AN old stables and mechanics workshop at “The Peak”, where Cockburn emerged as a stand-alone municipality in the 1950s, are to be demolished following a vote of the current crop of councillors.
Cockburn’s first municipal offices were purchased at the corner of Rockingham and Forrest Roads in 1922 to house the Fremantle District Road Board, which was a separate entity to Fremantle council tasked with looking after roads and bridges in the port city’s rural hinterland.
Its move out of the city had been prompted by a growing population in the region who felt they were developing their own identity and deserved closer representation.
By the ‘50s their push for independence had reached a clamour, so a local referendum was held on January 21, 1955 and the Cockburn Road Board was born.
• Cockburn’s first council chambers are in the background, while the two buildings in front will go.
It was around the same time that the stables and workshop were built, but the current owner of the site – Main Roads WA – says they’ve now become dilapidated and are targeted by vandals and trespassers.
Cockburn council voted 9-1 at a special council meeting on June 30 to allow the demolition, but the old council chambers and another workshop will be spared the bulldozer in the hopes of being repurposed.
The site has been owned by Main Roads, as part of the proposed Roe Highway extension to Fremantle’s Port, since 1977 when the council moved into its new headquarters on Coleman Avenue. A staffer’s report to this week’s council meeting hinted that Main Roads might be thinking about handing it back now the highway project has been taken off the books.
While the site is listed on the City’s Municipal Inventory of Heritage Places, council officers said the two buildings were of lesser heritage significance compared with the main former Council Building.
“The former Council Building is considered the most significant structure on the site given its former use, condition, potential for adaptive reuse and landmark siting on the corner of Forrest and Rockingham Road,” the report said.
The demolition approval requires Main Roads WA to prepare an archival record of the structures before works begin and implement an archaeological chance finds procedure during demolition.
One submission was received opposing demolition, arguing the modest outbuildings contributed to telling the story of Hamilton Hill’s semi-rural history, including local government, transport, horse stables and working life in the district.
by STEVE GRANT