and tile building dating from the 1950s, being a standard State Housing Commission building adapted for use as an office. Historic Value: The place is associated with the implementation of the Kwinana Road District Act of 1953, being the first office for the Road Board, and for with the Commissioner of the Kwinana Road Board, Mr Harry McGuigan, who was responsible for the development of Kwinana prior to the establishment of the constitutionally elected Board. The place is associated with the St John Ambulance Association, particularly the Medina branch, which was established in 1956 and operated from the building from the late 1960s. Social value: The place is valued by the community as the site of the first Roads Board Office, as evidenced by the placement of a historic plaque near the front of the building. Representativeness: The building demonstrates the scale of administrative offices in the 1950s for a small local government authority Level of significance: Considerable

Physical Description

The former Roads Board office comprises a single-storey timber-framed building clad with horizontal timber weatherboards. The roof is a simple gable form clad with terracotta tiles which continues down at the same pitch to form the canopy to the porch area. The building has a simple rectilinear plan, incorporating an entry porch on its southeast corner which is distinguished by its pairs of timber columns and fascia (previously used for the attachment of signage). External timber joinery is largely intact, including the timber fascias, eaves lining boards, the horizontal timber batten boards to the subfloor area and steps up to the entry porch. The original timber-framed casement windows and timber-framed glazed entry door are also intact. The windows are side hung casements with each casement being divided into four panes by horizontal glazing bars. The front entry door is of similar design being a timber framed door with a five-paned obscured glass panel divided by horizontal glazing bars. The building is set back approximately 8 metres from the street boundary, where a large granite boulder is located. A historic plaque is attached to the boulder, inscribed with “ Office – Used as the Commissioner’s Office from 1954-1961, then used as the Roads Board Office until 1963. The state government appointed Mr H L McGuigan as the Commissioner for the (then) new Roads Board District.”

History

On the 18th December 1953, the Western Australian Government passed the Kwinana Road District Act, severing the requisite land for industry and housing from the Rockingham Shire and placing the entire responsibility for the satellite town of Medina and its environs under the direction of one man, Commissioner Harry Lester McGuigan. In his capacity as Commissioner, Harry McGuigan was employed to administer the local government affairs for the first five years, with the Minister for Local Government having the authority to extend the commissioners term of office to seven years. Commissioner McGuigan found himself to be in a challenging situation, on the one hand he was to be the mediator between a huge international petroleum company and the Western Australian Government, while on the other hand he was confronted with the social problems of a new community made up of men and women of different professions, trades and nationalities, transplanted into what was then a new and remote location. The First Roads Board Office was constructed in 1954, comprising a small State Housing dwelling adapted for use as an office. The place was used as the Commissioner’s Office until 1961, at which time the district began to operate under a constitutionally elected Board, the Shire of Kwinana, and Commissioner McGuigan retired. In his outgoing speech, McGuigan identified that the offices were “temporary” and “may not meet the needs of the Board”, however it continued to be used for this purpose until 1963, when the new Council offices were ready. The St John Ambulance Association was first established in Medina in May 1956, following a public meeting at which a working committee of seven was elected. The committee was confronted with the problem of finding a building for the new sub-centre, and also laboured untiringly to acquire an ambulance. A vehicle was donated by BP in 1956 and it is believed that the Association moved into the former Roads Board Office in the late 1960s.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate Authenticity: High

Condition

Good-Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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