The Deanery is located on

St Georges Terrace St Georges Terrace (colloquially known as "The Terrace") is the main street in the city of Perth, Western Australia. It runs parallel to the Swan River and forms the major arterial road through the central business district. Its western e ...

, at the intersection of St Georges Terrace and

Pier Street, Perth Pier Street is a street in the central business district of Perth, Western Australia. It runs from St Georges Terrace to Wellington Street, continuing immediately north of the railway until Brisbane Street very close to where Brisbane Street ...

, Western Australia. It was built in the late 1850s as a residence and office for the first Dean of Perth, Reverend George Pownall. The Deanery is one of the few remaining houses of this period in Western Australia and is now used as offices for the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

History

In 1855 Pownall succeeded

John Burdett Wittenoom John Burdett Wittenoom (24 October 1788 – 23 January 1855) was a colonial clergyman who was the second Anglican clergyman to perform religious services in the Swan River Colony, Australia, soon after its establishment in 1829. Biography Ea ...

as Colonial Chaplain and in 1857, following the Right Reverend

Mathew Blagden Hale Mathew Blagden Hale (18 June 1811 – 3 April 1895), very frequently spelled "Matthew", was the first Anglican Bishop of Perth and then the Anglican Bishop of Brisbane. Hale is recognised for seeking to empower the South Australian Aborigin ...

's consecration as the first Bishop of Perth became the first Dean of the new Saint George's Cathedral in

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 ...

. He initially lived in rented accommodation but Bishop Hale agreed to the urgent need to build Pownall's Parsonage. The site for The Deanery was formerly the site of the old Perth Gaol but the land was exchanged with the Crown, in July 1858, so that The Deanery could be built close to the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

. The old Perth Gaol had been used to house Aboriginal prisoners, and on 16 May 1833

Yagan Yagan (; – 11 July 1833) was an Aboriginal Australian warrior from the Noongar people. Yagan was pursued by the local authorities after he killed Erin Entwhistle, a servant of farmer Archibald Butler. It was an act of retaliation after ...

's father, respected aboriginal elder

Midgegooroo Midgegooroo (died 22 May 1833) was an Aboriginal Australian elder of the Nyungar nation, who played a key role in Aboriginal resistance to white settlement in the area of Perth, Western Australia. Everything documented about Midgegooroo (various ...

, who was captured days earlier, was executed on site by a party of soldiers of the 63rd Regiment. It is also thought that the town

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

once stood in the grounds of The Deanery. Pownall had a keen interest in architecture, and this interest was to substantially influence the design of The Deanery. He was a member of the Ecclesiological Society, and a former member of the

Camden Society The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary an ...

, which promoted the revival of Gothic architecture and an academic study of the style. The Deanery exhibits a number of the attributes of this style of architecture which have been attributed to Pownall's influence, although the architect responsible for construction was

Richard Roach Jewell Richard Roach Jewell (1810 in Barnstaple, Devon, England – 1891 in Perth, Western Australia) was an architect who designed many of the important public buildings in Perth during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was employed to sup ...

. In a letter to the Colonial Secretary, Pownall wrote: "The whole expense of carrying out the excellent plan prepared by Mr. Jewell would be about £900." The cost of the building was met by the Government paying £300, public subscriptions raising £300, and the Anglican Church contributing £300. The building was constructed by former

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 ...

, who had been granted a

ticket of leave A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland. Jurisdictions ...

, reflecting Pownall and Hale's views on convictism. Pownall moved into The Deanery in November 1859 and the building was used continuously as a residence for over ninety years. In 1918, 1932 and 1936 the building was renovated and some minor alterations were made in keeping with changes in living standards in the community. In 1953, the church trustees proposed that the building be demolished, and that the church build a ten-storey office block on the site. Following a storm of protests from the public The Deanery was reprieved. An appeal was opened, and the new Dean, John Bell, said "He hoped that those who complained about the proposal to demolish The Deanery would now show him some financial backing for his plans to preserve the structure for years to come." The appeal was successful and The Deanery was modernised and then used as part office and part residence by the Dean's secretary and by the assistant priests and their families and verger-caretakers. In 1979, The Deanery was again in need of restoration as its condition had deteriorated, and an appeal was opened with the aim of raising $90,000. $95,736 was raised, of which $69,488 came through the National Trust. An extensive programme of restoration and conservation, including an attempt to restore the garden. Following the restoration The Deanery was opened for the public on 8 May 1982. Since then The Deanery has been used as the Cathedral offices. The Deanery was entered into the Register of the National Estate by the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

in March 1978 and classified by the

National Trust of Australia (WA) The National Trust of Western Australia, officially the National Trust of Australia (W.A.), is a statutory authority that delivers heritage services, including conservation and interpretation, on behalf of the Western Australian government and c ...

in October 1980. On 1 December 1995 it was placed on the permanent state heritage register.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deanery, Perth Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Western Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth Cathedral Square, Perth

History

Further reading

References