Manjimup Infant Health Centre (fmr)

Statement of Significance

The place is a fine example of a 1940s Art Deco building. The place is of importance in the history of child health in Western Australia. The place is of social significance to the community. The Manjimup Infant Health Centre is a fine example of a 1940s Art Deco building designed by a prominent architect, William G. Bennett (with assistance by Nancy Allen). The place is a fine, well preserved and maintained example of a style of architecture still practised in Australia in the Inter War period and is typical of many rural public buildings of the time. The style is essentially residential with the addition of a large semi-circular porch in Art Deco/Stripped Classical manner.. It includes such characteristic indicators as classical symmetry with a prominent vestigial portico and columns dividing the fa9ade into vertical bays. The building's facade and interior has been well maintained and the original fabric is relatively intact. The aesthetic characteristics exhibited by the building are clearly valued by the community. It has high aesthetic appeal and is a well maintained example of rural Art Deco architecture. HISTORIC VALUE The place has significant historical associations with the development of the local community and the growth of a country town in Western Australia. It represents an important part of the evolution of the district and has had a long association with the local community, especially the mothers and children of the district. The place is significant as being representative of the increased interest in child health in the 1930s and 1940s which led to the construction of child health centres in the suburbs of Perth and in rural towns in the State of Western Australia. The building is included on the Manjimup Shire Municipal Inventory of Heritage Places, demonstrating its historic and architectural importance in the eyes of the local community. SOCIAL VALUE Because of its long association with the community in the past as a child welfare centre, and a social centre for women of the district to meet over a period of many years, the place has strong cultural significance for many people in the local community. The place has social significance for the community by virtue of its role in providing a service for the care of infant children. RARITY AND REPRESENTATIVENESS The building is representative of both the architectural style as applied in country areas of W.A. and of the type and function of Infant Health Centres that were constructed in these areas. The building is one of only a few such examples still extant and one of the better designed and preserved. CONDITION, INTEGRITY AND AUTHENTICITY This is an authentic building with the original external brick fabric relatively intact and in excellent condition. The place is a well preserved and maintained example of the genre and is valued as one of Manjimup's heritage buildings. The building' s integrity is stilI good despite a change in use.

Physical Description

The building is a fine example of architecture as practised in Western Australia in the 30s and 40s, with elements of Art Deco detailing. Although basically domestic in appearance and symmetrical in design the building has a 'Stripped Classical' 1 semi­ circular entry porch supported by six octagonal pillars with the name "Manjimup Infant Health Centre" in raised letters on the curved parapet which gives it additional significance and prominence in the streetscape. The main construction is of common narrow face brick with vertical brick lintels and a cement tile hipped roof. The semi­ circular porch is cement rendered and painted white. The building has central double front doors, fully glazed with four horizontal mullions, flanked by one window on each side and groups of three windows on either side of the entrance porch, all with three horizontal mullions.

History

Assessment 2001 Construction 1944 Architect/designer: William G Bennett assisted by Nancy Allen There were settlers in the Manjimup District by 1852 with considerable farming activity before the appearance of a town. When it was proposed to extend the railway from Bridgetown on 17th July 1909 the Surveyor General approved of a townsite to be laid out at the proposed railway terminus and so the town of Manjimup began. The Manjimup Infant Health Centre was designed by William G. Bennett, a well-known architect of the inter-war period . Other works of his include Caves House at Yallingup and the Young Australia League campsite at Araluen. The design springs from the Art Deco style of the 1930s using simplified classical elements. The Health Centre was built in 1944 in response to increased awareness of the importance of child health. It was opened by the Minister for Health, Mr. E. Nulsen in the presence of a representative gathering from centres as far afield as Boyup Brook, Bridgetown and Pemberton. The public subscribed 1431 Pounds, the Road Board 550 Pounds and the Lotteries Commission 300 Pounds, a total of 2281 Pounds. The actual cost was 2148 Pounds so that the Clinic was completely furnished with the money subscribed. 3 A tribute was paid to the Honorary Architect, Miss Nancy Allen, who assisted Mr. Bennett by drawing up the plans from his design. The building was handed to the Manjimup Road Board and subsequently became the property of the Shire of Manjimup. It is no longer used as an Infant Health Centre which is now accommodated in the new Manjirnup Community Centre on the Corner of Rose and Mount Streets. The building is now used by the Education Department. The Manjimup Infant Health Centre building was constructed along with many other Infant Health Centres in WA as part of a State-wide push to improve general child health, including the development of the Infant Health Correspondence Nursing Scheme which originated with the Medical Supervisor of Infant Health, Dr. E. M. Stang, several years before it was put into effect in Western Australia in 1932. According to a publication titled "Our Beginnings" - the history of the Infant Health Correspondence Nursing Scheme, - lack of finances, as was usual with schemes of this nature, was the chief obstacle and although most could see the benefit of the idea, the State Treasury was said to be sadly depleted at the time. The then Minister for Public Health, Mr. C. G. Latham, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Infant Health Correspondence Nursing Scheme for, as the Leader of the Country Party, he fully realised the need for such a scheme in the state's regional districts. The sympathy of the Commissioner for Public Health, Dr. Everitt Atkinson, was also enlisted and all that remained to be done was to raise the necessary funds. Dr. Stang and the Secretary of the Infant Health Association, Miss M. Anderson, drafted many long letters and prepared statistics detailing the need for government assistance and by August 1932 aroused the interest of the Editor of the Sunday Times who subsequently launched a competition which resulted in the donation of a cheque for one-hundred-and-eight-nine pounds, fourteen shillings and ninepence, which formed the nucleus of the Infant Health Correspondence Nursing Scheme, with Dr Stang supplying the balance required to put the scheme into operation. Similarly, government funding for the Infant Health Centres was in short supply and it was only as a result of public donations from the local community that the Manjimup Infant Health Centre was made possible. As reported in the West Australian of July 8, on the occasion of the official opening of the centre, the Under Secretary for Health, Mr. H.T. Stitfold, said that "the people of Manjimup had lifted their town out of the category of those which leaned heavily on the government for things they wanted by obtaining such a clinic for themselves". The Minister for Health, Mr. E. Nulsen, said during his opening address, that in his recent visits to the Eastern States, he had seen bigger clinics but none better than that at Manjimup. The Government was anxious to open centres in as many places as possible . According to the newspaper article, (contained in the project diary of W.G. Bennett), Dr. Stang, who attended the opening said she had followed the work in Manjimup since the Country Womens' Association had assumed the original responsibility of infant health and lent the CWA rest rooms for the visiting sister from Bridgetown. Dr. Stang said that the clinic, as it stood, was as good as, if not better than, anything in any other State. The clinic sister was at that time attending one-hundred-and-eighty-six babies in Manjimup and Pemberton.

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