The Sawyers Valley Tavern was established in 1882 in

Sawyers Valley Sawyers is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jazmin Sawyers, (born 1994) British long jumper * Philip Sawyers (born 1951), British composer * Riley Ann Sawyers (2005–2007), American murder victim * Rodney Sawyers (born 1967), ...

, a hills suburb 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 is ...

, Western Australia. It was originally called the ''Sawyers Valley Hotel'' before acquiring its current name.

Lot Leather

Lot Leather arrived on the

convict 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 ...

ship ''Clyde'' in 1863 after killing his sweetheart's lover. Leather began pit sawing at Sawyers Valley soon after, and in 1874 he purchased the land on which the Sawyers Valley Tavern is built. In the mid 1880s he built a store, next to his homestead on York Road, to serve the Eastern Railway construction workforce and the local sawyers.

History

In 1882 Leather successfully applied for a colonial wine and beer licence, and the store was replaced with the Sawyers Valley Hotel. Even after the railway was finished, the hotel attracted locals from nearby sawmills. The hotel and the adjacent recreation ground served as a local meeting place for mill workers, travellers, road boards, progress associations, historical societies and political rallies. It also quickly became the gathering place for numerous sporting clubs, rifle clubs,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

teams, cycling and motorcycle clubs. Sports meetings were promoted by subsequent publicans, including JH Kendall, who was licensee for 21 years. It was the focus of annual competitions in wood chopping, timber sawing, and

tug-of-war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

, with teams from nearby mills and hotels in Chidlow and Mount Helena. In 1937 the old timber hotel was demolished and the new single storey brick hotel, designed by

William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of director of the Office of ...

, was erected on the same site, featuring saloon and public bars, lounges, a dining room and ten bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms. During the Second World War the hotel featured in the local newspapers for incidents involving American servicemen. American soldiers and sailors were arrested for being drunk and fighting, and their girlfriends arrested for living "idle and disorderly lives" and prostitution. Over time licensees of the hotel have included Thomas Stone, Walter Pearce, William Riley, Fred Jacoby, Mary Kelly, and Clare Firth.

Architectural character

The single storey Sawyers Valley Tavern is one of a few

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style buildings in the shire other than some minor elements on several residence. The overall character of the building retains much of its original form and is simply detailed. The principle focus of Art Deco decoration is the projection through the tiled roof at the main entry of a tall, stepped, rounded and streamline rendered parapet element.

Heritage value

The Sawyers Valley Tavern has high social significance for the local community. The building's Art Deco character is unique in the

Shire of Mundaring The Shire of Mundaring is a local government area in eastern metropolitan Perth, the capital of Western Australia. The Shire covers an area of and had a population of approximately 38,000 as at the 2016 Census. History The Greenmount Road ...

. Sitting opposite the

Railway Reserve Heritage Trail The Railway Reserves Heritage Trail also on some maps as ''Rail Reserve Heritage Trail'' or ''Rail Reserves Historical Trail'', and frequently referred to locally as the ''Bridle Trail'' or ''Bridle Track'' is within the Shire of Mundaring in ...

, the site also has historic significance as the location of Lot Leather's former store and hotel. In 2016 the Sawyers Valley Tavern was listed on Western Australia's Heritage Register for the contribution made by the place to Western Australia's cultural heritage.

References

{{Shire of Mundaring hotels Hotels in Western Australia Heritage hotels in Australia 1882 establishments in Australia