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Ormiston 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 in Facebook)
Heritage Council:
History
No. 140 Palmerston Street is situated on town Lot N76. It does not appear on the 1897 PWD sewerage plans but in the 1898 City of Perth rate books the place is shown as occupied by builder C.A. Chandler and owned by Mrs Alston. The substantial residence is one of several built in Palmerston Street at around this time. Wise's Post Office Directories for 1903 indicate that the place was occupied by Mr Hankin and 1905 by William Abbott. The City of Perth rate books indicate that in 1906 the owner was Miss Rostron and the occupier was Hetty Ryan. In that year the unimproved value was ₤200 and she paid just over ₤4 in annual rates. In 1910, the subject place was occupied by Ormiston College, a private girls' school run by the three Misses Wilson between 1907 and 1916. This school had been established by Miss C.E. Wilson (the headmistress) in 1907. It also had a kindergarten section which operated in the North Perth Presbyterian Church Hall. The sisters paid rents of ₤2 per week for No. 140 Palmerston Street and 10 shillings for the hall. By 1915 the school had 80 students on its roll, 13 of whom were boarders and it had moved to a large single-storey residence at 123 Palmerston Street, fronting Robertson Park. In 1916, Ormiston College was taken over by the Presbyterian Church in WA at a price of ₤250, which included a year's lease on the property. Miss Wilson stayed on as acting principal at ₤2.10.0 per week until someone suitable could be found to replace her. Meanwhile the name was changed to Presbyterian Ladies' College (PLC). It moved to premises in Cottesloe in 1917. According to the Directories Mrs Z. Voseda was the resident in 1925 and in 1949, the last year they were printed, Mrs May Lee ran a boarding house there. City of Perth records indicate some building work was carried out in 1951 and a swimming pool installed in 1979. In the late 1980s P.M. Damo used it as a meditation centre and in the 1990s Mr Ramsey used it for meditation classes and community projects.
Statement of Significance
The two storeyed house at 140 Palmerston Street is a fine example of the Federation Queen Anne style. It is a notable place in a street of notable places, that demonstrates the prestige of Palmerston Street at the time it was developed. The place has associations with the private school of Miss Wilson known as Ormiston College which was to become Presbyterian Ladies College.
Physical Description
A substantial two storey residence with large verandahs at both levels, with filigree decoration. The building has a projecting bay window on two levels beneath a flying gable with a fretted bargeboard. The upper sashes of the double hung windows are multi-paned coloured glass. The verandahs are supported with stop chamfered posts with decorative timberwork balusters. A valance of turned spindles decorates each level of the verandah. Evidence suggests the verandah detailing is not original. The brick chimneys have a corbelled stucco trim. Setback behind a brick pillar and palisade fence in a garden setting. Verandah has been modified.
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. ...
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: 65-66, 74.
References and Links
Hasluck, Alexandra 1981, Portrait in a Mirror: An Autobiography, OUP, Melbourne.
Heritage Council page for Ormiston College, 140 Palmerston Street Perth.
Photo of Ormiston College from the PLC archives page.
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/ormiston.html (it was last updated on 6 December, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.