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Presbyterian Ladies College
The building still standing at 140 Palmerston Street, North Perth was the original building that housed Ormiston College when it was established by Miss Constance Wilson and her sisters in 1907.
In 1913 Ormiston College moved over the road to the more spacious Palmerston House at 123 Palmerston Street. The Presbyterian Church bought 123 in 1915 and it then became The Presbyterian Ladies College and Kindergarten: Ormiston House. Either when Palmerston House was demolished in 1965, or earlier, the then owners of 140 souvenired the building’s brass nameplate and it remains on their gate today. (PLC, Facebook)
Alexandra Hasluck:
I was sent to school at the Presbyterian Ladies College, which had begun its existence [in 1915] as Ormiston College in a lovely old house in Palmerston Street, Perth. It was about a mile from our place and I used to walk it each morning with my father, who then continued on to the city to his office in the Old Barracks, St George’s Terrace, which housed the Public Works Department.
I have never been able to trace the builder or first owner of this fine old house which became the school. Its rooms were large, with high ceilings painted with classical figures, and had panelled doors with crystal handles. Verandahs ran all round it. I recall these poignantly because to get to the lavatories from the classrooms it was necessary to traverse (or run like mad) round the verandahs, beyond which were three enormous Moreton Bay fig trees where butcher birds lurked, to swoop down on one with vicious beaks as one fearfully ventured forth when containment could no longer be held. ...
The Headmistress was a remarkable Scotswoman named Miss Scorgie. ... Hasluck 1981: 65-66.
Hasluck:
School days at the Presbyterian Ladies’ College only lasted two years, for the school moved down to Cottesloe, a seaside suburb, in 1917, where a larger old building had been purchased. Hasluck 1981: 74.
Wikipedia:
On 19 August 1915 Rev George Nisbet Dods, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia, called together a group of Ministers and Church Elders to discuss the proposal of establishing a Presbyterian college for girls, since the Church had already established the Scotch College, Perth for boys.
Ormiston College had been established in 1907 by Miss Constance Wilson and her two sisters in Palmerston Street, North Perth. The newly formed committee agreed to purchase Ormiston College, and the School was named Presbyterian Ladies' College and Kindergarten (Ormiston House). Wilson was taken up on her offer to continue acting as principal until a permanent one was appointed. The successful applicant was Miss Agnes Scorgie MA, a certified teacher from Glasgow University. She had also studied modern language at three European universities, and had taught for twelve years at Glasgow High School. Scorgie arrived in Fremantle on 24 February 1916 and took up her duties immediately.
In January 1917 the School's Committee was constituted as the first College Council. After considering several permanent locations for the school, it eventually settled on the purchase of William Gerald Lefroy's property on the corner of View and McNeil Streets, Peppermint Grove. After modifications and additions to the property, all boarders were transferred from North Perth, and the first classes began on the new campus in July. The school was officially opened by the Governor of Western Australia, Sir William Ellison-Macartney, on 11 August 1917. The North Perth campus remained operating as a day school until the end of 1918.
References and Links
Hasluck, Alexandra 1981, Portrait in a Mirror: An Autobiography, OUP, Melbourne.
Heritage Council page for Ormiston College, 140 Palmerston Street Perth.
The b/w photo above of the one-storey building identified as Ormiston College is from the PLC archives page. The photo at the top, of 140 Palmerston Street, is from Google Maps.
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 9 December, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/schools/plc.html (it was last updated on 7 December, 2023). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.