Water Supply Office (fmr)

Statement of Significance

Water Supply Office (fmr) has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • The place has aesthetic value as a representative example of a modestly scaled and detailed utility building constructed during the Federation period of architecture. • The place has historic value as a component of a precinct of civic buildings including Midland Town Hall, Midland Courthouse, Mechanics Institute and Midland Post Office, which define the historical civic precinct in Midland. • The place has historic value for its association with the local supply of water following Midland’s connection into the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in 1906.

Physical Description

Water Supply Office (fmr) is a face brick building with a corrugated steel gable roof displaying characteristics of a simple utility building from the Federation period of architecture. The building is located on the street boundary of Old Great Northern Highway to the north of the Midland Town Hall and to the west of the Midland Courthouse. The building has a simple rectilinear form with a gable roof. The roof has a face brick chimney with brick corbelling and two steel roof cowls. The external walls are face brick. The front facade addresses Old Great Northern Highway and has a single timber entry door with a highlight window and rendered brick voussoir. The door is flanked to the south by two timber framed double hung windows with rendered sills and matching rendered voussoirs. The windows are enclosed by steel security bars. A matching window is centered in the northern gable end while a second single entry door is located in the south gable end. The eastern elevation has a set of contemporary bifold doors. The building is set in the Midland Courthouse courtyard.

History

In 1886, the Midland Railway Company took up significant landholdings in this area and established its operations to build its planned railway north of Geraldton. The townsite of Midland Junction was gazetted in 1890 and a private investor, James Morrison, subdivided and sold large parcels of land to new settlers. With gold discoveries in the 1890s, Midland Junction became a hub of the state road and rail system and was the chosen site for the government railway workshops, which relocated there in 1904. The Great Northern Highway was previously Newcastle Road. The name Great Northern Highway was gazetted in 1944 to identify the main route from Midland Junction to Geraldton, previously known as Midland-Geraldton Road or North Road. In the early 1990s the northern end of Great Northern Highway, at the intersection of Morrison Road was blocked off as a part of the new City of Swan Administrative Centre redevelopment. The remaining section of Great Northern Highway from the intersection of The Avenue, in the north, to the intersection of Great Eastern Highway, in the south, was renamed Old Great Northern Highway. The Water Supply Office was designed by the Public Works Department, under Chief Architect, Hilson Beasley. The construction of the building was contracted along with the Midland Courthouse, to Mr Alfred Eade on 27 February 1907, for the amount of £1,9328/8/8. The construction was completed in August 1907.1 The building was built in response to the considerable demand for reticulated water supply connections when Midland Junction was incorporated into the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in 1906. Until the office’s completion, the Water Supply Department had rented two rooms in the newly completed Town Hall. By the 1940s, the office was used only on Fridays, when an officer of the Metropolitan Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Department would travel from Perth, mainly to collect rates. When sewerage connections were in considerable demand in the late 1950s-60s, the office was well used. Since c.1970s the office has no longer been in use.2

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - Building fabric High Authenticity - Use Low: The place is no longer used as a water supply office.

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update