Reserve 41874 Subiaco Oval, Subiaco Oval Gates and Kitchener Park

Statement of Significance

The place is an important cultural landscape illustrating the evolution of part of Perth Commonage from the early 1900s to the early 2000s, with passive recreation (Mueller Park) and active recreation (Subiaco Oval and Oval Gates and Kitchener Park) area, and has the potential to yield information contributing to a wider understanding of the history of human occupation in this locality and the development of park and recreation areas in this State

Physical Description

Reserve 9337 is located in the North Subiaco Precinct of the City of Subiaco and is zoned as Parks and Recreation “R” Restricted Access under the Town Planning Scheme No. 4. The Reserve comprises three areas: Mueller Park, Kitchener Park and Subiaco Oval. Mueller Park is a large public park and bounded by Subiaco, Coghlan and Roberts Roads and Hamilton Street with mature trees, lawns, paths and recent playgrounds; Kitchener Park is a lawn area with a small number of trees fringing its edges; and lastly, Subiaco Oval, an Australian Football League (AFL) standard football oval with a stadium and parking and associated facilities. The Reserve also contains the heritage-listed Subiaco Oval Gates (RHP 5478). Mueller Park occupies a gently undulating and gradually sloping landform that rises from a flat depression in the north-western corner to a low hillside on the eastern edge. Mueller Park is surrounded by residential development, comprising mainly workers’ cottages and townhouses along Roberts Road and a mix of cottages and blocks of flats along the Subiaco Road side; the Perth Modern School campus and part of the Princess Margaret Hospital are located directly east of the Reserve. Kitchener Park lies directly to the west of Mueller Park and is a raised and levelled area of predominantly lawn that is used for car parking during events associated with Subiaco Oval. Mueller Park is laid out in the Geometric style with its generously scaled, relaxed combination of regular and irregular elements. Two straight, evenly graded, diagonal footpaths run from opposite corners of the park between Hamilton Street and Coghlan Road. The footpaths were laid out in 1906-07, along with a small central circus, and planted with black wattles. Hedging was also planted along some street boundaries. The hedging, central circus and black wattles are no longer extant but the footpaths remain. These footpaths are lined by rows of mature, evenly-spaced avenue trees and are lit at night by pole-mounted coach lights. The paths are of simple bitumen construction topped with surface of fine brown laterite pea gravel. They are the strongest structural element of the park and allow the visitor to promenade from within a semi-enclosed space whilst looking out into the contrastingly open expanses of lawn and trees that occupy the four quadrants or ‘triangles’ that are formed by the intersecting lines of the footpaths. Two contrasting tree species form the avenue plantings along the footpaths. Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla) and Cooks Pine (Araucaria columnaris) line the south-west to north-east trending footpath and Peppermint trees (Agonis flexuosa) line the north-west to south-east trending footpath. The Pines form a line of tall ‘sentinels’ that frame a strip of sky as one looks along and upwards, whilst the Peppermints provide a shady, enclosed, almost cocoon-like experience along the other footpath. Although grading of the landform has occurred along the footpaths, the remainder of Mueller Park appears to have topography that would be similar to the original land surface at the time when the land was known as the ‘Subiaco Commonage’ and used for camping. Some of the trees are remnant native species that have avoided clearing over the years and now persist as reminders of the types of vegetation that originally occupied the site. These include Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), Flooded Gum (Eucalyptus rudis) and Swamp Paperbark (Melaleuca rhaphiophylla). One Jarrah specimen in particular has been identified as a shield tree by Aboriginal Elders. The boundaries of Mueller Park are reinforced by a range of mature border tree species including Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis) and Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx). Feature trees include a pair of Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii), Argyle Apple (Eucalyptus cinerea) and Dunn’s White Gun (Eucalyptus Dunnii). Other park elements include tube steel picnic shelters, heritage-styled timber and cast iron park benches, modern drinking fountains, a barbeque, a self-cleaning toilet block, a bore and irrigation system, a dieback wash-down unit, bins (some are enclosed and some are pole-mounted), treated pine bollards at boundaries, concrete footpaths along the east, south and west sides and a memorial rock and plaque to Baron Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller (located at the meeting point of the diagonal footpaths). In addition, Mueller Park has two playgrounds, each with commercially available play equipment. The playground at the eastern end is approximately 15 years old and the other, at the western end, is a recently-built, universal playspace with some custom play equipment. Floral display beds are located along Coghlan Road. These are planted exclusively with native flowering species. Elsewhere in the park, flora display beds are rare. One curvilinear shrubbery adjacent to Subiaco road beneath a Brush Box is filled with Snake Vine (Hibbertia scandens). Kitchener Park has been landformed (filled at the north-eastern corner) to provide a flat surface. A set of AFL goal posts sit in an expanse of lawn on the southern side of the park which has a low concrete retaining wall with tube steel railing separating it from the streetscape of Roberts Road. A group mature Pines (Pinus pinaster) form the boundary on the northeast side of Kitchener Park. These wrap the corner and join with the avenue planting along Coghlan Road comprising Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) and Pine trees. A row of young Spotted Gums (Eucalyptus maculata) form the western boundary of Kitchener Park. From here, the landform drops steeply away into an underground access way into Subiaco Oval. The large trees bordering the parks are a dominant element of the surrounding streetscape, but the absence of perimeter fencing and shrubbery allows views of varying degree into Mueller and Kitchener Parks from the outside. The wide variety of trees within Mueller Park results in a visually rich landscape character where lower, rounded canopies are contrasted with the regular punctuations made by more slender, vertical forms. The atmosphere ranges from dark shade along the avenues of Peppermint trees; to dappled light beneath senescing and mature canopied trees; and then to full sunshine in lawn areas. The open and flat expanse of lawn and limited number of border trees in Kitchener Park contrast with the ‘woodland’ that is Mueller Park but Kitchener Park provides a mediating space between Mueller Park and the bulk and scale of Subiaco Oval. Kitchener Park also provides an important function as temporary car parking, relieving Muller Park from this pressure that has previously caused damage to some of the Mueller Park’s trees. The formal diagonal footpath and avenues of trees provide orderliness and structure, while expanses of lawn, playgrounds and picnic tables and benches provide a less formal character and ambience. The overall simplicity of the parks’ layouts contributes to the less formal qualities; however, some elements introduced in the 1990s onwards for practical and functional purposes, such as modern bin enclosures and picnic shelters, a modern, self-cleaning toilet, modern pole lighting, grey concrete pathways, pool-style fencing around the universal playspace and a variety of signs and other furniture detract from it. Although combined together, Mueller and Kitchener parks form a large space, the simple landform, together with the mix of formal and informal arrangements of the density, size and locations of the trees, including avenue plantings to provide spatial enclosure, offer a variety of forms and a richness of visual experience at a human scale within this space. Mueller and Kitchener Parks retain their use as high-visitation public parks and it is the expressed intention of the community and local authority that they should continue to do so.

History

Reserve 9337, gazetted in 1904, comprises three distinct areas: Mueller Park, a well-established urban park laid out in 1906-07 and the 1920s, with mature tree plantings, and recent playgrounds; Kitchener Park, a grassed area used for car parking with a small number of mature trees; Subiaco Oval, more recently named Patersons Stadium, a football oval with associated facilities and spectator stands, and Subiaco Oval Gates (Register of Heritage Places, RHP 5478). In the Documentary Evidence the name that pertained at each period is used. An early plan of Subiaco shows Subiaco and Mueller Roads (the latter named in honour of Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller (1825-1896), inaugural director of Melbourne Botanic Gardens (1857-73), and Australia’s pre-eminent botanist) with the part of Reserve 591A that later became Mueller Park. During the 1890s gold boom, lack of accommodation in the metropolitan area for people heading to the goldfields saw many camping out, raising sanitary concerns. In 1896, men at ‘Subiaco Commonage’ (as the area of Perth Commonage, Reserve 591A, west of Thomas Street, was commonly known) protested against a notice to quit the area and unsuccessfully asked for it to be declared a camping ground. Perth City Council cleared a large number of tents from the area on numerous occasions. In July 1897, the Subiaco Council asked Perth Council to continue Townshend and Hamilton Roads through the Commonage to Subiaco Road, and both these roads and Coghlan Road were made by the early 1900s. In November 1897, Subiaco Council urged the Commissioner for Crown Lands to grant the Municipality power over the part of the Commonage situated in Subiaco, but to no avail. In 1900, a large number of ratepayers petitioned the Council to consider the best means to preserve, utilise and beautify the Commonage between Thomas Street and Subiaco Railway Station, and it was decided the Mayor would raise the matter with the Premier when he opened the Subiaco Gardens. In 1901, a deputation from Subiaco Council told the Minister for Lands there was ‘no recreation reserve or any suitable area for recreation purposes’ in Subiaco and asked for ‘the large area of Perth Commonage ... within their district’ to be vested in the Council, and if it were ‘they would beautify it, and apply some portion of the area for recreation purposes.’ He replied there was an understanding whereby Perth Council would surrender to the Government that part of the Commonage conditional upon a Crown grant being issued to Perth Council for the remaining larger area, and until this arrangement was ratified the Government did not have control over the Commonage land. In early 1902, Subiaco Council renewed its request to the Minister, who said he considered it ‘very desirable’ Subiaco ‘have control of that portion of the Commonage’, but it was vested in Perth Municipal Council for another 10 years. Following negotiations between the Government and Perth Council, on 19 August 1904, Reserve A 9337, Perth Suburban Lots 406 and 446, was vested in the Mayor and Councillors of the Municipality of Subiaco for recreation purposes, with power to lease the whole or any part of it for a period not exceeding 21 years from the date of the lease. In 1905, undergrowth was cleared from the area commonly referred to at this date as Mueller-road reserve, which some citizens wanted improved for cricket and football, foreshadowing development of sporting facilities at the western portion. In July 1906, the Council resolved to name the park bound by Hamilton and Axon Streets, Subiaco and Mueller Roads, Mueller Park. In 1906-07, excavation and filling work was carried out, part of the park was fenced, and grass was planted towards making part of it available for cricket and football. At the eastern portion, hedging was planted along some street boundaries and diagonal footpaths were laid out between Hamilton and Coghlan Road, with a small central circus, and black wattles from Shenton Park were planted along the paths. To date, it has not been ascertained who was responsible for this original Geometric style design, the main elements of which remain extant through into the early 2000s. In 1908, football games were played at Mueller Park, nicknamed 'The Sooby Sand Patch', and in 1909, Lady Forrest officially opened Subiaco Oval and Pavilion. By the early 1920s, this grandstand had fallen into disrepair and a new pavilion seating 1,500 people was erected in 1923. The turnstiles at Subiaco Oval were not adequate for the number of spectators, and through a period of years numerous complaints were made to the Subiaco Council about the problem. Stop-gap measures were adopted in efforts to alleviate the problem, but it continued. In 1935, Subiaco Council considered how the Jubilee of King George V might be commemorated in the town, and recollecting the continued inadequacy of the turnstiles at the Oval, resolved that 'the provision of a modern entrance to the Subiaco Oval would be an appropriate work.' Subiaco Oval Gates (RHP 5478) were erected that year, and remain a well-recognised landmark. In 1936, the Western Australian National Football League (WAFNL, later WAFL) located to Subiaco Oval, which has undergone significant improvements through time, and for decades has been the State’s premier oval and continues in this role as Patersons Stadium in the early 2000s. (See heritage assessments of the Oval and the Oval Gates for more information.) In 1908, the Western Australian Croquet Association and the Western Australian Tennis Association, each wanting to establish their own facilities, negotiated with Subiaco Council to enable them to be realised at Mueller Park that year, together with greens for the Bowling Club. These facilities and the Oval were all west of Coghlan Road that effectively demarcated the eastern parkland of Mueller Park. It is likely a 1909 photo of a Seventh Day Adventist camp in Mueller Park was taken in this area, in which large mature trees provided welcome shade. In 1911, new buildings were erected and new lawns established at the Tennis Association’s facility, where State championships and Inter-State matches were played in the pre-war years. During World War I, there was increasing anti-German sentiment and in July 1916, when Subiaco Council considered renaming Mueller Park and Mueller Road, all but one councillor supported it. Following discussion, it was agreed to rename the park Kitchener, after Lord Kitchener, of Khartoum, and Roberts Road was named as ‘a compliment’ to Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Richard Harricks Roberts (1874-1943), elected as an East Ward councillor in 1914. In August, the war began, and he was appointed major and second-in-command of the 11th Battalion, A.I.F. During the Gallipoli campaign he was awarded a Mention in Dispatches (M.I.D.). In late 1915, he took command of the Battalion and was appointed Lieutenant Colonel on 1 January 1916. He was conspicuous in France, being awarded a D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order), recommended for a C.M.G. (Companion Order of St. Michael and St. George), and awarded another M.I.D. Post-war, he resumed his career in the postal service, served further as a Councillor for the East Ward of Subiaco, was a Chairman of Commissioners, and awarded an M.B.E. in 1937. In 1919, a pine tree hedge was planted along the weather-side of the tennis courts, and paths in the park were re-gravelled. In 1921, spectator stands were erected at the Western Australian Lawn Tennis Association’s courts. In 1921, Alexander Dickson Esson Bruce (b. Scotland, 1884, arr. 1910, d. 1967), a highly qualified gardener, trained in horticulture in Edinburgh, who had worked in Cheshire, before becoming Curator of Parks and Gardens at Fremantle, was appointed Municipal Gardener at Subiaco. As there were only a few flowering and ornamental plants being raised in the garden by the Council Chambers, ‘he found himself in much the same position as a chef without a kitchen’, and to meet increasing requirements of the Municipality ‘something on a much larger scale and more definite purpose was required.’ He selected a neglected area (about half an acre) in ‘a somewhat sequestered spot near the tennis courts at Kitchener Park’, for the nursery, and the Council agreed. He used timber pickets salvaged from Shenton Park for fencing, and old timber from the electric lighting offices and discarded iron and glass for an ‘up-to-date conservatory’ for propagation beds. By August 1923, the nursery was able to supply all the flowers, shrubs, plants and trees for parks, gardens, streets, recreation and play grounds in the district, and an experimental planting of cotton was giving excellent results. Bruce had good results from an experimental plot of tobacco and the Department of Agriculture, which was working towards establishing tobacco growing, asked him to raise 5,000 plants from selected seed for distribution to various parts of the State. Bruce’s significant role in development of parks and gardens at Subiaco is well known, and his subsequent work in Canberra as Assistant Superintendent (1925), Acting Superintendent (1926) and Superintendent of Parks and Gardens (1928-38) has left an enduring legacy. In 1923, the Council agreed to a request from Subiaco Tennis Club to plant trees in the vicinity, and Bruce was instructed to plant a row of pines along the length of Coghlan Road and a double row along Roberts Road. No plans or details of plantings at Kitchener Park under Bruce’s direction have been located to date. In August 1925, James Thomson commended the foresight of the Municipality in making generous provision for parks and gardens. He drew attention to the ‘beautifully kept’ Municipal Gardens, and Kitchener Park, ‘a magnificent heritage in itself’, and gave a detailed description of the nursery and the wide variety of plants propagated there. The Park’s notable sporting facilities included Subiaco Oval, ‘one of the largest and best appointed cricket and football grounds in the metropolitan area’, the headquarters of the Western Australian Lawn Tennis Association and Kitchener Park Bowling Club. In 1926, Bruce’s resignation to take up a Commonwealth position in Canberra, was ‘a severe loss’ to Subiaco, but appointment of Joseph ‘Joe’ Martin, his leading assistant for two years, as his successor, ensured ‘the work’ continued ‘uninterruptedly.’ As Head Gardener (1926-42), Martin (b. Scotland, 1889, d. 1958) was responsible for major improvements to the parkland area of Kitchener Park, which apparently had languished somewhat from 1908 to 1926. By January 1926, Subiaco had more than 120 acres of parks and gardens, including the Oval, and Kitchener Park, with its tennis courts, bowling greens, croquet lawns and parkland. Tennis was growing in popularity, and to meet an increasing demand Subiaco Council converted the second croquet lawn at Kitchener Park to tennis courts available for public hire from around Easter. In 1926, in pursuance of its policy to provide children’s playgrounds in its public parks, the Council decided to erect apparatus for this purpose at the eastern end of Kitchener Park, not far from Hamilton Street. Residents in Roberts Road strongly objected and in vain requested it be located instead at the Coghlan Road end of the reserve. In spring, the area at the eastern end was cleared, and the children’s play-ground was duly established and equipped. A cricket pitch was laid down for use of children ‘with the object of keeping them off the road’, and the Council consistently refused applications for its use by adults, including a Methodist cricket club, who wanted to use it for practice and matches, maintaining ‘it was intended as a children’s playground.’ Maurice Medley (b. 1921), who grew up in nearby York Street, was one of many local children who enjoyed the swings and roundabouts at the playground, and recollected the concrete cricket pitch was a meeting place for boys who regularly played there. In 1926-7, grubbing and clearing at Kitchener Park included removal of ‘many of the deformed jarrah trees’, before ornamental shrubs and trees were planted, and concrete posts and galvanised piping replaced the timber picket fences. The Sunday Times praised this ‘pleasing transformation’, but regretted that the diagonal paths, ‘broken only by a small central circus’, had been planted with Norfolk Island pines to one avenue and Sugar Gums to the other, rather than beautiful flowering gums as in the famed avenue at Kings Park. In spring 1928, further trees were planted at Kitchener Park. In 1938, a reticulation scheme, with a well, pump and overhead tank, was provided to supply water to the Council nursery, Kitchener Park Bowling Club, the Municipal tennis courts and croquet lawns. In 1939, the Council refused a request from the WAFL to use the ‘tree area’ at Kitchener Park for car parking associated with use of Subiaco Oval. An aerial photo shows the sporting facilities and the parkland. In March 1949, the West Australian National Football League asked the Council ‘to make Kitchener Park suitable for football and cricket’, arguing it was ‘a little grass and dying trees’, ‘a wasted block of land’, but the request was declined, as was a proposal, in 1950, for an area in the eastern portion of the reserve to become a women’s sports area, cinder track and a hockey field. Through the post-war period, the parkland area of Kitchener Park continued to be a well used and much appreciated green space in Subiaco. Further research may ascertain what, if any, major changes occurred. In 1981, the name Mueller Park was restored to the portion of the Park east of Coghlan Road, and a memorial to commemorate this was unveiled in the centre of the park on 19 November that year. In March 1998, Reserve 9337 (Swan Location 12734) was vested in the City of Subiaco for the purpose of ‘Recreation and Occasional Vehicle Parking’, enabling use of the place in association with the Oval and/or activities at Mueller Park. In 2000, Subiaco Oval Gates was Entered on the Register of Heritage Places (RHP) as an individual place. In 2003-04, Subiaco Oval was assessed for Entry but it has not been Entered to date (2012). Since April 2007, the State Heritage Office database has included Mueller Park (Place No. 17649) among places to be assessed for Entry but has not assessed it to date. In the early 2000s, Mueller Park became the venue for the popular annual craft fair held in November. In 2005, Charles Aldous-Ball compiled an Arboricultural Report on Mueller Park for the City of Subiaco. In 2006, proposals to use part of Mueller Park as the site for a large new football stadium were vigorously opposed by many residents of Subiaco, who organised a campaign against the proposal, signed petitions presented in Parliament, and wrote to the newspaper. The Park was treasured ‘as a precious green space in Subiaco’, ‘a serene, soothing place in a high density housing and office area’, ‘a lovely relaxed park’ with ‘beautiful old trees’, that was recognised for its ‘heritage, historical botanical, and aesthetic value’ to the community. In 2009, the City of Subiaco commissioned the Mueller Park Universal Playspace to improve facilities for children with disabilities, which has won acclaim. In 2012, Mueller Park continues as an urban park that is highly valued by the local and wider community.

Integrity/Authenticity

The eastern portion of Reserve 9337 has high integrity. The place has operated continuously as a recreation area since it was established in 1906. Everyday use of Mueller and Kitchener Parks is now more passive, providing opportunities to relax and play. The western portion of Reserve 9337 has been in continuous use for active sporting pursuits since establishment. Reserve 9337 has moderate authenticity. The general character of Mueller Park remains but many of the earlier features such as the central circus, boundary hedging and some original tree plantings (such as black wattles) have been removed. Recent playgrounds have been built sympathetically into the landscape and do not detract from the geometry of Mueller Park. Kitchener Park has been altered significantly by filling and levelling. The former tennis courts, the nursery, conservatory and propagation beds have been removed.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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