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Victoria Barracks | |
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![]() The main entrance to the Army Museum of Western Australia | |
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Alternative names | Army Museum of Western Australia |
General information | |
Architectural style | Federation Free Classical |
Location | Fremantle, Western Australia |
Address | Burt Street (corner Queen Victoria Street) |
Coordinates | 32°2′42.74″S115°45′15.84″E / 32.0452056°S 115.7544000°E |
Current tenants | Army Museum of Western Australia |
Construction started | 1910 |
Completed | 1956 |
Owner | Department of Defence |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Hillson Beasley |
Architecture firm | Public Works Department of Western Australia |
Structural engineer | Public Works Department of Western Australia |
Main contractor | Carrick, T.F. |
References | |
Official name | Artillery Barracks |
Type | Listed place (Historic) |
Designated | 22 June 2004 |
Reference no. | 105332 |
Official name | Artillery Barracks & Fremantle Harbour Signal Station (former) |
Designated | 2 September 1997 |
Reference no. | 991 |
The Army Museum of Western Australia is a museum located in an historic artillery barracks on Burt Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. The museum was established in 1977 and has three Victoria Crosses on display.
The Army Museum of Western Australia was established in 1977 and was originally located at Dilhorn House, a 19th-century building located on Bulwer Street, Perth. The museum was relocated to its current site at the Artillery Barracks site in Burt Street, Fremantle, in 1995. [2]
The Fremantle Artillery Barracks, also known as Victoria Barracks, was acquired by the Commonwealth in 1909 for £3,000. The Artillery Barracks was constructed in two stages between 1910 and 1913 as the base for the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery, who manned the heavy artillery guns guarding the port of Fremantle. The original concept for the buildings and spaces was designed by Hillson Beasley, the Government Architect at the Public Works Department of Western Australia. The barracks are constructed of red brick and limestone in a Federation Free Classical style of architecture and designed to accommodate 120 men and officers of the Artillery Corps, providing protection for the harbour and the hulks with emergency coal supplies for the British Fleet.
The location of the site reflects the prevailing view of Sir Joseph John Talbot Hobbs that potential enemies would mount seaborne rather than aerial attacks. The Artillery Barracks were designed to service the two batteries at Arthur (Arthur Head) and Forrest (North Fremantle) Forts, as part of the Fremantle Harbour defences prior to World War I.
The first stage of construction in 1910 was a two-storey barracks, providing accommodation for 40 men, Orderly Room, Guard Room, Quarter Store, separate Kitchen block and Gymnasium, facing on to the parade ground. Three years later a second Barracks block, Married Quarters, Officers Quarters and a Hospital (later converted into the Sergeants' Mess) were completed. A large grassed area on the northern side of the hill was used for agistment of the horses.
In 1914 with the commencement of World War I, the barracks were then used as hospital wards, firstly for sick recruits of the First Australian Imperial Force, then for the convalescing wounded from the Western Front, a use which continued for a year after the war concluded.
Between the wars a number of working structures, such as sheds and garages were built, and in 1928 a wooden signal tower was constructed to take over from the signal station at Arthur Head.
After World War II, Major General John Whitelaw, took up residence at the Commanding Officer's Quarters, known as Gun House. This established a tradition for the most senior serving officer to reside at the site; eighteen serving regional commanders have lived there since 1946. From 1948 onwards the barracks mainly served as a training venue for the Citizen Military Forces, which then became the Australian Army Reserves.
In 1935 the land now occupied by the Army Store was ceded to the Royal Australian Navy, which built its own store in a simple Functionalist style. [3] In 1956 the timber signal station, on the top of Cantonment Hill, was replaced by a masonry signal station, for use by the Fremantle Harbour Trust Commission. The signal station operated for only eight years before new grain silos at North Quay partially obscured the view and the signal station was replaced by a facility on top of the Fremantle Port Authority building. The Cantonment Hill station was then handed back to the Army.
The entire precinct has been heritage listed with several of the buildings having historical significance. The Barracks and associated buildings were classified by the National Trust of Australia (WA) on 6 October 1980 and included on the Register of the National Estate on 28 September 1982. They permanently entered on the State Heritage Register on 2 September 1997 and were included on the City of Fremantle's Municipal Heritage Inventory on 14 October 2000. The site is currently the oldest continuously occupied defence site in Western Australia. [4]
In 2000, the museum was faced with the prospect of having to be relocated once again due to plans for the Artillery Barracks site to be sold off by the Federal Government. A successful "Save the Barracks" campaign was initiated to gain support for the retention of the barracks site as a heritage precinct remaining in public ownership and for the museum to remain at this site. After lengthy negotiations the Government agreed that the museum would remain at the barracks under special licensing arrangements. Currently the museum is supported by two part-time Army personnel, around 80 'active' volunteers, and 120 'sponsor' members.
The museum consists of a number of galleries, each of which reflects the Army's involvement in Western Australia and the military service of Western Australians from the colonial period through to the present day. There are seven galleries:
Among its collection, the museum holds the following items of significance: [7]
Fremantle is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo. Fremantle was also ranked 7th place for "Top 10 tourism city for 2016". It was also featured in "TIME Magazine’s 50 Greatest Places of 2022". Making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country.
Rottnest Island, often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a 19 km2 (7.3 sq mi) island off the coast of Western Australia, located 18 km (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land.
The Western Heights of Dover are one of the most impressive fortifications in Britain. They comprise a series of forts, strong points and ditches, designed to protect the country from invasion. They were created in the 18th and 19th centuries to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack; by the start of the 20th century Dover Western Heights was collectively reputed to be the 'strongest and most elaborate' fortification in the country. The Army finally withdrew from the Heights in 1956–61; they are now a local nature reserve.
The Sydney Heads are a series of headlands that form the 2 km (1.2 mi) wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south; and Middle Head, Georges Head, and Chowder Head are to the west and within the harbour. The Heads are contained within the Sydney Harbour National Park.
The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the Museum Act 1969.
Blackboy Hill was named after the Australian native "black boy" plants, Xanthorrhoea preissii, which dominated the site which is now absorbed into Greenmount, Western Australia.
The Round House was the first permanent building built in the Swan River Colony. Built in late 1830 and opened in 1831, it is the oldest building still standing in Western Australia.
Gun Club Hill Barracks are barracks in King's Park, or in Jordan, Hong Kong formerly used by British Army garrisons during British colonial rule. The military began using the area shortly after 1860 when the British acquired Kowloon. The barracks are bounded by Austin Road, Jordan Path, Gascoigne Road and Chatham Road South.
George Thomas Temple-Poole was a British architect and public servant, primarily known for his work in Western Australia from 1885.
Challenger Harbour is a marina in Fremantle, Western Australia adjacent to the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. The harbour breakwater covers the historical site of the Fremantle Long Jetty.
Cantonment Hill is a small rise overlooking the port city of Fremantle, Western Australia. Since the early 1900s the hill and the surrounding 4-hectare (9.9-acre) precinct has been mainly used for military purposes with extensive buildings now present. It has been under the control of the Department of Defence.
Tourism in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, is an important part of the Australian state's economy, contributing to the prosperity of businesses in the city, as well as other regions of the state.
The Old Fremantle Police Station and Court House Complex is a heritage-listed group of buildings located at 45 Henderson Street, Fremantle, Western Australia. The complex includes the former courthouse, police station, police barracks and lock-up and artillery drill hall.
Irwin Barracks is an Australian Army military base located in Karrakatta, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It occupies a 62-hectare (150-acre) site on the western side of the Fremantle railway line.
Gona Barracks is a heritage-listed barracks at 3, 7,12, 25 & 26 Gona Parade, Kelvin Grove, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from c. 1914 to 1960s. It is also known as Kelvin Grove Military Reserve and Kelvin Grove Training Area. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 February 2005.
Princess Royal Fortress, also known as Albany Forts, was a fortress on the northern shore of Atatürk entrance on Princess Royal Harbour on Mount Adelaide overlooking King George Sound in Albany, Western Australia. It now operates as a museum.
Leighton Battery at Buckland Hill, Mosman Park, Western Australia, was part of the Coastal defences of Australia during World War II and the Fremantle Fortress, protecting Fremantle Harbour.
Fremantle Fortress was the combined coastal defences protecting the harbour of Fremantle, Western Australia, since the mid-1930s and, predominantly, during World War II. The coastal defences of the Fremantle Fortress stretched along the coastline of Perth from Cape Peron to Swanbourne and also included installations on Garden Island and Rottnest Island. While the first coastal batteries of the future Fremantle Fortress were installed at Arthur Head in 1906, the military installations protecting the harbour were expanded in the 1930s, being eventually dismantled again by 1963.
Swan Barracks was a military establishment in Francis Street, Perth, Western Australia. The heritage listed building is located between Museum and Beaufort Streets.
Coordinates: 32°2′42.74″S115°45′15.84″E / 32.0452056°S 115.7544000°E