PROPERTY HISTORY

Perth is situated on the banks of the beautiful Derbal Yiragan (Swan River) on Whadjuk country. The Noongar people lived in the area before colonisation in 1829.

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Four Hammond Street was built in 1905 as a brick federation workers cottage. Nearby Charles Street was an important early roadway transporting produce from adjacent market gardens and dairy farms to the city.

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The property was owned and constructed by the railway worker Frank Morrison Johns who moved to Perth in 1900 from the Kalgoorlie. He was born in Melbourne in 1897 and married Georgina Alice Johns in Boulder.

 

The couple had one daughter Elsie and lived in the property until 1924, except when Frank departed for war in 1916. By 1925 they had moved to 11 Packenham St in Mount Lawley and T Hughes took ownership.

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The area has been home to many of Perth’s early working class families who were served by three tramways transporting them to the CBD for one penny per ride! 

 

The house had an extension as the population boomed in the post-war 1950s period and a rear shed added in the 1970s. The nearby Beatty Park aquatic centre was constructed in 1962. An Italian family lived in the property and planted a prolific olive tree to harvest annually. In 2015 the current owner purchased the property.

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Research on the heritage of the property was kindly facilitated by the City of Vincent’s historians utilising the ‘West Ward’ post office directory, electoral roll, Trove, state library and ancestry.

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Further information on the history of West Perth can be found here. 

Further information on the traditional owners can be found here.