Denmark Environment Centre & Mural

Statement of Significance

The Denmark Environment Centre has aesthetic, historic and social heritage significance. The building was an important symbol of the growing environmental awareness of the 1980s and 1990s.

Physical Description

The Denmark Environment Centre, former dentist surgery (2009) and legal offices were built in 1954 by Bill Berridge following the disastrous 1950s fire which destroyed the tea rooms and garage which had previously existed on the site. Bill was helped by brother–in-law John Winton (father of Western Australian Author Tim Winton). The buildings were at various times used as a kitchen and dining room as well as Harry Kingston’s appliance shop.

History

The Denmark Environment Centre was started by an environmental group in 1987 and the mural was painted as a community project in the early 1990s. The other units have had sundry occupants over the years. By 1999 the Environment Centre added wooden buildings to the rear of their premises which in 2009 housed the Green Skills environment business and the Centre’s offices and meeting room. The plaque attached to the building states: This Denmark Environment Centre Building Project was made possible through the generous support of local residents, businesses and the Gordon Reid Foundation for Conservation (part of the WA Lotteries Commission). In 2009 a large fire seriously damaged the rear of the building that housed the Denmark office of Green Skills, the Denmark Weed Action Group and the Centre’s offices and meeting room. The Shire of Denmark granted planning approval and a building permit in 2014 for new additions/alterations to the Denmark Environment Centre in the area that was destroyed by fire. Works on the development commenced in mid 2014.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Good

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

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