The Residency Museum in

York, Western Australia York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated on the Avon River, east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, on Ballardong Nyoongar land,King, A and Parker, E: York, Western Australia's first inland town, Parker Print, 2003 p.3. and is ...

is a single-storey, heritage-listed building in the Victorian Georgian style. It is associated with the also heritage-listed Old York Hospital.

The Residency

Built around 1852 as a cottage housing the Depot Superintendent, this building is now the last remaining part of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

's Convict Depot. The oldest section was built from hand-made bricks that bore the stamp of the broad arrow, meaning they were the property of

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

, but which came to represent structures constructed by convicts. In the 1860s the cottage was occupied by the medical officer attached to the Depot Hospital, Dr Robert McCoy. In 1867, after several complaints to the colonial governor about the lack of suitable official accommodation for himself and his family,

Resident Magistrate A resident magistrate is a title for magistrates used in certain parts of the world, that were, or are, governed by the British. Sometimes abbreviated as RM, it refers to suitably qualified personnel—notably well versed in the law—brought int ...

Walkinshaw Cowan Walkinshaw Cowan (25 December 180822 January 1888) was private secretary to Western Australian Governors John Hutt, Andrew Clarke and Frederick Irwin, then in 1848 he became Guardian of Aboriginals and a justice of the peace, and then resident m ...

moved from his property at Mile Pool to the cottage. During his tenancy, the cottage was extended to accommodate his large family and became known as The Residency. After the Old York Hospital, located on the adjacent site, was constructed in 1896, it did not have the space to provide a maternity hospital and the building was adapted for this use. As a maternity hospital, the building accommodated a maternity and labour ward, nurses' bed/sitting room, duty room and in the adjoining structure, a store, kitchen and maid's room. In 1926, a bathroom, toilet and new verandah were added to the northern wall of the central court and the building became the Matron's Quarters. The building continued to be used as part of the Old York Hospital complex until 1963 when a new hospital and nurses' quarters were built in York. The building was unoccupied and neglected until the early 1970s, when the building was saved from disrepair by the efforts of The York Society which raised $6,000 to have the building preserved and it became The Residency Museum. The funds were used for restoration. "Temporary additions and lean-tos were removed and the building renovated as nearly as possible to ts statewhen Walkinshaw Cowan was Resident Magistrate in the 1860s."The Avon Echo, August 1993.

The Residency Museum

The building opened as a Municipal Museum in 1972, managed by the

Shire of York The Shire of York is a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in the Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, covering an area of just beyond the eastern fringe of Perth's metropolitan a ...

, with help from community volunteers. The Residency Museum houses early colonial artefacts and has changing exhibitions.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in York, Western Australia Historic house museums in Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the Shire of York