Bond Store & Resident Magistrate's Office (fmr), Busselton

Statement of Significance

• Bond Store & Resident Magistrate’s Office (fmr), Busselton, constructed in 1856 three miles from Busselton townsite as a bond store, Resident Magistrate’s office and police residence to address a lack of local facilities, provides evidence of the early European settlement of the Vasse region and the development of Busselton as government administrative centre for the area. • The struggle of the Resident Magistrate to receive government support for necessary infrastructure to maintain law and order in the town, and the eventual private construction of Bond Store & Resident Magistrate’s Office (fmr), Busselton on the Resident Magistrate’s private land, are indicative of the early period of colonial government when limited resources were apportioned between the central Swan/Canning River and Avon Valley settlements and regional outposts such as Vasse. • The need to construct a bond store in the area, to secure quantities of liquor and bonded goods, and its replacement by 1857 with a larger and stronger building, despite the settlement not having a port at the time, is indicative of a period when the presence of foreign whaling ships in Geographe Bay during the whaling season caused chronic problems of smuggling and drunkenness for the fledgling settlements in the area. • Bond Store & Resident Magistrate’s Office (fmr), Busselton was built for Captain John Molloy, Resident Magistrate of the Sussex District (including Vasse/ Busselton) from 1830 to 1861. • At its construction in 1856, one room of the building was used to accommodate Police Constable Joseph Harris, who was appointed Resident Magistrate in 1861 and held the position until 1887. Harris continued to use the place as a residence until at least 1883, even after the Resident Magistrate’s office was relocated to the new Busselton courthouse complex from 1862. • The handmade bricks used to construct Bond Store & Resident Magistrate’s Office (fmr), Busselton have the potential to reveal information relating to early construction techniques in the colony, and in particular the Busselton region. • The place is highly valued by the Busselton community and contributes to a sense of place as evidence of the early settlement of the region, as indicated by the strong oral history tradition associated with the building, its various heritage listings and the number of private individuals who seek out the owners of 22 Kent Street expressing interest in the historic building in their backyard

Physical Description

The building is located in the rear of a residential lot with a single storey residence located in the front of the lot. The former bond store and residence is a three‐roomed cottage constructed of brick with a simple hipped roof and a single brick chimney. The roof was framed for shingles, which have been replaced with iron and later the current corrugated sheet metal. Earlier assessments described the interior as including a pressed metal ceiling and concrete flooring.

History

This small brick building has been determined by others to have been built in the convict period (1850-1868) as a customs officer’s residence and added to in 1906. Resident Magistrate John Molloy built the customs house during 1856, primarily as a warehouse space for bonded goods including liquor, with additional rooms for a guard and an office for the Resident Magistrate. From its construction, one room of the building was used to accommodate Police Constable Joseph Harris, who was appointed Resident Magistrate in 1861 and held the position until 1887. Harris continued to use the place as a residence until at least 1883, even after the Resident Magistrate’s office was relocated to the new Busselton courthouse complex from 1862.In 1850, John Molloy (1786-1867) held a large grant of 12500 acres which included this land. Comments in correspondence from the Colonial Secretary’s Office and by John Molloy refer to delays in construction of the building. Subsequently a larger bond store and office space was built for the Resident Magistrate elsewhere and the place appears to have been used for residential purposes from 1861.The small house on the front of the lot appears to have been built in the Inter War period. The originof the name 'The Gulch' is not known

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate/High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

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