Buildings/gunnerscottages.html
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Gunners Cottages
The Warrant Officer's quarter on the corner of Burt Street and Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle, was constructed along with a block of three terrace homes for married NCOs on Queen Victoria Street in 1913. Over the years, it is known to have served as home to 35 regimental sergeant majors consecutively which must be some record!
A further two blocks of three terrace homes were constructed at a later date in matching materials and style. On completion, there were three lots of three terraced units on 97-113 Queen Victoria Street known as 'The Gunners Cottages'.
Apart from the work done on Gun House, the Defence Housing Authority has maintained the other quarters to a comfortable standard but with limited improvements pending a decision by the Department of Defence as to the future of the Artillery Barracks complex. The homes continue to be popular with tenants as they are close to the centre of Fremantle.
Life in 'The Gunners Cottages'
Mrs Angela Bishop, the wife of Lance Corporal David Bishop, current residents of 103 Queen Victoria Street, kindly gave her impressions of life in the 'The Gunners' Cottages'. She said that her best source of information had been from an unexpected visit from a previous resident, Mr Bill Hayden, who was born in one of these residences in 1919 when his father was stationed in the garrison having moved into No. 113 with his family in early 1919.
Mr Hayden remembered that the interior of the house was predominantly jarrah timber - floors, door surrounds, steps, french doors, skirting boards, mantelpieces, verandah. Now the floors have been carpeted, mantelpieces and other interior timber painted over many times. Mrs Bishop said that they were delighted to have the carpet removed in the lounge and rediscover the lovely old jarrah floors with six inch boards.
Mrs Bishop said, 'the architectural style is, I suppose, typical of the time with 11 ft ceilings, picture rails, long narrow windows over six foot high, and nine inch skirting boards. There are french doors with windows over them from the dining and lounge rooms which were present when Mr Hayden lived in the neighbourhood. The exterior consists of a sturdy double red brick construction with a decorative single layer of larger limestone blocks'.
'The laundry and toilet were separate and outside (as Mr Hayden reminded me that families of the day lived by the philosophy of "sit inside, s..t outside"). The copper in the laundry provided the hot water supply for washing and bathing. Mr Hayden can remember his mother tripping backwards and forwards with buckets of hot water, tipping them into the bath through the window. Then in strict order the whole family would bathe in the same water.'
'The exterior yard of the house has changed much from the time when Mr Hayden lived there. The front yards used to rim at a 45 degree angle down to Queen Victoria Street, where they were bordered by a low white picket fence. Now we have large limestone retaining walls and many steps. The backyard too was steep leading up to the back laneway with wooden steps. Now the yards are fenced and terraced with concrete steps'.
'Queen Victoria Street in this area has also changed much since Mr Hayden's time, with none of the railway, buses or trams which used to pass by the house en route to the city. The nearby Bridge Hotel, also gone, was a favourite with the men of the garrison'.
'Mr Hayden and family lived at No. 113 until the late 1930s and had many fond memories of their time there. He recalls the occasions when the garrison fired its coast guns which would make the houses shake and the tiles rattle and send a shower of dirt, dust and soot on anyone inside'.
The Gunner's Cottages were home to the soldiers who manned the guns at Fremantle and their families. Each of the cottages offered two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, larder, bathroom and separate wash house.
References and Links
Major-General Peter Phillips 1996, The Heritage Homes of the Australian Defence Force: One Hundred Australian Homes and Two Hundred Years of History, Defence Housing Authority: 75.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 18 June, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/gunnerscottages.html (it was last updated on 31 March, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.