Government House is the

official residence An official residence is the residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-related functions. ...

of the

governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...

, situated in the central business district of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, the state capital. It was built between 1859 and 1864, in the Jacobean Revival style. Government House is located on St Georges Terrace (Perth's main thoroughfare), sitting on the same block as

Council House A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

and the Supreme Court buildings. The site has been used by governors since the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829; the current building is the third to have served that purpose on the site. The buildings and gardens of Government House are of exceptional heritage significance, being listed on the

Western Australian Register of Heritage Places The State Register of Heritage Places is the heritage register of historic sites in Western Australia deemed significant at the state level by the Heritage Council of Western Australia. History In the 1970s, following its establishment of the ...

and classified by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. They are regularly opened for public viewing.

Description

The building is a two-storey mansion designed by

Edmund Henderson Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Yeamans Walcott Henderson KCB (19 April 1821 – 8 December 1896) was an officer in the British Army who was Comptroller-General of Convicts in Western Australia from 1850 to 1863, Home Office Surveyor-General o ...

in the early Stuart or

Jacobean Revival The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...

style, set on of

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...

s in the centre of the Perth business district, between St Georges Terrace and the Swan River. The unique architectural character of the building is characterised by the use of stonework and bonded brickwork, incorporating square

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed windows, decorated

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and

ogival An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking. Etymology The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...

capped

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s. The attenuated gothic arcading at ground floor level derives from another form of Victorian Revival expression Fonthill Gothic. The building has 16 rooms on the ground floor and 25 on the first floor. According to the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places Assessment, Government House is a "unique example of a Victorian Gentleman's residence" set in landscaped gardens with mature plantings and a number of commemorative trees. Image:WAGovernmentHouse1crop gobeirne.JPG, Government House, the residence of the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

File:Government House, north front.jpg, Government House, north front File:Grand staircase, Government House.jpg, Grand staircase File:Government House Dining room.jpg, Dining room File:Government House Drawing room.jpg, Drawing room File:The Governor's study.jpg, The Governor's study File:Government House Ballroom, west side.jpg, Government House Ballroom, west side Image:WAGovernmentHouse07 gobeirne.jpg, The grounds of Government House on Open Day

History

Following the establishment of the Swan River Colony in 1829, the first governor

Captain James Stirling Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and his family were initially housed in tents on a site near the corner of Barrack Street and St Georges Terrace, known today as

Stirling Gardens Stirling Gardens is a small public park in Perth, Western Australia. Located on the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street, west of the Government House and north of the Supreme Court buildings, it contains a group of significant scu ...

and

Supreme Court Gardens __NOTOC__ Supreme Court Gardens is a park in the central business district of Perth, Western Australia, bounded by Riverside Drive, Barrack Street, Governors Avenue, and the buildings of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. In the late 1880 ...

. In 1832 a temporary wooden building was constructed on the same site and used until the so-called original Government House was built a short distance away near the present-day site between 1834 and 1835. This building served successive governors until work began on the new present-day Government House, for which the foundation stone was laid on 17 March 1859. The 1834/35 building was demolished in the 1880s. The present Government House was built at a cost of £15,000 largely by

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

. Governor

John Hampton John Stephen Hampton (c. 1806 – 1 December 1869) was Governor of Western Australia from 1862 to 1868. Early life Little is known of John Hampton's early life. His death certificate states that he was born in 1810, but other evidence suggest ...

took up residence in 1863, prior to its completion in 1864. In the 1890s, a ballroom was added, designed by or under the direction of government architect, Hillson Beasley, who designed a number of other public buildings in the city.

The Lodge

A separate small house, known as The Lodge, was built in the north-east corner of the gardens. It provided accommodation for the Governor's police orderly, whose duties required that he live close to the governor, and his family. The Lodge was designed by

William Hardwick William Burden Hardwick (1860 – 1941), often referred to professionally as W.B. Hardwick, was an Australian architect who from 1917 until 1927 was Principal Architect of the Public Works Department in Western Australia. ''The Encyclopedia ...

Federation Queen Anne Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of Au ...

style. It was converted for use as offices in the 1980s.Information on display at The Lodge, 2017-10-15

Notes

External links

* {{Vice Regal Residences of Australia Government of Western Australia Official residences in Australia Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia

State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth Jacobean architecture Victorian architecture in Western Australia 1864 establishments in Australia Ballrooms in Australia

Description

History

The Lodge

See also

Notes

External links