C A Piesse Workers Cottages, Wagin

Values

The group is a rare and coherent group of Federation Bungalow style houses, built from local materials.

The group demonstrates the development of settlement along the route of the Great Southern Railway during the Federation period.

The group is associated with the life and work of pastoralist, businessman and politician Charles Austin (C A) Piesse.

Physical Description

C A Piesse Worker’s Cottages, Wagin consists of a terrace of 6 cottages along the eastern side of Ventnor Street, Wagin, constructed in similar materials with elements of the Federation Bungalow style. A general summary of the cottages has been given rather than a detailed description of each. The cottages are single storey masonry and brick residences sited towards the front of the each block. The front of some cottages are largely obscured by verge plantings and mature front gardens. From the images available the cottages have symmetrical frontages, with a pair of windows flanking a central door. The walls of the buildings are squared local granite, ranging from light grey to very dark brown, with cream rendered brick quoins on the corners of the buildings and at door and window architraves. One cottage has a completely rendered front façade. The foundations of the buildings were not visible. The roofs of the cottages are half-gabled, with the gable ends facing the north and south elevations of each cottage. The front verandahs are set below the roof, extending the full length of the front elevation and are supported on timber or metal posts. The verandahs are a mix of forms, with some bull nose, some flat and one incorporating a low gable front. Pairs of brick chimneys are visible, each featuring ornamental corbelling and a moulded rim. The windows of the residences appear to be timber sash frames, but in some cases these have been replaced with modern metal equivalents. The large, simple roof planes, deep verandahs, use of ‘natural’ rock and sparing decoration are considered to be elements of the Federation Bungalow style of architecture. The group appears to be externally intact and in good condition.

History

The Great Southern Railway was constructed by Anthony Horden’s West Australian Land Company and was officially opened on 1 June 1889. The halfway point between Perth and Albany was at Wagin, originally known as Wagin Lake, where a small townsite was located on Company land comprising a railway station, a branch of F. and C. Piesse’s store and the Wagin Hotel.1 In 1893, the population of Wagin was given as 150, and tenders were called that year for a police station, but it was not until 1898, when the Government purchased the Great Southern line and associated lands that development along the line increased dramatically.2 Wagin was officially declared a town on 10 May 1898 and railway running sheds were built, with railway employees boosting the town’s population.3 The increased farming and population pressure led to calls for a local flour mill to be erected, and in 1905 a community group was formed to raise money for a farmer’s co-operative flour mill.4 While the co-op director attempted to sell 5,000 shares in the new company, tenders for the mill and machinery were advertised in 1906.5 Unfortunately, the shares were not able to be sold, and the project languished until the mill building was leased to a private miller from Williams in 1909.6 The erection of the mill, located next to the railway station, saw a new interest and development in this end of Wagin with a new store erected by the Zimmer Brothers as well as Carter & Co opening a drapery business next door. Other new businesses at this time included a newsagency and law practise.7 A significant figure in the history of Wagin is Charles Austin Piesse, brother to F H Piesse. Born in 1855 in Northam, Charles worked as a pearler and then a farmer before partnering with his brother as merchants and millers at Katanning and Wagin.8 Developments that Charles Piesse was involved in at Wagin included P18190 F & C Piesse Store (1910), P2631 C A Piesse Store, Wagin, P2652 St George’s Anglican Church, and P2634 Butterick’s Building, Wagin (RHP).9 During this time Charles also served as the Chairman of the Arthur River and then Wagin Roads Board from 1887-1890 and served as the first Mayor of Wagin from 1906 to 1907. Charles was elected as an MLC of the Southeast Province in 1894-1914 and was a Minister without portfolio 1906-1909.10 An astute businessman, C A Piesse recognised the potential of the empty lots along Ventnor Street between the Flour Mill, railway station and the main street. In 1911, he began construction of C A Piesse Worker’s Cottages, Wagin on town lots 208, 209 and 210, a row of 6 cottages to be rented out to local workers. The cottages were completed in early 1912 by local builder Jack Zimmer and described as ‘a fine terrace of cottages.’11 The cottages were then advertised for rent, with one cottage occupied by Dr Baker, who set up a medical practise in the town.12 The inter war period in Wagin was one of consolidation, with some farms and properties abandoned due to the effect of WWI and the Depression. However, the post war period saw a slow economic recovery in the town.13 C A Piesse died in 1914 and was buried in Wagin; leaving his business interests to his three sons by his first wife; Gerald Austin, Vernon Frederick and Charles Oxley. Both Vernon and Charles Oxley died serving in WWI, leaving Gerald as the sole owner.14 C A Piesse’s probate file does not however list the cottages at lots 208-210 as part of his property, so it is possible that they had been moved to different ownership within the C A Piesse & Sons company.15 In early 1921, all of the C A Piesse & Sons properties at Williams and Wagin were repainted and oiled, including C A Piesse Cottages, Wagin.16 Later this year, lots 209 and 210 were offered for sale along with a large number of Piesse owned properties, however these two lots were noted as being sold under a separate account from the main company.17 The cottages on lot 208 may have also been sold during this period. C A Piesse Worker’s Cottages, Wagin are still in use as private residences.

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update