Lake Grace District Office (Department of Agriculture)

Values

• The place demonstrates the importance of wheat and cereal based agriculture in the district of Lake Grace and the development of the light land in the Lake Grace Shire region.
• The place is associated with both the innovations and experiments undertaken by the Department of Agriculture staff, and the provision of advice and education by the Department in the Lake Grace district and demonstrates the expansion of the Department of Agriculture into new districts in the mid-twentieth century.

Statement of Significance

The place demonstrates the importance of wheat and cereal based agriculture in the district of Lake Grace and the development of the light land in the Lake Grace Shire region; The place is associated with both the innovations and experiments undertaken by the Department of Agriculture staff, and the provision of advice and education by the Department in the Lake Grace district, and demonstrates the expansion of the Department of Agriculture into new districts in the mid-twentieth century.

Physical Description

Lake Grace District Office, Department of Agriculture is located in the centre of the Lake Grace townsite on the corner of Stubbs and Lawson Street. The Department of Agriculture property comprises a number of buildings, including the main office building, an ancillary building at the rear, hardstand/bitumen parking areas and small landscaped areas, garden and vegetation beds. The main office and administration building is of single storey cream brick and asbestos sheet construction with a low metal profile skillion roof. The building, which fronts Stubbs Street, displays elements of the Post-War International style. Although an addition was added to the 1967 building in 1970, the two programs of work demonstrate a consistency of form and detail across the original and later addition. An enclosed timber framed walkway connects the 1967/1970 portion of the building to a 1990s addition. The 1996 addition comprises three private offices and a large shared office space and is constructed with cream brick and corrugated sheeting covering a gabled hipped roof. An ancillary building to the rear of the site comprises a Laboratory, Store and Conference Room. The single storey brick building is complementary in style to the original main office and administration building.

History

A research station was established in Lake Grace in 1955, to assist farmers in the management and cultivation of crops on very sandy soil, and the role of trace elements in plant and animal nutrition. Department of Agriculture staff provided ‘an essential service for farmers in regional areas as they provided expertise in new techniques and products’. Peter Nelson, an officer with the Department was transferred to the district in 1965, and provided with a residence in town. The same year plans were made to construct an office in the town to service the agricultural districts to the south and east of Lake Grace. Works on the Department of Agriculture office and administrative building at Lake Grace were completed in 1967. The construction of a new large office to cater for the Lake Grace district reflects the expansion of the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia throughout the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the growing resources of the Lake Grace area. By 1969 a brick equipment shed had been constructed on the Lake Grace premises, and the following year tenders were called for an addition to the main administrative building to double the size of the building. Further additions to the west of the administrative building were undertaken in 1996. Since the completion of the new offices the facility has continued to be used by staff of the Department of Agriculture and related organisations. The office has provided advice to the district in the fields of farming systems, stock brands and movement, natural resource management, animal and invasive species, biosecurity, and animal research.

Condition

good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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